From Publishers Weekly

'We shop therefore we are' seems to be the conclusion of this homage to the great American pastime. Rather than pass judgment on our shopping compulsion, Zukin, an endowed chair of sociology at the City University of New York, provides a historical and analytical context to help readers understand how shopping has affected public and private life from the mid-19th century to today. Zukin's 1995 book, The Cultures of Cities, described her experiences growing up in one of Philadelphia's retail neighborhoods and examined how other shopping districts, like 125th Street in Harlem and Fulton Street in Brooklyn, had gone through significant racial changes. Here she dissects shopping culture at large, from eBay and the Internet to the death of Woolworth's and the birth of WalMart. Well researched and thorough, the book unearths how and where we shop and, more importantly, why consumer culture has so much power over us. Zukin examines these issues by analyzing both particular individuals' experiences-such as a young woman's search for the perfect pair of leather pants-and retailers' shifts in business strategies. For many people, Zukin writes, shopping isn't simply a transaction, but an experience: "We dream of shopping for beauty, truth and perfection, and if we do not shop for a perfect society, at least we shop for a perfect self." She believes that the noblest aspect of shopping is finding a community, a discovery that usually happens at a place like a farmer's market or a neighborhood store, where interaction among customers is fostered. Rallying for these public spaces rather than buying things, she argues, should be what we use shopping to achieve. Though this book is more likely to appeal to specialists than to general readers, Zukin's lively prose and vivid anecdotes may win her a larger audience.

Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

莎朗·佐京（Sharon Zuki n）畢業於美國哥倫比亞大學，現為紐約市立大學社會學係教授。她是紐約文化與建築的書寫者，此外，她的研究領域涉及消費社會與文化、美國與法國的經濟新秩序和前南斯拉夫的社會主義。她因《權力地景》一書獲得賴特·米爾斯（C.Wri ght Mi l l s）社會學研究奬，並且獲得瞭美國社會學學會社區與城市社會學的羅伯特和海倫·林德（Robert and Hel en Lynd）成就奬。佐京著有《裸城：真實都市空間的死與生》（2010），《購買點：購物如何改變瞭美國文化》（2004），《城市文化》（1995），《權力地景：從底特律到迪斯尼世界》（1991），《閣樓生活：都市變革中的文化與資本》（1982，1989），《馬剋思與鐵托之外》（1975）。她還與邁剋·索爾金（Michael Sorki n）閤編文集《世貿中心之後》（2002），與保羅·迪馬喬（PaulDi Maggi o）閤編《資本的結構》（1990），還編有《産業政策：美國與法國的商業與政治》（1985）。