Death in a Consumer Culture [Hardcover]

Death has never been more visible to consumers. From life insurance to burial plots to estate planning, we are constantly reminded of consumer choices to be made with our mortality in mind. Religious beliefs in the afterlife (or their absence) impact everyday consumption activities.

Death in a Consumer Culturepresents the broadest array of research on the topic of death and consumer behaviour across disciplinary boundaries. Organised into five sections covering: The Death Industry; Death Rituals; Death and Consumption; Death and the Body; and Alternate Endings, the book explores topics from celebrity death tourism, pet and online memorialization; family history research, to alternatives to traditional corpse disposal methods and patient-assisted suicide. Work from scholars in history, religious studies, sociology, psychology, anthropology, and cultural studies sits alongside research in marketing and consumer culture. From eastern and western perspectives, spanning social groups and demographic categories, all explore the ubiquity of death as a physical, emotional, cultural, social, and cosmological inevitability.

Offering a richly unique anthology on this challenging topic, this book will be of interest to researchers working at the intersections of consumer culture, marketing and mortality.

Preface (Susan Dobscha)  Part I: The Death Industry1. Proclaiming Modernity in the Monument Trade: Barre Granite, Vermont Marble and national advertising, 1910-1932 (Bruce S. Elliott)2. The Marketing of a Siege: Leningrad vs. Sarajevo- memorializing death and despair (Brent McKenzie)3. Marketing Death through Erotic Art (Christina Welch)4. Authenticity, Informality and Privacy in Contemporary New Zealand Post-Mortem Practices (Cyril Schafer and Ruth McManus)5. Custody of the Corpse: ControlllÓ[