Colin Campbell

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• Professor Emeritus at University of York

Veblen’s concept of conspicuous consumption, although widely known and commonly invoked, has rarely been examined critically, while the associated ‘theory’ has never been tested. It is suggested that the reason for this lies in the difficulty of determining the criterion that defines the phenomenon, a difficulty that derives from Veblen’s failure t...

This paper advances the argument that it is the high value attached to the new and the novel that is the major source of hyper-consumption in modern Western, and indeed developing, societies. Three different forms of the new are identified—the new as the fresh, the innovative and the novel—each of which is then related to an analytically distinct f...

The tendency to denigrate consumerism derives from the widespread acceptance of sociological theories that represent consumers as prompted by such reprehensible motives as greed, pride or envy. These theories are largely unsubstantiated and fail to address the distinctive features of modern consumption, such as the apparent insatiability of wants a...

The unique experience of living under government-imposed lockdown is examined for the light it sheds on the important yet complex issue of identifying basic human needs and thus the distinction between these and ‘false needs’ or wants. It is argued that there are two main approaches to the determination of need, one that focuses on the extent to wh...

This chapter explores possible connections between modern consumerism and the answers to such metaphysical questions, as ‘who am I?’ and ‘what is real?’ Whilst one may imagine, at first glance, that such an apparently mundane activity could not possibly be connected with metaphysical issues, there is an obvious link with the question of identity. H...

Both academic and popular discussion of consumption tend to centre around two dominant discourses or rhetorics. These are those of need (satisfaction) and want (desire). These rhetorics relate to contrasting models of human action with associated ideologies. The need rhetoric has its origin in a Puritan-inspired utilitarian philosophy of comfort an...

The tendency to take the meanings commonly attached to objects and extend them to the meanings attached to their use is the object of an extended critique. A discussion of the consumption of clothing is used to demonstrate that this tendency involves confusing two logically distinct frames of analysis, the study of material objects and the study of...

This chapter proposes that social scientists should explicitly recognize the existence of consumers who engage in ‘craft consumption’ and, hence, of an additional image of the consumer to set alongside those of ‘the dupe’, ‘the rational hero’ and the ‘postmodern identity seeker’. The term ‘craft’ is used to refer to consumption activity in which th...

This collection of high quality, largely previously published essays, analyses a range of controversies in the field of the sociology of culture and consumption. Campbell made a major contribution to the development of this field and he has a clear and coherent theoretical position which he employs to comment on interesting disputes among scholars...

It has been suggested that since sociology cannot be described as a science, it would be unrealistic to expect it to “progress”, while there are those who dismiss the idea of progress itself as a social construct. However, there are also those who believe that it has progressed. But progress requires that advances are made in the core knowledge of...

Sociology is trapped in a kind of perpetual Groundhog Day as what looks like progress largely consisting of the recycling of old but largely forgotten perspectives. This occurs because, in addition to an ignorance of the discipline’s history, over-specialisation has resulted in the lack of a collective common memory, that is of material known to vi...

Three possible forms of progress are considered: the emergence of new fields of study, the adoption of new theoretical perspectives and the contribution of certain celebrated scholars. The problem with the first is that “new” fields of study often turn to be new in name only, while also not necessarily focused on addressing core issues. The problem...

If the discipline of sociology is to progress, then it needs scholars as much, if not more than, researchers. While research involves the collection and analysis of data, scholarship involves looking for connections between bodies of data and especially seeks to build bridges between theory and research findings in the search for explanations. Scho...

Deciding whether an academic discipline has progressed is not easy, while gaining a reputation for oneself and helping the discipline to progress do not seem to be closely related. Many obstacles have prevented sociology from progressing, some of which are beyond the control of sociologists: but many are not. Indeed, if no progress has been made, i...

The assumption that sociology is both cumulative and progressive is characteristic of most teaching and research. But such claims are doubtful given that merit is commonly awarded to work considered “original” even though such judgements are both subjective and the easier to make the less one knows of the discipline’s history. In addition, the fact...

This chapter sets out the key questions that are explored in the book, notably whether sociology could be said to have progressed and, relatedly, given the assumption that desire for lasting fame is a motivating force for academics, whether there are grounds for believing that our work contributes to this process. These questions are raised because...

Sociology has long been regarded as in crisis, with sociologists repeatedly agonizing over its status, nature and role. One of the main disputes has been over whether being a sociologist means that one is should aim to change social life rather than merely explain it. However, the role of academic is specifically to interpret the world, not to chan...

