Recent work by Schor revives concerns raised by Veblen and Hirsch over the destructive consequences of competitive consumption. In contrast, Twitchell argues that increased access to commodities as symbols of luxury signals a democratization of class and social status. Rather than playing the role of dupes, consumers are active co-conspirators in the creation and maintenance of luxury goods markets. While flawed, each of these perspectives has something important to offer to social economists interested in understanding consumption. A key question for social economists is whether material pleasure and the symbolic expression of identity through consumer goods is compatible with a more politicized, socially conscious consumption ethos. Food consumption offers a fruitful starting point for pursuing this issue. I begin by examining food and its symbolic role in identity formation. I then consider the Slow Food movement and explore the ways in which it maintains a central role for material pleasure while promoting a socially and environmentally conscious stance toward consumption.consumer identity, cultural capital, food consumption, social capital, slow food,

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The incorporation of work by Freire and Habermas into adult education theory has contributed to the development of concepts such as "communicative competence" and "transformative education." This contribution has generated a lively and spirited debate within the field of adult education. My purpose is to extend the debate to include an analysis of the role of power and knowledge in educational theory. By examining the contribution of postmodern social and cultural theories to adult education, I argue that (a) adult educators not lose sight of the connection between knowledge and power, (b) all individuals in educational settings occupy multiple subject positions through which they construct a complex and often contradictory understanding of their life world, and (c) that adult educators be attuned to the various ways in which power is deployed through their own discourse about particular discipline-specific knowledge.

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The sphere of consumption and the behavior of consumers has been a neglected area of investigation by radical political economists. The production/consumption duality is examined with special reference to Marx. Postmodern Marxism is offered as an alternative with which to examine consumer activities. Furthermore, insights and methods of analysis from the social construction of technology (SCOT) and feminist theory are investigated. These approaches can help to reclaim the terrain of consumer behavior for heterodox economics.