Abstract
Consumer behavior and choice models have assumed a major role in historical archaeology. Recent interest in consumption is an honest attempt to move beyond an emphasis on production. Consumer models have clear material referents, making them useful in historical archaeology. These models, however, separate production from consumption, and privilege the autonomous individual as the preferred unit of analysis. They also reinforce and validate ideologies that obscure inequalities and power relations in modern society. For us the important issue is how people reproduce themselves as social beings. Focusing on social reproduction integrates both production and consumption.
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Wurst, L., McGuire, R.H. Immaculate Consumption: A Critique of the “Shop till you drop” School of Human Behavior. International Journal of Historical Archaeology 3, 191–199 (1999). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1021914220703
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1021914220703