Consumer Culture, Identity and Processes of Socialization

This monographic issue represents an attempt to begin bridging the gap between scholarship in the fields of the sociology of education and the sociology of consumption. In order to approach consumption - as a form of social action possessing meaning and an instrument of social communication - as an object of study of the sociology of education, we must first recognize the pervasive presence and influence of consumption on processes of identity formation in contemporary society.The seven articles which make up the present issue Consumer Culture, Identity and Processes of Socialization all share the objective of investigating the dialectic of socialization practices and social conditioning originating in the culture of consumption. Through the use of different research methodologies and the study of different social practices or influences, all of the articles illustrate processes of education or socialization into the variegated world of consumption.