Consumption and Consumer Society Peter Arnold Learning Aims To describe sociological theories of consumption and production To identify how sociologists have examined social relations, the market and consumer To raise perspectives from past and present sociological thinkers To outline the characteristics of the consumer society To examine key contemporary themes- marketing, branding, social identity- and consumption patterns in modern society To examine these within the social structure and use comparisons What Sort of Society Do We Live In Traditionally sociologists have studied society by focussing on production Sociological studies of industrial and manufacturing processes Sociological studies of occupations and work Sociological studies relating these to social class Increasingly the attention has shifted towards a sociology of consumption This analysis is related to the social structure Structures of consumption are stratified Consumption and Consumerism Purchases may be divided roughly into the following: necessities, comforts, unnecessary items. We all have to consume so the consumption of necessities is just that. The ongoing consumption of unnecessary items is what is meant by consumerism. But who decides what is unnecessary and do the categories change over time? Does the notion of ‘unnecessary’ have the same meaning in Hong Kong as in Europe? Karl Marx on Consumption Feudal Society Capitalist Society Everything is produced for immediate consumption Workers do not own the means of production- they sell their labour in exchange for a wage. The wage buys most necessities. Production is not separate from consumption everything produced is used for the maintenance of life What is produced by labour is not consumed directly as it enters the market first Does not assume the form of a commodity- has only use value Products of labour assume the form of commodities Products of labour have ‘exchange value’ as well as ‘use value’, i.e. what they can be exchanged for may exceed their use value Karl Marx on Consumption • Karl Marx made a still important distinction between: • Exchange value - what the commodity can be exchanged for, i.e. what it is worth. • Use value – the value to which the commodity can be put which may be small or may be great. • This observation is extended into analysis of Commodity fetishism – when item has a low use value but high exchange value. This may be the sign of an affluent middle class? Use Value and Exchange Value Markets, Production and Consumption Past social theorists, such as Marx, discussed markets and production processes Weber followed this in discussing rationality and market behaviour In his analysis Weber analysed people’s life chances in the market for labour Both Marx and Weber described labour markets as areas in which classes or groups compete Recent sociological analysis of markets has looked at consuming behaviour and how societies are organised around consumption Marcuse and others suggested that in modern society more and more products have exchange value and little use value Marx and Veblen Thinking About Markets and Consumption The development of global capitalism and what Marx’s prophesy of a world market In his view crisis would occur out of ‘the poverty and restricted consumption of the masses’- Capital vol 3 Marx also described how purchases could become obsessive ‘commodity fetishism’ In The Theory of the Leisure Class (1899) Veblen developed economic sociology Argued that the dominant class in America- ‘the leisure class’ experienced a life of ‘conspicuous consumption’ Conspicuous consumption was about identity and display Conspicuous Consumption Veblen’s term has been extended to describe consumer society In sociological usage it is linked to media, advertising, culture, lifestyle and identity ‘ It is true of dress in even a higher degree than of most items of consumption that people will undergo a very considerable degree of privation in the comforts or the necessaries of life in order to afford what is considered a decent amount of wasteful consumption; so that it is by no means an uncommon occurrence, in an inclement society, for people to go ill clad in order to Appear well dressed’ The Theory of the Leisure Class, 1899 Conspicuous Consumption Sociological Approaches to Consumption Modern sociologists and political scientists help us understand consumer society Bourdieu’s later works analysed culture and consumer society-social life has many overlapping fields. People compete for social position through lifestyle activities and tastes Baudrillard explained significance of media and mass communications in consumer society. TV defines reality Bauman on move from producer to consumer society It is important to recognise that different modernities can co-exist. This is a point made strongly by Bhambra in discussion of multiple modernities. In some cases forms of European modernity may be rejected and aspects of local culture emphasised. There might be hybrid and mixed modernities Pierrre Bourdieu Bauman and Baudrillard Gurminder Bhambra Emergence of the Consumer Society What most consumer scholars agree on is that after the WW2 there was a great shift towards a social structure that could be called Consumer Society People had more disposable income Rise in the manufacture of household and leisure goods Advances in technology. Radio/TV – allows a direct access to people in their homes Rise in the marketing and advertising industries Capitalist Consumer Society Our needs, desires, and wants become increasingly commodified. Do we really want/need that designer good? Presented as an objective (truthful) desire From where do the desires and wants originate? The power of marketing creates what theorists from the Frankfurt