On Consumer Culture, Identity, The Church and the Rhetorics of Delight (Reading Augustine) - Softcover

Mark Clavier

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1501330918 ISBN 13: 9781501330919

Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic, 2018

Synopsis

The Reading Augustine series presents short, engaging books offering personal readings of St. Augustine of Hippo's contributions to western philosophical, literary, and religious life. Mark Clavier draws on Augustine of Hippo to provide a philosophical explanation for the success of marketing and consumer culture. Augustines thought, rooted in rhetorical theory, presented a brilliant understanding of the experiences of damnation and salvation that took seriously the often hidden psychology of human motivation. His keen insight into the power of delight over personal notions of freedom and self-identity can be used to shed light on how the constant lure of promised happiness shapes the identities of consumers. From Augustines perspective, it is only by addressing the sources of delight within consumerism and by rediscovering the wellsprings of spiritual thought that we can effectively challenge consumer culture. To an age awash with commercial rhetoric, the fifth-century Bishop of Hippo offers a theological rhetoric that is surprisingly contemporary and insightful.

About this title

Review

"Mark Clavier's book is a significant piece of work, I hope it is widely read, and that he will continue to work on this." - Education Priest

About the Author

Christopher Meir is Lecturer in Film at the University of the West Indies, St. Augustine in Trinidad and Tobago, where he has taught since 2008. Meir is also a CONEX Fellow in the Department of Journalism and Audiovisual Communication at the University of Carlos III Madrid, Spain. He is the author of Scottish Cinema: Texts and Contexts (2014) and co-editor of Beyond the Bottom Line: The Producer in Film and Television Studies (Bloomsbury, 2014). He has also published a number of articles on industrial issues in Film and Television Studies.

Edition details

• Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic
• Publication date: 2018
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1501330918
• ISBN 13: 9781501330919
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 144