ABSTRACT
The social world, particularly in the realm of consumption, is increasingly characterized by nothing. The large numbers of people in many other countries are now using credit cards and in much the same everyday way that Americans have for decades. This chapter exemplifies the global expansion of this relatively empty form-one that gains much of its substance in actual use. The phenomena of focal concern in the chapter exist at or near the nothing end of the continuum; all phenomena exist somewhere between the extremes of the nothing-something poles of the continuum. The distinction between nothing and something is far from being clear-cut or refined. The chapter is devoted to further defining nothing, as well as something and the something-nothing continuum, in greater detail. It provides more depth, detail, and concreteness by developing each end of the continuum, and the continuum itself, through a multitude of dimensions.
