{"product_id":"the-steal-a-cultural-history-of-shoplifting-paperback","title":"The Steal: A Cultural History of Shoplifting - Paperback","description":"\u003cp\u003eby \u003cb\u003eRachel Shteir\u003c\/b\u003e (Author)\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eRachel Shteir's \u003ci\u003eThe Steal \u003c\/i\u003eis the first serious study of shoplifting, looking to history to reveal the roots of our modern dilemma. Dismissed by academia and the mainstream media and largely misunderstood, shoplifting has become the territory of moralists, mischievous teenagers, tabloid television, and self-help gurus. But shoplifting incurs remarkable real-life costs for retailers and consumers. The \"crime tax\"--the amount every American family loses to shoplifting-related price inflation--is more than $400 a year. Shoplifting cost American retailers $11.7 billion in 2009. The theft of one $5.00 item from Whole Foods can require sales of hundreds of dollars to break even.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Steal \u003c\/i\u003ebegins when shoplifting entered the modern record as urbanization and consumerism made London into Europe's busiest mercantile capital. Crossing the channel to nineteenth-century Paris, Shteir tracks the rise of the department store and the pathologizing of shoplifting as kleptomania. In 1960s America, shoplifting becomes a\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003esymbol of resistance when the publication of Abbie Hoffman's \u003ci\u003eSteal This Book \u003c\/i\u003epopularizes shoplifting as an antiestablishment act. Some contemporary analysts see our current epidemic as a response to a culture of hyper-consumerism; others question\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ewhether its upticks can be tied to economic downturns at all. Few provide convincing theories about why it goes up or down.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eJust as experts can't agree on why people shoplift, they can't agree on how to stop it. Shoplifting has been punished by death, discouraged by shame tactics, and protected against by high-tech surveillance. Shoplifters have been treated by psychoanalysis, medicated with pharmaceuticals, and enforced by law to attend rehabilitation\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003egroups. While a few individuals have abandoned their sticky-fingered habits, shoplifting shows no signs of slowing.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn \u003ci\u003eThe Steal, \u003c\/i\u003eShteir guides us through a remarkable tour of all things shoplifting--we visit the Woodbury Commons Outlet Mall, where boosters run rampant, watch the surveillance footage from Winona Ryder's famed shopping trip, and learn the history of antitheft technology. A groundbreaking study, \u003ci\u003eThe Steal \u003c\/i\u003eshows us that shoplifting in\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eits many guises--crime, disease, protest--is best understood as a reflection of our society, ourselves.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eAuthor Biography\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eRachel Shteir is the author of the awardwinning \u003ci\u003eStriptease: The Untold History of the Girlie Show\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eGypsy: The Art of the Tease. \u003c\/i\u003eHer writing has appeared in \u003ci\u003eThe New York Times, Slate, The Guardian, Playboy, \u003c\/i\u003ethe \u003ci\u003eLos Angeles Times, Chicago Magazine, The Chicago Tribune, \u003c\/i\u003e and elsewhere. She is an associate professor and the head of the BFA program in criticism and dramaturgy at the Theatre School at DePaul University.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ewww.rachelshteir.com\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eNumber of Pages:\u003c\/strong\u003e 272\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eDimensions:\u003c\/strong\u003e 0.8 x 8.3 x 5.5 IN\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePublication Date:\u003c\/strong\u003e May 29, 2012\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Books by splitShops","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51759294939424,"sku":"9780143121121","price":27.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0974\/9764\/5344\/files\/f21dae2c18b8973416a951dcfaf74346.webp?v=1780148392","url":"https:\/\/ebocreations.com\/products\/the-steal-a-cultural-history-of-shoplifting-paperback","provider":"The E-Book Oasis LLC","version":"1.0","type":"link"}