school called ‘false needs’. The Characteristics of Consumer Society The following characteristics are firmly identified: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. Rising affluence, personal and family expenditures Working life drives leisure and consumer goods Identities related to status as consumers More time devoted to lifestyle - goods confer status People are divided along consumption cleavages Consumers have power, consumer replaces citizen Markets pervade social life- health, education Gramsci and Hegemony Antonio Gramsci Hegemony Gramsci (1891-1937) employs the notion of hegemony A set of dominant ideas that shape our beliefs and culture. They are presented as common sense, and as a result we consent to them A political concept concerned with the nature and distribution of power between groups in society. Involves securing the consent of subordinate groups Hegemony and Control So control through consent is prevalent in modern societies (extreme coercion is very rarely used in modern, democratic, capitalist societies). Liberal societies encourage individuality rather than collective and class action Ideas shape our thoughts and circumscribe our actions Marcuse and the Frankfurt School Through the work of the Frankfurt School sociological understanding focussed strongly on the media and how capitalism generated artificial needs in the consumer Through the development of false consciousness workers pursued consumer goods which distracted them from their true class interests In One Dimensional Man (1964) Herbert Marcuse set out his view of false needs which are imposed on the individual to serve the interests of the dominant political and economic groups. Society creates the needs and fulfils them: “ If the individuals are satisfied to the point of happiness with the goods and services handed down to the by the administration, why should they insist on different institutions for a different production of different goods and services?” (Marcuse,1964:50) Marcuse: One Dimensional Man (1964) As we are kept busy fulfilling our needs we are unaware of our condition Consumer choice an illusion of freedom “The range of choice open to the individual is not the decisive factor in determining the degree of human freedom, but what can be chosen and what is chosen by the individual” (Marcuse, 1964:7) Consumption keeps us content and unlikely to rebel Does the Consumer Society Empower? Against the negative critique of consumerism as creating false hopes for the many and riches and extravagance for the few an alternative positive view can be constructed Instead of being cultural dopes consumers may be regarded as exercising choice and freedom. The desire to own need not be destructive and can involve ethical choices over products In addition, the experience of consumerism may be regarded as allowing release and uplifting us from monotonous and unrewarding daily routines In modern debate the central issue is more about the morality of consumption than its futility The World As A Department Store Iconic Store Hong Kong As A Consumer Society Hong Kong As A Consumer Society Hong Kong As A Consumer Society Hong Kong As A Consumer Society Hong Kong As A Consumer Society Baudrillard on Modern Consumer Society Baudrillard sees the period since the industrial revolution up to the 1960s and slightly beyond as the era of modernity and production. They are controlled by use and exchange value. Baudrillard sees a new shift from modernity to postmodernity which he associates with the increase in consumption and consumerism. Baudrillard’s work is especially useful to us in helping us understand the signs and symbols of the consumer age and in understanding how electronic media shape opinion and even events Baudrillard: Sign, Use, Exchange Value Sign Value Sign and Image Baudrillard starts with Marx's • For Baudrillard the logic of sign distinction between use value and exchange value. Baudrillard adds the value of the sign to the use/exchange duo so we have three elements of value: use value, exchange value, sign value value imposes a cultural order. • As consumers we are vehicles for the transmission of controlled differences according to the demands of advertising and marketing. • For Baudrillard ‘categories of persons’ are produced through this categorisation of objects. Think how this is taken up in marketing. Power of the Image and Categories of Person Mercedes Formula 1 Mercedes Consumer Branding Lifestyles and People The Language of the Consumer Society Advertising shapes, or guides behaviour, commodities have symbolic value In areas of public life clients become consumers, users, stakeholders The language of the market and the consumer spreads into political life Politicians are marketed and packaged Particular social groups become target consumers children, young people, the elderly, women, men Particular consumer ideologies have a tenacious gripowner occupation, car owning, etc, etc Friendship and emotion invested in material celebratory purchases and social relationships Describing the Consumer Society ‘ The distinctive mark of the consumer society is not consumption as such; not even the elevated and fast rising volume of consumption. What sets the members of the consumer society apart from their ancestors is the emancipation of consumption from its past instrumentality that used to draw its limits- the demise of ‘norms’ and the new plasticity of ‘needs’, setting consumption free from functional bonds and absolving it from the need to justify itself by reference to anything but its own pleasurability’ Bauman, Z (2001) in Woodward, K (2010) Social Science: The Big Issues, Routledge, p 91 The Language of The Market Celebrities and Fashion (1960s) Celebrities and Fashion