Lauren Langman is Professor of Sociology at Loyola University at Chicago. He is currently president of RC36, Alienation Theory of ISA, former chair of Section on Marxist sociology, ASA, on governing board of Global Studies Association, and serves on boards of Social Theory, Current Perspective in Social Theorys and Critical Sociology. He teaches courses in social theory and consumption, and has written extensively on globalization, alienation, and subcultures of transgression. He has long been professionally active in concerns with consumer society; his often-cited 1992 paper "Neon Cages" on shopping mall selfhood was reprinted in the recent Sage volume of Goffman critique edited by Gary… Fine. nbsp; He has since published a large number of related articles and book chapters on such topics as the relationship between globalization identity and carnival,nbsp;and on extreme forms of body modification. His recent book on alienation, published by Rowan and Littlefield should appear in 2004.