Foreword ix // Translator’s Acknowledgements xi // Introduction 1 // George Ritzer // Part I The Formal Liturgy of the Object // 1 Profusion 25 // 2 The Miraculous Status of Consumption 31 // 3 The Vicious Circle of Growth 37 // Part II The Theory of Consumption // 4 The Social Logic of Consumption 49 // 5 Towards a Theory of Consumption 69 // 6 Personalization or the Smallest Marginal Difference 87 // Part III Mass Media, Sex and Leisure // 7 Mass-Media Culture 99 // 8 The Finest Consumer Object: The Body 129 // 9 The Drama of Leisure or the Impossibility of Wasting // One’s Time 151 // 10 The Mystique of Solicitude 159 // 11 Anomie in the Affluent Society 174 // Conclusion On Contemporary Alienation or the End of 187 // the Pact with the Devil // Notes 197 // Index 204