How much food should we eat? How many alcoholic drinks should we have? How much television should we watch? How much gas should our cars burn? How much electricity should we use in a month? How much is appropriate for us to consume, and who decides what appropriate really means? In the book Consumption Norms and Every Day Life (Consumption and Public Life) authors L. Pellandini Simanya and Lena Pellandini Simanya attempt to find the answers to these questions by exploring the ways in which these consumption norms develop in society. The concepts of “acceptable" and “normal" are often defined by society in a linear way, and go up and down with the cultural trends of a particular era.

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