Praise for the first edition: `Julier provides an important contemporary account of how design disciplines act and interact in the world.... an important resource for the student of design... perfection as a cultural studies text′ - European Journal of Cultural Studies Aimed at students of design studies, design history, cultural studies and sociology, The Culture of Design, offers a unique overview of design practice in contemporary culture and society. Drawing on a range of theoretical perspectives, Julier nevertheless foregrounds the everyday business and professional context in which designers work. The second edition of The Culture of Design, has been thoroughly revised and updated, and contains new case studies, including one on the iPod. In addition, the book now has a new introductory chapter that outlines academic approaches to ′design culture′ and an extended final chapter which looks at the links between design and management studies and how the creative industries function in the context of urban regeneration and social participation.

Implicit within claims that society itself is in some sense postmodern is an argument about the priority of consumption as a determinant of everyday life. In this view, mass media advertising and market dynamics lead to a constant search for new fashions, new styles, new sensations and experiences. Material goods are consumed as `communicators'; they are valued as signifiers of taste and of lifestyle. This volume examines the viability of this portrait of contemporary society. Mike Featherstone explores the roots of consumer culture, how it is defined and differentiated and the extent to which it represents the arrival of a `postmodern' world. He examines the theories of consumption and postmodernism among contemporary social theorists such as Bourdieu, Baudrillard, Lyotard and Jameson and relates these to the actual nature of contemporary consumer culture.

By the 1930s the Liverpool School of Architecture was the most famous British school of architecture in the world, promoting modern architecture and city planning internationally. This book looks at the cultural environment in Liverpool at the turn of the twentieth century which enabled such an important institution to come to fruition. It examines attitudes towards design practice through the work of patrons, practitioners, institutions and theorists in the city, and considers the way their ideas were formed by national and international trends. From a city microcosm of contesting design aesthetics emerged a unique synthesis that was to exert a profound international influence in architectural and planning design.

By the 1930s the Liverpool School of Architecture was the most famous British school of architecture in the world, promoting modern architecture and city planning internationally. This book looks at the cultural environment in Liverpool at the turn of the twentieth century which enabled such an important institution to come to fruition. It examines attitudes towards design practice through the work of patrons, practitioners, institutions and theorists in the city, and considers the way their ideas were formed by national and international trends. From a city microcosm of contesting design aesthetics emerged a unique synthesis that was to exert a profound international influence in architectural and planning design.

A ground-breaking, multi-disciplinary volume describing the essence of all design fields, ranging from artistic design to systems design, to educational or instructional design.

Considering Class: Theory, Culture and Media in the 21st Century offers the reader international and interdisciplinary perspectives on the importance of class analysis in the 21st century. Political economists, sociologists, educationalists, ethnographers, cultural and media analysts combine to provide a multi-dimensional account of current class dynamics. The crisis consists precisely in the gap between the objective reality and efficacy of class forces shaping international politics and the relative paucity of class-consciousness at a popular level and appreciation of class as an explanatory optic at a theoretical level. This important book shows why the process of reconstructing class consciousness must also take place on the ground of cultural and subjective formation where everyday values, habits and media practices are in play. Contributors are: Anita Biressi, Joseph Choonara, Maurizio Donato, Danny Dorling, Mark Gibson, Craig Haslop, Dave Hill, Peter Jakobsson, Marina Kabat, Holly Lewis, Catherine Lumby, Lisa Mckenzie, Tony Moore, Adrian Murray, Deirdre O’Neill, Jonathan Pratschke, Michael Seltzer, Eduardo Sartelli, Fredrik Stiernstedt, Roberto Taddeo, Mike Wayne, Milly Williamson, Ferruh Yılmaz.

Suitable for upper level undergraduate and graduate level courses on Japanese politics, comparative Asian political systems, or Pacific Rim systems offered through Political Science, and History, this book provides a comprehensive introduction to the political structure of modern Japan.