Book review

`Understanding the Consumer Ð A EuropeanPerspective'

by Bernard DuboisPearson Education, Harlow, UK; 2000, ISBN 0 136 163 68 8; 320 pages; £29.99;paperback

The French academic Professor Bernard

Dubois has recently published an

English translation of his text on

consumer behaviour, recommended for

postgraduate classes. The ®rst part

explores the factors explaining purchase

and consumption at the individual, the

interpersonal, and the sociocultural

levels.

At the individual level, there are

chapters on motivation and personality,

perception and images, learning and

memory, and attitudes and preferences.

At the interpersonal level, there is a

chapter on groups and opinion leaders,

while at the sociocultural level there are

chapters on social classes and lifestyles,

and culture and value systems.

The second part of the book explores

purchase and consumption dynamics

with chapters on the purchasing

process, the decision-making unit, and

purchase and consumption situations.

The fairly detailed coverage of the

classical microeconomic model of

purchasing behaviour in the ®rst

chapter is likely to frighten off those

students who have not previously been

introduced to the joys of utility curves!

However, as Philip Kotler points out in

the foreword, one of Professor Dubois's

talents is to bring quanti®cation into the

search for understanding consumer

dynamics.

This emphasis is re¯ected in the

treatment of multi-attribute attitude

models, social class and lifestyle

measurement, and family decision

making. It is also re¯ected in his

concluding chapter where the original

attempts at modelling consumer

behaviour by Nicosia, Howard and

Sheth, and Engel et al. are revisited.

This is one of a growing number of

behavioural texts illustrated with

European examples and cases, and with

its concise and well-structured account

of some of the essentials of what is

currently known about consumer

behaviour, is a welcomed addition to

the shelves.

John May

Bristol Business School,

University of the West of England

102 Journal of Consumer Behaviour Vol. 1, 1, 102±102# Henry Stewart Publications 1472-0817