The Consumer Society
by Jean Baudrillard · Jean Baudrillard
Baudrillard's 1970 sociological study, translated into English, argues that consumption organizes modern society as a system of signs rather than satisfaction of needs. Readers gain a framework for analysing advertising, affluence, and mass media as structures of meaning.
This link may earn us a small commission at no extra cost to you. Affiliate disclosure
More resources on Consumer Culture & Advertising
Consumption Markets & Culture Journal
Academic open-access articles on consumer culture (suggested in r/academia, r/sociology)
Adbusters
Anti-consumerism magazine and culture jamming resources (rec'd in r/collapse, r/anticonsumption)
The Story of Stuff
Animated critique of consumer culture (frequent rec in r/environment, r/ZeroWaste)
The Century of the Self (Full Adam Curtis Documentary)
Adam Curtis documentary on Freud, Bernays, and rise of consumer culture (highly upvoted in r/Documentaries, r/sociology)
Consumer Culture
University of London course taught by Alan Bradshaw, running three modules on marketing, gender and ideology; digital surveillance and algorithmic targeting; and sustainable consumption. Finishing it, you can analyse marketing practice using sociological concepts rather than industry terminology.
Captains of Consciousness
Historical account of how American business in the 1920s used advertising to turn workers into consumers, tracing mass consumption's social roots. After reading, you can explain advertising as a tool of industrial and political management.