ABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION The contemporary economy is an extraordinarily complex set of processes, operating in and around a huge variety of institutions and activities. It embraces everything from a teenager receiving and spending pocket money to the most advanced manufacturing technologies in the world being employed by global corporations. It touches most of our daily lives, and directly affects what we eat, how we dress and where we sleep. We are surrounded and confronted by advertisers extolling us to purchase their products; we spend ages agonizing over which ones to buy; and huge swathes of our towns and countryside are devoted to the production of goods and services. Even the most peaceful rural scene is riven by economic relations and processes that connect the small village in the UK to a global food industry.
