Consuming Places

In Consuming Places , John Urry begins with an extensive review of the connections between society, time and space. The concept of society , the nature of locality , the significance of economic restructuring , and the concept of the rural , are examined in relationship to place. The book then considers how places have been transformed by the development of service occupations and industries. Concepts of the service class and post-industrialism are theoretically and empirically discussed. Attention is then devoted to the ways in which places are consumed. Particular attention is devoted to the visual character of such consumption and its implications for place and people. The implications for nature and the environment are also explored in depth. The changing nature of consumption, and the tensions between commodification and collective enthusiasms, are explored in the context of the changing ways in which the countryside is consumed. The author has also published The Tourist Gaze (Sage, 1990) and The Economies of Signs and Space with Scott Lash (Sage 1994). Review: Consuming Places is a creative tour of recent trends in British social science, from the earlier debates on localities and restructuring to the new sociology of nature and culture. Urry's own work has not only reflected these trends, it has often set the pace for their most compelling achievements . . . No other sociologist has ever taken place so seriously. -Ed Soja, Graduate School of Architecture and Urban Planning at the University of California, Los Angeles