ABSTRACT
This chapter draws together strands from the nascent literature on consumerism and that now well-established 'growth industry of studies' concerning the informal sector. The common threads which bind together the seemingly disparate writings are concern for the spread of consumerism, the implications of changing consumer tastes, and the world-wide homogenization of consumer preferences. The chapter explores the relationships between the spread of consumerism, changing patterns of liquor consumption among South African urban Blacks, and the rise of pressures supporting the survival of the shebeen. It argues that shebeens moved to a position at the cutting edge of a taste-transfer process in the alcohol preferences of Black consumers, which propelled the shebeen into the wider nexus of the distribution network of the leading South African liquor concerns. The chapter addresses the issues surrounding the state's shifting policy post-1976 towards the distribution of liquor in Black townships.
