The Construction of Rational Consumption in Which? Magazine: The More Blobs the Better?

Abstract

Published by the Consumers' Association and launched in 1957, Which? magazine aims to offer impartial, independent and scientifically-grounded factual information in order to promote rational choice in consumption. In this article, Which? is analysed as a lifestyle guide in which rational consumption and the rational consumer are socially constructed. Which? repudiates the irrationalist anti-Enlightenment thrust of postmodernism: it concentrates on use-value; brackets ethical and aesthetic considerations; treats consumption as a serious matter to be approached with self-discipline; searches for the reality underlying appearances; and promotes confidence in independent, rationally organised expert systems.