‘Why then the world’s mine oyster’: Consumption and globalization, 1851 to now

Design has been seen in education and public contexts as principally concerned with ideation and production, yet consumption is an important part of the design lifecycle. This chapter considers the history of consumer society as a correlative of the development of industrial and then post-industrial societies in which the circulation of designed objects has increased exponentially. It examines consumption and globalization as interconnected processes which have grown so prominent that a backlash reaction to their planetary impact has included sustainable design practices, the anti-consumption movement and local and regional consumption initiatives.