Brands Does the Consumer Society Empower People? There is a substantial sociological debate on whether a consumer culture is beneficial Critics argue that consumerism destroys cultures and local identities Ritzer (2004) criticises ‘cathedrals of consumption’ The shallowness of brand name cultures is criticised, consumers are duped Others, from producer and consumer perspectives, point to growth, choice, diversity and cultural enhancement The consumer is ‘sovereign’ Consumerism and Marketing In the consumer society the power of advertising, branding and marketing are People crave specific items and identities Advertising and marketing are an accepted part of modern culture Through skilful use of the media advertising and marketing encourage spending In the media there is a constant urge to make overhouses, gardens, bodies, personalities Make-Overs Advertising and Marketing ‘ Advertising and marketing are so deeply embedded in our culture now that it’s hard to imagine a time when a product placement and network logo and ‘burns’ and ‘bugs’ weren’t everywhere you looked, when our lifestyles and culture weren’t predicated on consumption. But that pre-marketing era was not so long ago: only two generations’ Lasn, K (2000) quoted in Woodward, K (2010) Social Science: The Big Issues, Routledge, p 89 Consumption and Modern Economies In examining consumption sociologists explore interconnected themes: MacIonis and Plummer (pp 525-529) summarise five: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. The branding of commodities Born to shop Mass consumption- dopes and dupes Inequalities and consumption Disneyization Items 1 and 2 are summarised here. Items 3 and 5 are also of significance for lecture 3. Branding Consumers develop identity with brands, rather than products- a coke not a drink Global advertising has grown faster than general economic growth New markets generate new consumers and new brands Through brands global lifestyles and identities are produced Branding and theming dominate much of the global economy and operate through superstores and branded villages The World’s Most Famous Brand ? Born to Shop The born to shop culture has made shopping a leisure activity evidenced in: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. Growth of shopping malls and superstores Malls and stores become part of leisure time Commodities have expanded in range- specialist sports equipment, different styles of eating, expansion of product ranges as in cosmetics Cultural shopping identities- ‘I shop therefore I am!’ Age specific shoppers, esp in music and fashion Internet and teleshopping Expansion of credit and shopping cards Shopping, travel and tourism Global Cities of Consumption In the past 30 years new global cities of consumption have emerged driven by huge investment, rising earnings and the development of urban infrastructure dedicated to the consumer. Dubai is the classic 20th and 21st century example. Lacking the natural resources of neighbour states Dubai’s development has been tied to shopping malls, theme parks, artificial islands, tourism and the advantages of accessibility by air and sea Against the established media image of successful consumerism, the other side of the analysis has to take into account massive migration of labour (over 250,000) low pay, exploitation and cases of investment failure Dubai City and the Consumer Cities and The Consumer Dubai Aerial View 2013 Dubai Palm Island Applying Sociological Concepts The sociology of consumption has expanded in its own right New areas of inquiry, such as globalisation have added to understanding Established core areas in sociology still have great relevance, for example; Social class, status and social division Culture and materialism Market and economic position Social inequalities and power Stratification and hierarchies Work, gender and family Social identity Organisations, media and communication Do We Over-consume? Critical Perspectives on Consumer Society (See especially chapters 1, 3, 5) Conclusion Study of consumption and the consumer society have become more common These offer different perspectives on social life to those from studies of production These two areas are, however, closely linked How we ‘buy and sell’ takes us into new realms of social, economic and cultural life Studies of consumption and market relations can be complex ‘Consumption is more than going shopping’ Woodward, K (2010) Social Science: The Big Issues Consumption patterns reflect the social structure Recommended Reading and References Aldridge, A (2003) Consumption: Key Concepts, Polity Press Bauman, Z (1998) Work, Consumers and the New Poor, Open University Bauman, Z (2003) Liquid Modernity, Polity Press Bhambra, G (2007) Rethinking Modernity, Palgrave/ MacMillan, especially chapters 2, 3 and conclusion Cohen, L (2003) Consumer’s Republic: The Politics of Mass Consumption in Post war America, Knopf Cohen, R and Kennedy, P (2013) Global Sociology, Palgrave, Second Edition, chapter 4 Elliott, A (2014) Contemporary Social Theory, Second Edition, Routledge, chapters 1, 2 9 Giddens, A and Sutton, P (20) Sociology, Polity Press, Seventh Edition, esp ch 6 Klein, N (2000) No Logo, Flamingo MacIonis, J and Plummer, K (2012) Sociology: A Global Introduction, Pearson, Fifth edition, ch 15 Slater, D (1997) Consumer Culture and Modernity, Polity Press, esp chs 1-3 Woodward, K (2010) Social Science: The Big Issues, Routledge, especially chapters 4, 5, 7 www.consume.bbk.ac.uk Some Thinking Questions What was your last concentrated shopping experience? What motivated you to buy? How was your shopping experience structured? Are you a spender or a saver? If a spender, Why? If a Saver, Why? How responsive are you to advertising and branding?