The Clustered World: How We Live, What We Buy, and What It All Means About Who We Are

Read an Excerpt

Chapter 1: Around The Clustered World
At first glance, Berwyn, Illinois, resembles many of the close-in suburbs of Chicago, a settled middle-class community of beige brick bungalows known as a gateway for immigrants. Since Berwyn's founding a century ago, waves of Czechs, Italians, Poles

Chapter 1: Around The Clustered World, Part 2
At the same time, the American family is evolving into many different kinds of households with wildly different needs. Marketers once pitched products nationally on network TV to just a few dominant prototypes, the favorite being the white middle-class

Chapter 1: Who Buys What?
A journey through the clustered world reveals that such mass-appeal businesses do not reach out and touch millions. Not all Americans have equal access to McDonald's and mall outlets; indeed, there are many clusters where consumers have never sampled

Michael Weiss expands on the geodemographics of the bestselling The Clustering of America with this fascinating look at the sixty-two new lifestyle "clusters" that define who we are by what we buy. The concept of clustering has spread throughout the world, revealing a global village of people who have more in common with foreigners of the same cluster than they do with their fellow countrypeople.

Weiss unveils how businesses and bureaucrats use clustering systems to influence our opinions and choices on bowling alleys in Florida, vending machines in Japan, and social policy in Sweden. His entertaining commentary reveals how Garth Brooks became big in Ireland and why Parisian office workers no longer take two hours for lunch. Colorful maps, on-the-street interviews, and statistical research make this a must-read for business people, demographic junkies, and anyone curious about what's going on down the street and around the world.

Michael J. Weiss is an award-winning journalist, author, and marketing consultant. A contributing editor to the Washingtonian and Ladies' Home Journal, he has also written for the Atlantic Monthly, the Newport Times, Redbook, and People. His first book, The Clustering of America, was named one of the best business books of 1988. He lives with his wife and two children in Washington, D.

	Home \| Forum \| Search
Health Parenting Personal Growth Relationships Religion & Spirituality Career & Money