A History of the Digitalization of Consumer Culture: From Amazon Through Pirate Bay to Farmville

Abstract

The purpose of this chapter is to examine how information society interacts with consumer society. I trace a brief history of the digitalization of consumption, starting from the online retail sites of 1990s and ending with digital virtual consumption in online games and communities. On the way, I ask what changes, if any, digitalization has brought about in the sites, processes, subjects and objects of consumption. Consumers have not necessarily become any less materialistic despite goods turning digital. But virtualized consumerism presents a new hope for environmentalists.