On consumption
Cultures of Consumption is a UK-based research programme that studies consumption in a global context.
There are lots of interesting projects, but these two caught my eye:
Designing and Consuming: Objects, Practices and Processes
“This project exploits the potential for theoretical development at the interface of science and technology studies, design and the sociology of consumption. Creative cross-fertilisation between these fields promises to enrich and extend our understanding of the relation between design and consumption and the dynamics of both. Four strategically positioned case studies, each addressing specific gaps in the existing literature, promise to generate new ways of conceptualising the objects, practices and processes of consumption.”
Media Consumption and the Future of Public Connection
“Governments are increasingly concerned with the future of politics and citizenship. Underlying many views of democratic politics is an assumption that shared media sustain people’s connection to the public spaces where politics goes on and citizenship is enacted. But how is that connection sustained, and how do individuals think about the ways in which they are, or are not, connected to wider public spaces? This project seeks to provide answers to these questions by generating detailed insights into what particular individuals do and think, as well as offering broader-based survey information on these questions. A key aim is to contribute to the developing policy debate about the conditions of citizenship in an age of increasingly diverse media consumption.”
(via)