The Routledge Companion to Identity and Consumption

Ayalla A. Ruvio · Russell Belk

Jan 2013 · Routledge

About this ebook

"Tell me what you eat, I'll tell you who you are," said Anthelme Brillat-Savarin. Today, "You are what you consume" is more apt. Barbara Krueger’s ironic twist of Descartes - "I shop therefore I am" - has lost its irony. Such phrases have become commonplace descriptions of our identity in the contemporary world. In our materialistic world it seems as if there is no debate that our consumption behaviour is fused with our self-identity - shaping it, changing it and often challenging it.

The Routledge Companion to Identity and Consumption introduces the reader to state-of-the-art research, written by the world’s leading scholars regarding the interplay between identity and consumption. The book addresses the diverse issues regarding the ways identity affects our consumption behaviour and vice-versa and in doing so, presents a broad perspective on the dynamics of self-identity and consumption.

With chapters discussing the theory, research and practical implications of these dynamics, including the way they change across our life span and their expression within different social, cultural and religious contexts, this book will be a valuable reference source for students and academics from a variety of disciplines.

About the author

Ayalla A. Ruvio is Assistant Professor of Marketing at the Fox School of Business at Temple University, USA. Her research focuses on issues such as consumers’ self-identity, materialism and consumers’ need for uniqueness. Her published work has received extensive media attention worldwide, including the TODAY show, Good Morning America, Time magazine, The New York Times, The Atlantic, CNN, and The Daily Telegraph

Russell W. Belk is Kraft Professor of Marketing at Schulich School of Business, York University, Canada. He is past president of the International Association of Marketing and Development and is a fellow and past president in the Association for Consumer Research. He has over 500 publications involving the meanings of possessions, collecting, extended self, sharing, materialism, and global consumer culture