“This book advances a bold assessment and critique of the state of sociology today. Campbell takes the discipline to task for denigrating the value of scholarship by prioritising ever narrower and more specialised research interests and agendas. What is needed instead, he claims, is for sociology to return to its core concerns by building bridges b...

Campbell examines where precisely the increased demand came from that made the English industrial revolution possible. Scrutinizing the theories put forward by economic historians, he shows that neither the suggestion that this was due to a new attempt to manipulate demand, nor to an increased stress on fashion, nor even an emphasis on social emula...

In this new introduction, written some 30 years after the book was first published, Campbell discusses the book’s initial reception, stresses its character as an essay, and outlines some of the common misunderstandings concerning the thesis advanced, while also highlighting its similarity with the Weberian original it is intended to compliment. He...

Campbell identifies the problem with claiming that hedonism constitutes the spirit of modern consumerism, which is how could that section of English society who inherited Weber’s Protestant ethic turn into modern consumers motivated by pleasure-seeking? Campbell does not refute the Weber’s thesis, but outlines how teachings evolved after Calvin, fi...

Originally published in 1987, Colin Campbell’s classic treatise on the sociology of consumption has become one of the most widely cited texts in sociology, anthropology, cultural studies, and the history of ideas. In the thirty years since its publication, The Romantic Ethic and the Spirit of Modern Consumerism has lost none of its impact. If anyth...

Serious academic study of the Beatles’ lyrics lags behind that which has been undertaken with respect to their music. While the latter, when undertaken by professional musicologists, characteristically involves a close technical examination, the former is all too often limited to no more than a single descriptive phrase or sentence. But then, where...

The author replies to the comments by Motti Regev and Mats Trondman, explicating some arguments of the original article.

Lecture: University of Leipzig June 2012

It is noted that sociology is commonly described as a discipline that studies `action’ as opposed to `behaviour’. However it is argued that this position is untenable given that `action’ is itself a form of behaviour, and hence that a `behavioural’ perspective needs to be incorporated into an action or intepretivist paradigm. Two common objections...

never in the memory of anyone living had so large a proportion of the population been in church and the religious leaders exercised so large an influence in the national life. If active participation in church life, and a sincere and earnest attempt to live by the teachings of the Church day by day, are marks of religious vitality, there has rarely...

Roy’s 1950s paper “Banana Time” is used as the basis for an exploration of the nature and relationship of agency and action. Roy’s activity in playing his “game of work” is shown to be a feature of individual conduct that, despite possessing subjective meaning, is largely neglected by contemporary sociologists, mainly because of its covert characte...

The cultural changes that have marked Western civilisation over the past fifty years are identified as constituting a process of Easternisation, understood as a rejection of a traditional Western worldview in favour of beliefs, values and practices that are more characteristic of Eastern (understood as Oriental) civilisations. This process is trace...

Contemporary consumerism is frequently the target of criticisms by intellectuals, academics, religious spokesmen and commentators. Five of the more common of these criticisms are selected for analysis and examination; these being (a) the need criticism (b) the materialism criticism (c) the addiction criticism (d) the selfishness criticism, and (e)...

The concept of agency, although central to many sociological debates, has remained frustratingly elusive to pin down. This article is an attempt to open up what has been called the “black box” of personal agency by distinguishing clearly between two contrasting conceptions of the phenomenon. These two conceptions are very apparent in the manner in...

It is noted that Max Weber is held in very high regard by the majority of contemporary sociologists, while his essay, The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, is generally considered his most important as well as his most famous work. However attention is drawn to the marked contradiction between the practice of today’s sociologists in ro...

At its simplest, “modernity” refers to the ideas and attitudes associated with the period since the Middle Ages. The term is associated with the replacement of traditional by new institutions, practices, and ways of thought. Considered in this light, “modernity” implies that the present represents a decisive break with the past. Precisely when this...

This article proposes that social scientists should explicitly recognize the existence of consumers who engage in ‘craft consumption’ and, hence, of an additional image of the consumer to set alongside those of ‘the dupe’,‘the rational hero’ and the ‘postmodern identity-seeker’. The term ‘craft’ is used to refer to consumption activity in which the...

