Includes bibliographical references and index.

Introduction: consumption and citizenship in the new governance / Mark Bevir and Frank Trentmann -- Interpreting governance -- The construction of governance / Mark Bevir -- Governance as cultural practice: texts, talk and the struggle for meaning / Janet Newman -- Consuming social science / Claire Donovan -- Contested consumers -- "It's not like shopping": citizens, consumers and the reform of public services / John Clarke -- The governance of health policy in the United Kingdom / Ian Greener, Martin Powell, Nick Mills and Shane Doheny -- Regulating markets in the interest of consumers? On the changing regime of governance in the financial service and communications sectors / Peter Lunt and Sonia Livingstone -- New perspectives -- After modernism: local reasoning, consumption, and governance / Mark Bevir and Frank Trentmann -- Critical theory in a swing: political consumerism between politics and policy / Henrik P. Bang -- Problematizing choice: responsible consumers and sceptical citizens / Alice Malpass, Clive Barnett, Nick Clarke and Paul Cloke -- Conclusion -- Reflections on governance from an international perspective / Bronwen Morgan.