A Primer For Daily Life

by Susan Willis

Overview

The interacting components of everyday life - the weekly supermarket shopping trip, fast food, children's toys - are still largely unremarked by cultural theorists. Grounded in Marxist theory, and guided by feminism, Susan Willis's lucid and entertaining study of the consumer culture broadens the scope of cultural studies to introduce the notion of daily life, with the commodity at its centre. Willis pays particular attention to the influence of commodity fetishism on social relations. Her investigation includes the taken for granted phenomena of modern culture - Barbie dolls, plastic packaging, banana sticker logos and the aerobic workout.A Primer For Daily Life demonstrates that the trivial is crucial for our understanding of capitalist culture, and argues for the necessary development of a critical perspective on daily life.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780415041805
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	09/12/1991
Series:	Studies in Culture and Communication
Pages:	192
Product dimensions:	5.44(w) x 8.50(h) x (d)
Age Range:	18 Years

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments, Author’s Note, 1 UNWRAPPING USE VALUE, 2 GENDER AS COMMODITY, 3 LEARNING FROM THE BANANA, 4 WORK(ING) OUT, 5 PLAYING HOUSE: DOMESTIC LABOR AS CULTURE, 6 I WANT THE BLACK ONE: IS THERE A PLACE FOR AFROAMERICAN CULTURE IN COMMODITY CULTURE?, 7 SWEET DREAMS: PROFITS AND PAYOFFS IN COMMODITY CAPITALISM, 8 EARTHQUAKE KITS: THE POLITICS OF THE TRIVIAL, AFTERWORD, References, Index

Editorial Reviews

Willis' study of commodity capitalism, which includes the taken-for- granted phenomena of modern (US and suburban) culture--Barbie dolls, plastic packaging, banana sticker logos, and the aerobic workout--demonstrates that the trivial is crucial for an understanding of capitalist culture, and argues for the necessary development of a critical perspective on daily life. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

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