542 Book reviews

the art in research on the quality of life. As it can be called a ‘special interest’ book, it is of great value as a reference source for those considering research on the topic.

Susanne C. Grunert University of Hohenheim

Institute for Consumer and Home Economics (530)

P. 0. Box 70 05 62 D-7000 Stuttgart 70, FRG

Reference

Buss, A.H. and SE. Finn, 1987. Classification of personality traits. Journal of Personality and

Social Psychology 52, 432-444.

J. Jacoby and J. Olson (eds.), Perceived Quality. Institute of Retail Management, New York University. Lexington Books, D.C. Heath, Lexington, MA, 1985.

This is a collection of sixteen chapters by various authors, dealing with consumer’s perceptions of, as the title suggests, stores and merchandise. It is a comprehensive collection and satisfies differing kinds of readers. First of all it is of relevance to commercial marke- teers, presenting as it does the state of the art; there are ample opportunities for marketeers to evaluate the merits and applicability of the various technological advances in the assessment of subjective preferences and perceptions portrayed. The second major success of the text is in offering to academic economic psychologists an insight into contemporary market research. The publication presents contributions by academic consumer researchers and practitioners with a view to an increasing liaison between the two groups.

The anthology is divided into five sections. The first deals with the concept of quality; the second, manufacturer perspectives on perceived quality; the third, retailer perspectives; the fourth, regulatory and economic perspectives; the fifth, the relationship between price and perceived quality.

Book reviews 543

Most of the chapters are representative of mainstream consumer psychology, employing the familiar information processing perspective. For economic psychologists there is some disappointment that more is not made of the general implications of these micro-analytic studies for consumer demand theory, although E. Scott Maynes, in a short chapter 12, depicts the price-quality relationship within the analytic framework more familiar to economists.

Alan Lewis Centre for Economic Psychology

School of Social Sciences University of Bath

Bath BA2 7A Y, UK

Geoffrey Beattie, Making It: The Reality of Today’s Entrepreneurs. Wiedenfeld & Nicolson, London, 1987. pp. 203, E10.95.

For a serious economic psychologist, it is a rare treat to be offered a book which promises to marry psychological rigour with journalistic skills in lifting the lid on entrepreneurial reality. Unfortunately, journalism has triumphed at the expense of science. Despite impressive credentials as a psychologist (the 1984 Spearman Medal for psychologi- cal research) and a socio-economic background that seems to take in just about every major section of British society (from working class Belfast through elite Cambridge to the industrial decline of South Yorkshire), Geoffrey Beattie’s Making It: The Reality of Today’s En- trepreneurs emerges as a rather unstructured collection of personal life histories from the nether world of modern Britain. Taken as a work of journalism, however, the book is not without interest, although the same could not be said of many of the thirty or so characters who get the chance to tell their own stories. Ranging from successful businesses exploiting their own particular market niches to enterprises on the somewhat seamier and exploited side of life, most seem to live in a bleak world where fiddles are a way of life. Written in an easily readable style, Beattie constructs a picture of a grey yet hostile environ- ment. He displays enviable photographic skills and an agreeable eye for