Consumer culture and neoliberal political economy are often viewed by social psychologists as topics reserved for anthropologists, economists, political scientists and sociologists. This paper takes an alternative view arguing that social psychology needs to better understand these two intertwined institutions as they can both challenge and provide a number of important insights into social psychological theories of self-identity and their related concepts. These include personality traits, self-esteem, social comparisons, self-enhancement, impression management, self-regulation and social identity. To illustrate, we examine how elements of consumer culture and neoliberal political economy intersect with social psychological concepts of self-identity through three main topics: 'the commodification of self-identity', 'social categories, culture and power relations' and the 'governing of selfregulating consumers'. In conclusion, we recommend a decommodified approach to research with the aim of producing social psychological knowledge that avoids becoming enmeshed with consumer culture and neoliberalism.Key Words: consumer culture, decommodification, neoliberalism, political economy, selfidentity. 1 The following analysis draws on material from the authors' book on social psychology and consumer culture (McDonald & Wearing, 2013). Consumer Culture & Neoliberal Political Economy 2 IntroductionConsumer culture has become a significant phenomenon in Western societies. Consumer items are viewed as "important and valuable in their own right" so that many people's lives revolve around the consumption of products, services and experiences that are mediated by the market (Ritzer, 2007, p. 164). As societal institutions, consumer culture and neoliberalism set many of the rules that both constrain and empower social behaviour (Binkley, 2014; Campbell, 2001; King & Pearce, 2010;Rose, 1996;1999), they provide society with "patterned, organised, and symbolically-templated 'ways of doing things'" (Jenkins, 2000, p. 10).Given the important role that consumer culture and neoliberalism play in people's lives, it stands to reason that these two institutions be analysed in relation to self-identity as 'social influence', broadly defined, is one of social psychology's main areas of research. Social psychology's reluctance to engage with societal institutions like consumer culture and neoliberalism is likely due to a perception that these are topics reserved for anthropologists, economists, political scientists and sociologists. In line with Parker (2015), we argue that engaging with insights across the broader social sciences can provide social psychology with a theoretical understanding of contemporary cultural, political and economic trends effecting society.Research on consumer culture in social psychology has typically taken a microsocial perspective, examining consumer behaviours such as product choice and decision making by focusing on individual social cognitions (e.g. Bagozzi, Gurhan-Canli & Priester, 2002; Kardes...

Publicly funded research institutes in most ?The authors wish to acknowledge the considemble present project. support provided by the staff of the CSIRO for the R&D Mumgement 252,1995.6 Basil Blackwell U d 1995. Published by Blackwell Publishers, 108 Cowley Road, Oxford OX4 IJF, UK and 238 Main Street, Suite 501, Cambridge, MA 02142, USA. 2.67 2.21 J J J J 4 J J J Chart 2 Competencies for the four functional areas as described by the CSIRO competency schedulet

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This chapter examines the growing phenomenon of WWOOFing (Willing Workers on Organic Farms) farm tourism and how it functions at the human-human level outside of commoditized relations. The chapter highlights key findings from recent research that indicate the ways in which 'WWOOFing' constitutes 'transformational tourism', exploring key lessons that can be learned from this travel-related phenomenon.