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‘Consumption, Cities and States’ examines the fascinating intersection of consumption, citizenship and the state in a cross-section of global cities in Asia and the West. It focuses on a number of theoretical and empirical analyses: developing and amplifying the intersection of consumption, citizenship and the state in late modernity in relation to a range of cities; examining the concept of the global city as an ‘aspirational’ category for cities in Asia and the West; and considering case studies which highlight the intersection of consumption and the state. As Ann Brooks and Lionel Wee demonstrate, the interface between citizen status and consumer activity proves a crucial point of analysis in the light of the neoliberal assertion that individuals and institutions perform at their best within a free market economy.
‘This is a theoretically sophisticated and always accessible transdisciplinary comparative analysis of Singapore’s successive strategies to become a world-class or global city. The book explores its capacities for institutional self-reflection and strategic learning and the sometimes banal, sometimes surprising tactics adopted to consolidate local loyalties and attract foreign talents and investment.’ —Bob Jessop, Distinguished Professor of Sociology, Lancaster University
Ann Brooks is a Visiting Professor at the Institute of Health and Community, Plymouth University. She was appointed Professor of Sociology and Cultural Studies at the University of Adelaide in 2008 and is part of the Australian Research Council–funded Centre of Excellence for the History of Emotions.
Lionel Wee is a Professor and Head of the Department of English Language and Literature at the National University of Singapore.
Acknowledgements; Introduction; Chapter 1: Consumption, Reflexivity and Citizenship in Global Cities; Chapter 2: Orders of Reflexivity; Chapter 3: Rescaling for Competitiveness; Chapter 4: The Dynamics of State–Society Negotiations; Chapter 5: (De-)Regulating Asian Identities: Comparing Asian Cities and States; Chapter 6: Citizenship, Reflexivity and the State: Investigating ‘Defensive Engagement’ in a City-State; Chapter 7: Governing the Citizen-Consumer: Citizenship, Casinos and ‘Cathedrals of Consumption’; Chapter 8: Regulating Consumption and the ‘Pink Dollar’; Chapter 9: States as ‘Midwives’ to Cities: Cosmopolitanism, Citizenship and Consumption in the Modern State; References; Index