"May 2007."

Revised and expanded version of papers originally delivered at a conference held in October 2006 at the University of Wisconsin "for leading scholars to discuss the interplay of markets, media, politics, and the citizen-consumer"--P. 6.

Includes bibliographical references.

Introduction : the politics of consumption/the consumption of politics / Dhavan V. Shah, Douglas M. McLeod, Lewis Friedland, and Michelle R. Nelson -- In defense of consumer critique : revisiting the consumption debates of the twentieth century / Juliet B. Schor -- Capital, consumption, communication, and citizenship : the social positioning of taste and civic culture in the United States / Lewis Friedland...[et. al.] -- Representing citizens and consumers in media and communications regulation / Sonia Livingstone and Peter Lunt -- Consumers and the state since the Second World War / Matthew Hilton -- Buying into downtown revival : the centrality of retail to postwar urban renewal in American cities / Lizabeth Cohen -- Should consumer citizens escape the market? / Eric J. Arnould -- A carnivalesque approach to the politics of consumption (or) grotesque realism and the analytics of the excretory economy / Craig J. Thompson -- Why not share rather than own? / Russell Belk -- Downshifting consumer = upshifting citizen? : an examination of a local freecycle community / Michelle R. Nelson, Mark A. Rademacher, and Hye-Jin Paek -- Mobilizing consumers to take responsibility for global social justice / Michele Micheletti and Dietlind Stolle -- Political brands and consumer citizens : the rebranding of Tony Blair / Margaret Scammell -- Logo logic : the ups and downs of branded political communication / W. Lance Bennett and Taso Lagos -- Digital renaissance : young consumer and citizen? / Claes H. de Vreese -- Political consumerism : how communication and consumption orientations drive "lifestyle politics" / Dhavan V. Shah...[et al.] -- Citizens, consumers and the good society / Michael Schudson.