Pasi Falk 
The Consuming Body 

This is a fascinating examination of the relationship between consumption, the idea of the body and the formation of the self. In tracing these connections,
The Consuming Body develops a profile of individuality in the late twentieth century – in both its bodily and mental aspects.

Pasi Falk offers a major synthesis and critical assessment of the debates surrounding the body, the self and contemporary consumer culture. He explores two fundamental issues for modern social theory – the delineation of modern consumption and the body′s historically changing position in various cultural orders. In the course of his argument he examines both metaphors of consumption and investigates the issues of representation in advertising and pornography.

Table of Content

Preface – Bryan S Turner

Introduction

Body, Self and Culture

Corporeality and History

Towards an Historical Anthropology of Taste

Consuming Desire

Selling Good(s)

On the Genealogy of Modern Advertising

Pornography and the Representation of Presence

About the author

Pasi Falk is a Senior Research Fellow at the Department of Sociology, University of Helsinki