ABSTRACT
This opening quote sets the stage for this book, as it describes the current state of consumption in our hypercapitalist world, and its oppressive cultural, social, economic, and ecological consequences. In this book, we take the acts and processes of consumption as our starting place-being ever mindful of consumption’s inextricable links to capitalist production-and explore how education and learning are impacted by, grounded in, implicated with, and tied to consumption. This edited volume focuses on the connections between consumption, education, and learning. It explores the present context of consumer capitalism and the various implications our current times hold for lifelong education and learning; it also examines how consumption is tied to learning and identity development. In this book, authors explore the learning and education that are located in the hegemonic aspects of consumption, as well as those that are situated in the more playful, ludic, creative aspects of consumption. Finally, this book explores educational
sites of contestation and resistance-both formal and informal-where learners and teachers are enacting critical pedagogies of consumption.
