Coca-Globalization Following Soft Drinks from New York to New Guinea [Hardcover]

This book explores globalization through a historical and anthropological study of how familiar soft drinks such as Coke and Pepsi became valued as more than mere commodities. Foster discusses the transnational operations of soft drink companies and, in particular, the marketing of soft drinks in Papua New Guinea, a country only recently opened up to the flow of brand name consumer goods. Based on field observations and interviews, as well as archival and library research, this book is of interest to anyone concerned about the cultural consequences and political prospects of globalization, including new forms of consumer citizenship and corporate social responsibility.Introduction: Cola Connections and Worldly Things PART 1: SOFT DRINKS AND THE ECONOMY OF QUALITIES The Social Life of Worldly Things: Commodity Consumption and Globalization Globalizing Coca-Cola: The Multilocal Multinational Corporation Qualifying Products: Trademarks, Brands and Value-Creation A Network of Perspectives: The Meanings of Soft Drinks in Papua New Guinea PART 2: GLOBALIZATION, CITIZENSHIP AND THE POLITICS OF CONSUMPTION Corporations, Consumers and New Strategies of Citizenship Shareholder Activism: Consumer Citizenship Inside the Corporation Pouring Rights: Politics, Products, Agency and Change Conclusion: Product Networks and the Politics of Knowledge References

Skillfully navigating the pitfalls of reading soft drinks as either a pat story of unmitigated coca-colonization on the one hand or autonomous local resistance on the other, Foster presents a persuasive case for both the openness and the constraints of the processes he traces. - Comparative Studies in Society and History

This is a great book. It is definitely worth incorporating in your teaching if you are a professor, and in your thinking if you are a human being who cares about people and our environment. Foster pulls together many strands of cultural anthropology to create a compelling story aboutl“+