ABSTRACT
This chapter explains the domain of the study of consumer behaviour (CB), how it has been studied in the past. When people speak of consumer behavior, they commonly have in mind the things that people buy for food, shelter, and clothing, with consuming especially meaning using something up as in eating. The history of clothing may be similarly examined to show how consumer behavior has become known to people. Compared to the study of food consumption, CB scholars seem less given to analyzing behavior with clothing despite Michael Solomon's innovative doctoral dissertation on the phenomenon of "dress for success". In the late 1940s and 1950s, with the post-war upsurge of prosperity, competition, and consumer choice, several social commentaries appeared. At present, the study of consumer behavior is diverse and multi-faceted although the Journal of Consumer Research and the Journal of Consumer Psychology and their associations appear concentrated on the psychology of consumer decision-making and engage increasingly in abstract language.
