Leisure shopping: The politics of pleasure and drift

Shopping, wandering idly, strolling, selecting and consuming are identified both as the primary leisure occupation of our affluent Western society as well as being recognised as the determining activity at the root of modern urban life in all its facets. Purchasing is much more than the mere satisfying of everyday needs: it is the important ritual of public and communal life, through which identity is created and changed.....Wandering idly through the pedestrian zones and purchasing according to the principle of desire is the embodiment of our freedom, open luxury and superabundance the sharpest weapons against any criticism of the capitalistic system.