Outline the claim that consumption creates new social divisions. This essay will outline the claim that consumption creates new social divisions. The definition of consumption refers to the acquisition, use and disposal of goods and services (Hetherington, 2009, p13). This is where the term ‘social division’ refers to a number of social differences (module glossary, 2013). This essay will establish the connection between consumption and creation of new social divisions within the UKand will look at social scientists Thorstein Veblen (1899) concept of ‘conspicuous consumption’, Zygmunt Bauman’s (1988) concept of ‘the seduced and the repressed’ and supermarket’s effect on consumer society, by applying Dennis Wrong (1997) ‘zero-sum game’ and ‘positive-sum game’. In the late nineteenth century, American sociologist Thorstein Veblen observed the practice of ‘conspicuous consumption’ (Veblen, cited in Hetherington, 2009, P31). The then ‘new money’ wanted to purchase items to make an impression to the higher class, displaying their wealth, affluence and status through showing off their possessions. Although this was over decade ago conspicuous consumption is even more prominent today. Especially in the world of celebrities, many people such as sports stars, actors and musicians present their success to the public through their wealth. Someone with a lower income could take part in, to emulate the life they desire. For example, purchasing the latest gadget, car or fashionable item, where people are able to seek acceptance of social belongings. Although Veblen’s concept of conspicuous consumption is not without merit, especially in contemporary society, people do not buy for status, they buy for the sign and meaning attached to ... ... middle of paper ... ...sary, Milton Keynes, The Open University. Allen, J. (2009) ‘One-stop shopping: the power of supermarkets’, in Taylor, S., Hinchliffe, S., Clarke, J. and Bromley, S. (eds) Making Social Lives, Milton Keynes, The Open University. Hetherington, K. (2009) ‘Consumer Society? Shopping, consumption and social science’, in Taylor, S., Hinchliffe, S., Clarke, J. and Bromley, S. (eds) Making Social Lives, Milton Keynes, The Open University. Self-reflection What have you particularly enjoyed so far in studying this module? Since studying this module, I have enjoyed reading about conspicuous consumption. This is because; I enjoy reading on how the nineteenth century used to live. Word count 25 What have you found challenging? I am still learning on paraphrasing. I have found this quite challenging this time but hopefully I will progress in further TMA’s. Word count 22
In the essay The Chosen People, Stewart Ewen, discusses his perspective of middle class America. Specifically, he explores the idea that the middle class is suffering from an identity crisis. According to Ewen’s theory, “the notion of personal distinction [in America] is leading to an identity crisis” of the non-upper class. (185) The source of this identity crisis is mass consumerism. As a result of the Industrial Revolution and mass production, products became cheaper and therefore more available to the non-elite classes. “Mass production was investing individuals with tools of identity, marks of personhood.” (Ewen 187) Through advertising, junk mail and style industries, the middle class is always striving for “a stylistic affinity to wealth,” finding “delight in the unreal,” and obsessed with “cheap luxury items.” (Ewen 185-6) In other words, instead of defining themselves based on who they are on the inside, the people of middle class America define themselves in terms of external image and material possessions.
To an extent Britain’s post-war years could be described as affluent. Consumption patterns in the mid twentieth century included the emergence of new household goods as well as the popular dominance of the motor car. Amongst modernisation the term of ‘teenager’ emerged as one of Britain’s main consumers. Leisure patterns embraced the contemporary appliances such as the dominance of television, the choice of cinema showings as well as the effect of Americanisation. Consumerism fever invaded all sectors of society as more and more people had better paid jobs and more free time. However in describing Britain’s post-war society it is important how we define the terms. Consumption is how the British people absorbed the modern possessions of the household and how they influenced their free time. Consumption also includes how modern trappings affected peoples lives. Leisure patterns describe what seized the attention of the public as a whole and that most of the population had more time to spend as they wished. Affluence describes the prosperity of society and how they have a great deal of wealth. Although Britain did prosper during the post war period, it is inaccurate to describe British society as affluent.
