This groundbreaking work explores media scholar Sut Jhally's thesis that advertising functions as a religion in late capitalism and relates this to critical theological studies. Sheffield argues that advertising is not itself a religion, but that it contains religious dimensions - analogous to Durkheim's description of objects as totems.

Preface Introduction PART I: TOTEMIC DESIRES On Religion Marx and Commodities: Use-value and Exchange Value The Fetishism of Commodities Jhally's Four Stages of Advertising Advertising as Religion? PART II: WORSHIPING A TOTEM: EMILE DURKHEIM'S THEORIES OF RELIGION Durkheim's Definition of Religion Totemism The God/Society Equation Totemism and Advertising PART III: LOCATING RELIGIOUS DIMENSIONS IN THE HISTORY OF ADVERTISING, 1880-1920: THE RISE OF INDUSTRIAL CAPITALISM 1920-1940: "Apostles of Modernity" 1945-1960: Realizing the American Dream 1960-1980: The Creative Revolution 1980-2005: The Information Age: A Media Revolution PART IV: THE RELIGIOUS DIMENSIONS OF ADVERTISING IN THE CULTURE OF CONSUMER CAPITALISM Advertising as 'Divine' Mediator Advertising as Sacramentality Advertising and Ultimate Concern PART V: REFUSING TO BE AN ADVERTISEMENT: ENACTING DISRUPTIVE PERFORMATIVE IDENTITIES AGAINST THE RELIGIOUS DIMENSIONS OF ADVERTISING Cultural Identity Formation Policing the Body: Foucault's Theory of the Body as Inscriptive Surface Embodied Subjectivity and the Oppositional Gaze Disruptive Performative Identities A Counternarrative of Embodiment

TRICIA SHEFFIELD has a Ph.D. in Theological and Religious Studies from Drew University, USA. She has taught religion and feminist theory at the Institute for Research on Women and Gender at Columbia University, at Hofstra University, and at Queens College (CUNY). She is a Lilly Visiting Scholar in Religious Studies for the academic year, 2006-2007, at Austin College, Texas, USA.