Consumerism as a force in our society is maturing. Consumer education as a field of study is also growing up. It is beginning to be recognized as a positive and constructive force in the economy. In the decade of the 80's we can probably place less emphasis on the adversarial and protective issues and more on the rights and responsibilities of consumers in a market economy. A second or “hidden” agenda should be to encourage improvement in the production and delivery system itself.Consumer education belongs to no single discipline. Even economics cannot provide the whole story for a consumer education program. However, consumer education that does not require solid economic understanding is indeed misnamed.Although the primary focus of our efforts should be on the decision making of the individual and the household, our teaching must clearly articulate with the larger economy. We are living in a different economic climate than prevailed a decade or so ago. We must keep abreast of rapidly changing social institutions and market arrangements if our teaching is to be relevant and meet the challenges of the coming dec