Shopping is not simply a chore; it is also an experience. Shopping for clothing is a particularly personal decision, and various motivating factors can cause one shopper to choose a particular store over another store. Some consumers go to the store to confirm that they belong to a certain social stratum, others because they enjoy the thrill of a bargain. According to Daniel Miller in ‘Making Love in Super Markets’, the behavior of consumers in supermarkets tends to fall into two categories: ‘treat’ shoppers and ‘thrift’ shoppers.
Throughout the economic crisis, the middle class wanted to be perceived as continuing to enjoy “lush private space where elevated social status is proclaimed, cared for, and safeguarded” (O’Doughterty 9). Yet the “sense of past and hopes were contradicted by the experience of inflation crisis,” and a new social construction of reality emerged that was tangible in all its effects and efforts (O’Doughterty 9). The act of consuming goods itself is political, and “consumption is central to middle-class self-definition, not only in prosperity, as has more usually been shown but in any and all circumstances, even in recession” (O’Doughterty 11).
Bauman, Z, (1988) cited in Hetherington K, and Harvard C.(eds) (2014, pg.126,142). He further claims, “This is the characteristic pattern of inequality in our contemporary consumer society one that contrasts with the lines of class and occupational status that characterised the major cleavages in Industrial society”. Bauman, Z, (1988) cited in Alan, J. (2014 pg. 275). Moreover, consumerism encourages people to consume creating their own identities, replacing Identities centred on production and work. Furthermore, Hayek in the ‘Ordering Lives Strand’ claims “The market should be free of political intervention allowing individuals to be free to pursue their own interests” Hayek, F.A. (1976). cited in Clarke, J. (2014 pg.380). However, Allen. claims “The ability to ‘buy into’ a particular lifestyle actively excludes others from it on the basis of lack of income and those unable to do so will be seen as unworthy or inadequate” (Allen, J. 2014 P. 278). Thus constraints can be seen placed on people through lack of income, turning differences into inequalities with evidence indicating that ‘People’s values, beliefs and status are now shaped by ‘Consuming’ rather than as in Industrial times by work, politics and religion’, (The Open University, 2016). Therefore, differences which turn into inequalities are as predominant in today’s consumer society as they were in our industrial
According to Slater (1997:26), ‘consumer culture is, in principle, universal and impersonal’. The notion behind this is that consumer culture is believed to be something that is in general for everyone and not specifically personal to you. The variance between production and consumption is growing larger for the reason that, individuals would now rather consume an item that is already available to them instead of producing items themselves. People would now work in their jobs to earn money just so they can spend it on items that someone else has produced for their job. It is a process that goes round in a circle: work, leisure, work, leisure.
In 1899 Thorstein Veblen wrote The Theory of the Leisure Class: An Economic Study of Institutions. In this work, Veblen presented critical thinking that pertains to people’s habits and their related social norms. He explores the way certain people disregard the divisions that exist within the social system, while subsequently emulating certain aspects of the leisure class in an effort to present an image of higher social status. He also presented the theory of conspicuous consumption, which refers to an instance when a person can fulfill their needs by purchasing a product at a lower cost that is equal in quality and function to its more expensive counterpart; however, said person chooses to buy the more expensive product, by doing so, they are attempting to present an image of a higher social status. The almost 110 year cycle between 1899 and 2010 reveals few differences in buying behaviors, other than the differing selection of luxury goods to indulge, or over-indulge in.
