ABSTRACT
The focus of this book is on consumer behavior and economics. In particular, I argue that consumers have been neglected characters in the theories economists construct and in the stories they tell about the way the economy works. This applies to both mainstream, neoclassical economics as well as to much of the current heterodox alternative. To talk of a single representative consumer is misleading because it flattens important differences in the practices by which individuals and groups forge a meaningful life. And yet, to assemble individuals into associative groups without recognizing the intersectionality of race, gender, class and place also has the effect of glossing over the diversity of life experiences and the complex forces that shape and are shaped by consumer practices.
