Description
From the Dust Jacket
Snap, Crackle, and Popular Taste is a witty, irreverent, and cheerfully anti-establishment book of social criticism that examines the seemingly insignificant choices made constantly in everyday life and questions how much true freedom of choice is involved. Some choices contribute only to the illusion of freedom, and are known as “pseudo-choices”: decisions made without an awareness of the hidden forces at work shaping them. Among the important but rarely analyzed aspects of daily life examined are: the food we eat, the means we use to travel, the advertising that is a constant part of the environment, popular taste, the culture of the marketplace, institutions, and the use of leisure time. Some of the author’s sharpest barbs, for example, are directed toward the nation’s favorite pastime, television. For the tens of millions of its viewers, television is no longer one option from among a vast array of choices: the option has become which program to watch, not if the set should be on. As for the actual channel chosen, the author opts for the theory of the Least Offensive Program—just as in the case of food, where the highly processed, largely identical “convenience foods” put on the market by a handful of giant corporations are chosen not for their taste or goodness but because they have been presented as the least offensive (or most attractively packaged, one of the most influential factors in the engineering of everyday behavior patterns). The choice is yours. Or is it?
Publishing Information
Snap, Crackle, and Popular Taste: The Illusion of Free Choice in America by Jeffrey Schrank. From the First Printing by Delacorte Press with 1977 copyright; no other publications listed so this may be a first edition. The ISBN is 0-440-07154-2. This measures about 8-1/4″ x 5-1/2″ and has 192 pages, ending with an Index.
Condition
Enlarge the photo above. Former library book with the usual markings. The dust jacket was protected inside a plastic sleeve. The boards are in good condition and the binding is strong and square. The pages are browning from age but are in very good condition. I found two words underlined in ink No personal names. From clean, smoke-free home.
Shipping
Generally sent the same day payment arrives. Unless you request otherwise, I will wrap the book in plastic wrap to help protect it from the elements, create a custom-made cardboard box to ship it in, and send via Media Mail with Delivery Confirmation tracking. See the shipping page for the cost to send a two-pound Media Mail package. Insurance is an additional cost as described. I am delighted to combine postage and insurance costs if you purchase more than one item. The second item may travel for free or just a few cents more — so it’s worth taking a look at my other items before you complete your order.
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Check out my other TV/Radio/ Newspapers and Psych/Soc and Business/Econ books — and ask about the combined-postage discount!
