Journalism 614:Consumer Culture and Opinion

A Consumer Society

A nation of shoppers– Mass and Micro Marketing– Shopping Malls– Online Purchasing– Bargain Hunting

Yet this consumption seemingly produces unease– Americans are preoccupied with getting and spending– Losing touch with deeper values and ways of living– Withdrawing from community life

Source & Effects of the Shift What has caused this shift to a consumer society?

– Some say mass media presentations of the “good life”– Media driving consumer sentiments and opinions– Emergence of ‘competitive consumption”

• Used to “Keep up with the Joneses”: conspicuous consumption• Now we try to emulate the lifestyles of luxury seen on TV

Yet American’s find little satisfaction in buying– Working longer hours– Less happy with life and its direction– Heavily in debt to afford purchases– Environmental degradation tied to consumption

Delivering the goods…

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1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2005

PersonalConsumptionExpendituresper capita (2000$) (Schor, 2006)

The Output Bias:Rising annual hours of work, CPS, 1967-2000 (Schor, 2006)

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1967 1973 1979 1989 1995 2000

Income and Happiness:GDP per capita v. % very happy, US 1946-1996 (Layard 2005)

Consumerism and ecological disaster

Per Capita Footprints

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IndiaIndonesia

SenegalChinaBrazilItalyJapanGermany

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Footprint in hectares

Veblen and Status Consumption Models

Features of Status Models Social positioning produce status consumption

– We look to those a rung above us to determine acceptable

opinions and behaviors, fashions and purchasing

Game is played through visible consumption

– Must be seen to be part of a status game - who is ahead?

Trickle down model

– middle class emulate upper-middle, who emulate the rich,

who emulate the ultra-rich

Consumption is social, a way to marking ones social

belonging and class status - badges of belonging

Social Comparison & Rising Inequality

Share of Consumption by Household Income

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1015202530354045

top 20% 80% 60% 40% bottom20%

Bourdieu and Distinction

French sociologist who observed that class status is gained, lost, and reproduced through consumption– Our clothing, car, home, and media consumption all

display our social position

Can gain or lose access to social circle by displaying appropriate taste, manners, culture– Consumption helps to maintain basic patterns of

power and inequality - this is why it matters!!!

New Consumerism

Neighbors are no longer the point of comparison

– Upscale emulation parallels the decline of neighborhood life

Income and wealth concentrated in top 20%

– Surge of conspicuous consumption at the top

– Most no longer satisfied with middle-class life

Aspiration gaps

– Desires outpace incomes

– Credit card debt

• Averages $7000 per person, with $1000 in interest & penalties

– Low savings rate

• 8% in 80s, 4% in 90s, 0% now!!!

The Rise of Competitive Consumption

Movement of women into the workforce

– Decline of neighborhood contacts

– Workplace, with wider range of social classes,

becomes point of upward comparison

Less time with friends and family, more at

work and front of the television

– Consumption cues from work and television

– Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous

Consumer Confidence

Consumer confidence is a driver of economy

Over consumption is sanctioned, even encouraged,

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Consumer Knows Best? Assume consumers are rational Assumes consumers are well informed Assume consumer preferences are consistent Assume consumer preferences are independent Assume consumption does not reduce public goods

But consumers are no more deliberative than citizens– Neither purely rational nor deluded, duped, and manipulated

In fact, they are one and same - consumer citizens– Artificial distinction - consumption can be civic/political

A Politics of Consumption

Changing opinions driving changes in markets and society– Right to a decent standard of living

• Ex. Fair trade coffee

– Quality of life rather than quantity of stuff• Ex. Downshifting

– Ecologically sustainable consumption• Ex. Global warming & consumption

– Democratize consumption practices• Ex. Starbury - Stephon Marbury

– The politics of retailing• Ex. Walmart vs. mainstreeet

– Consumer movements• Ex. Anti-globalism

Consumer critique& activist practiceNewdream.org