This article proposes that social scientists should explicitly recognize the existence of consumers who engage in ‘craft consumption’ and, hence, of an additional image of the consumer to set alongside those of ‘the dupe’,‘the rational hero’ and the ‘postmodern identity-seeker’. The term ‘craft’ is used to refer to consumption activity in which the...

The concept of power, as commonly formulated in contemporary sociology, is noted to lack any reference to the critical dimension of personal conative striving, or will-power. This deficiency is shown to stem from an overly cognitive conception of action, one in which acts are seen to embody choice and meaning but not emotion or effort, a view that...

Both academic and popular discussion of consumption tend to centre around two dominant discourses or rhetorics These are those of need (satisfaction) and want (desire) These rhetorics relate to contrasting models of human action with associated ideologies The need rhetoric has its origin in a Puritan-inspired utilitarian philosophy of comfort and s...

This chapter is an attempt to interpret the main findings of a research project aimed at studying people’s attitudes to ‘shopping’ (Shopping is taken to mean any activity which involves the treatment of products as potential objects of acquisition through purchase, especially by means of visits to retail outlets.). The data concerned were obtained...

The tendency to take the meanings commonly attached to objects and extend them to the meanings attached to their use is the object of an extended critique. A discussion of the consumption of clothing is used to demonstrate that this tendency involves confusing two logically distinct frames of analysis, the study of material objects and the study of...

The fact that superstition persists in modern industrial societies is identified as a continuing problem for sociology. The predominant response to date has been to view this phenomenon as an evolutionary 'survival' and to invoke psychological theories which neglect both culture and history. However, such theories necessarily involve presenting sup...

The tendency to take the meanings commonly attached to objects and extend them to the meanings attached to their use is the object of an extended cri­ tique. A discussion of the consumption of clothing is used to demonstrate that this tendency involves confusing two logically distinct frames of analy­ sis, the study of material objects and the stud...

The Myth of Social Action is a powerful critique of contemporary sociology and a call to reject the prevailing orthodoxy. Arguing that current sociological theory has lost its way, Colin Campbell presents a case for a new `dynamic interpretivism', a perspective on human conduct more in keeping with the spirit of traditional Weberian action theory....

It is noted that Weber's original programme for understanding the conduct of individuals cannot be realised because the concept of motive is no longer employed by sociologists. The principal reasons for this loss are shown to lie in C. Wright Mills's reformulation of the concept in conjunction with the influence of certain post-Wittgensteinian phil...

The tendency to take the meanings commonly attached to objects and extend them to the meanings attached to their use is the object of an extended critique

Veblen's concept of conspicuous consumption, although widely known and commonly invoked, has rarely been examined critically; the associated "theory" has never been tested. It is suggested that the reason for this lies in the difficulty of determining the criterion that defines the phenomenon, a difficulty that derives from Veblen's failure to inte...

The tendency to denigrate consumerism derives from the widespread acceptance of sociological theories that represent consumers as prompted by such reprehensible motives as greed, pride, or envy. These theories are largely unsubstantiated and fail to address the distinctive features of modern consumption, such as the apparent insatiability of wants...

This chapter explores the assumption that the central dynamic of modern consumerism is the desire for the new and assesses the plausibility of the traditional explanation for this desire as exemplified in the theories of Simmel and Veblen. The work of these two men is often conflated to constitute a Simmel-Veblen model which assumes that ideas of w...

The present neglect of the concept of motive within sociology is traced to the substitution of a concern with motive talk for the original Weberian emphasis upon subjective systems of meaning. C. Wright Mills's work on the vocabulary of motives is identified as that which links both approaches, being commonly presented as the prime justification fo...

Certaines conceptions de l'occultisme le réduisent à n'être qu'une expression déviante et séparée du consensus culturel con ventionnel. Cette perception des choses a l'inconvénient de rendre particulièrement difficile la compréhension de la raison pour laquelle certaines personnes en viennent à adopter une vision occultiste du réel. Elle encourage...

Recognition of the fact that the modern consumption ethic has its origins in the late eighteenth century poses the intriguing question of what cultural forces served to accomplish the rejection of traditional patterns of consumption. Clearly The Protestant Ethic served primarily to inhibit consumption and could not have fulfilled this function. How...

While the concepts of manifest and latent function are commonly described in textbooks as "valuable" and "important," they are rarely used in sociological research. Merton's original formulation and discussion, together with subsequent criticism, is examined in the hope of finding an explanation for this paradox. Four different meanings of the mani...