From the 1960s until 1995, East and South-East Asia experienced tremendous capitalist economic growth, through which emerged a new urban middle class with a greatly improved material life. This book examines the processes which have transformed underdeveloped countries into full-blown consumer societies. The essays in this collection challenge conventional ideas about consumption and consumerism: they consider if the inundation of Western consumer goods have created identity confusions among the affluent in Asia, and if the expansion of consumer culture really does threaten the stability of politically anti-liberal states in Asia. This is the first book to analyse in detial consumerism in the region, and will be valuable reading for students and researchers in Asian studies, economics, politics and cultural studies.