Introduction to the Special Section: Consumer Culture, Identity and Processes of Socialization

Guest Editor's Introduction: Though consumption has always been an object of social communication, just as material culture has always served as an area of symbolic mediation, with respect to the past, the identity construction of the subject is more closely anchored to the world of goods and services. In order to assign a place to consumption among the processes of education and socialization we must first recognize the relationship between consumption and identity and understand the influence exercised by the mass media on the purchase of goods and services. We often learn consumption behavior implicitly through various primary and secondary institutions of socialization. Though there is a growing body of international research on consumer education a sociological approach which addresses the education and socialization of consumers is still lacking.