The growing significance of ‘consumption’ is one of the factors which has contributed to sociological debates relating to the ‘end of class’. In this chapter, the different strands of consumption-related critiques are identified, and their implications explored. It is argued that one of the most prominent disputes in the field—Saunders on ‘consumption classes’—in fact engaged with but one strand of ‘class analysis’, the ‘employment-aggregate’ approach. Subsequently, the chapter explores discussions relating to the impact of consumption growth and developments on class processes, particularly those arguments concerning the significance of the experience of employment for the development of (‘class’) identities. It is suggested that recent changes in the structuring and organization of employment might, indeed, have significant consequences for the shaping of identities.
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