ABSTRACT
In the contemporary United States, your age, address, language and accent, skin color or shape of eyes as well as the music you listen to, how and where you worship, or where you work are the tools with which American consumers construct, communicate, and change their social identities. Rather than lifetime, fixed definitions of who we are, these self-made, chosen identities are built upon a constantly changing foundation of personal characteristics and behaviors. It is a lifetime project, always in flux, never finalized, but frequently expressed in how we spend our money and time.