Conspicuous consumption is that people spend higher price to buy goods such as luxuries bags. They spend more money to buy one thing is because they want to show off their wealthy and display their social class is higher than the general people. On the other hand, the conspicuous leisure is producing products in an inefficient way to demonstrate the higher social class. However, in contemporary society, people prefer to use conspicuous consumption than the conspicuous leisure to illustrate how rich they are because it is more overt, tangible and easy to show in
Consumerism is a noun that signifies the theory that when people spend money on popular goods they are helping the economy. Consumerism has changed from the view that a product gave you a service, to being a mental well-being level by defining our identity as people. Our society feels as though our consumption habits define how we understand ourselves, how we connect with each other, and above all how we feel a part of, and fit in with the society as a whole. The products in which we buy are largely defining our social and economic value. This is because the lens in which we see and understand the world shows us what is possible and how we might go about achieving what we want. Colin Campbell, a British sociologist, adds his knowledge into
...d subject. The overall opinion is that yes Veblen, Bourdieu and Baudrillard all do have some flaws but that fact that they can still be applied to today’s society decades and even longer in relation Veblen, even though they may not 100% fit within a modern 21 century culture. The biggest term that has survived and does not seem to be going anywhere is ‘conspicuous consumption as it has long be relevant within communities today. It is also an efficient method in which society can use the term to describe the bias that is apparent when individuals are status seeker with in consumption. Therefore, even though consumption is a broad topic and can link into many other subjects other than sociology it can be understood through the works of Veblen, Bourdieu and Baudrillard. However they are just a stepping stone there are numerous theories out there and more being created.
A resource shortage demands an increase in productivity effacting the gross domestic product (Grimes and Register 2016, 5). Schor provided three main contributing factors that led to the shift of consumerism. The first, is that women, particularly college educated women start moving out of the homes and into the social activities of society and into the workplace (Schor 2004). Being around other people in the workplace who were talking about upscaled consumption patterns led to more spending. The second factor is the fact that households had higher incomes to allow for more spending. The third factor was the media and television advertisements. Consumers were being exposed to what was available and were told they to could experience all the luxuries available. Upscaled housing, vehicles and clothing were all representative of status. These were visual examples of ones lifestyle that gave the appearance of success. Advertisment also, launched the “branding” era that changed the way consumers made purchases. The example that Schor gives in is water, prior to the 80’s water was just water but when advertising took over, they promoted various bottled waters that consumers felt if seen with would give them status. This applied to many products to include athletic shoes with the Nike, Addidas, and Converse logos on them, coffee like Starbucks, cloths with visible labels for Gap or Abercrombie and Fitch all gave a status to the consumer. An example of buying based on social status is my high school basketball team in the later 70’s. Being raised in a farm family of five children, money was tight. My high school basketball coaches decided we as a team would wear addidas high top sneakers. This was not a mandatory directive but highly encouraged . When I told my parents I need to buy these sneakers for around $100, they said no. Of course being a sophmore in high scholl
The purpose of this essay is to discuss the concepts of conspicuous consumption and pecuniary emulation as Veblen has written about then in The Theory of the Leisure Class.
Sassatelli, R. (2007). Consumer Culture: History, Theory and Politics, London: Sage, Page 30, Page 126, Page 132, Page 133
Veblen describes these social institutions as institutions that have remained from the middle ages and are still important elements in the management of economics today. In his book Thorstein Veblen further points out that the contemporary businessmen (or the “lords of the manor”), who own the industry, have rather began focusing on “conspicuous consumption” and “conspicuous leisure”, which are far from being useful to the society. He then went on to compare the business class with the working class, coming to the conclusion that the latter was the truly productive one from both and that the wealthy people were reaping benefits on the back of the working class and were only engaging in consumerism and conspicuous consumption, with nothing else, but the pure intention to display their prestige, social power and wealth, accumulated at the expense of the common American. I believe that the “Theory of The Leisure Class” is one of Veblen’s most notable works, because it quite successfully manages to describe some of the greatest problems of the 19th and 20th centuries and proves the statement that economics itself is not static, but is rather defined by the nature of the human character, on which it is so heavily
James, Fredric. 1988. "Postmodernism and Consumer Society." In Studies in Culture: An Introductory Reader, ed. Ann Gray and Jim McGuigan. London: Arnold, 1997, pp. 192-205.