Psychology Press

Psychology Press

English

"... The author and her contributors write commandingly and offer a well-structured, well-presented analysis of the existing studies and illustrate quite succinctly the maladaptive consequences of a society and its individuals who equate material success with self-worth." - Kristina Downing-Orr, clinical psychologist, London, UK, in The Psychologist "Dr. Dittmar has done us a great service by writing a book on the importance of 'consuming' to society and to individual identity and well-being that is both scholarly and accessible. The book tackles some tough questions regarding who and what people want to be, how they go about constructing their 'selves', and just what is it that people want from life and why. I wish more research psychologists were writing books like this."- James E. Maddux,George Mason University, Washington, USA "Dittmar's book provides a valuable review of her ground-breaking psychological studies of consumer culture. In my mind, the book's strongest contribution is its explication of how identity-related processes help explain the damage that occurs when individuals take on the materialistic values and unhealthy body images encouraged in our contemporary world."- Tim Kasser,Knox College, USA "Consumer Culture, Identity and Well-Being: The Search for the 'Good Life' and the 'Body Perfect' discusses an important and timely issue - the psychological impact of mass consumption that visibly pervades our consumer culture. ... The author makes a contribution by focusing on identity." - Candice R. Hollenbeck & George M. Zinkhan, PsycCRITIQUES