The Sociological Understanding Of Consumer Behaviour

Judith Levine wrote the book “Not Buying It’’.It is a nonfiction book about Judith Levine,along with her friend Paul,to go 12 months(1 year)without shopping . Levine researched consumerism and anti-consumerist movements.Judith Levine was led to write “Not Buying It’; because she thought it was “the confession of a woman any reader can identify with.Someone who can’t live without French roast coffee or SmartWool socks,but someone who has reached their limit with our consumption,and its effects on the earth and everyone who dwells here”.

The term consumer society goes beyond the mere act of shopping and the functional use of goods with contemporary

In this essay I will be outlining consumerism and claims that a consumer society is always a throw-away society. Consumption plays a big part in our lives and causes us to live in divided societies. It may make us feel like we fit in buying new gadgets and clothes and also give us that sense of belonging but we don’t take into account what happens to the old items and packaging. People do not want to look at the problems caused. I will use this essay with the evidence I have read

Today, people consume for necessity and pleasure. The act of consuming goods may allow one to fit in, feel confident, or participate socially in shopping culture. Consumerism has become a universal behavior amongst most people and

Solomon, M. R., Zaichkowsky, J. L., & Polegato, R. (2011). Consumer behaviour: Buying, having, and being (5th Can. ed.). Toronto: Pearson Prentice Hall

Literary Review: Grant McCracken, Culture and Consumption: New Approaches to the Symbolic Character of Consumer Good and Activities; The Evocative Power of Things (Indiana University Press 1988)

In order to get people to want to spend their hard-earned money, individuals need to be motivated and persuaded. More importantly, people need to be manipulated into thinking that to feel happy, whole and worthy, they have to consume. This single path between material and well-being, paved by the grasps of media and advertisement, gives rise to the self-poisoning consumer-infatuated society present today. Modern day obsession with the consumerist lifestyle, transforms the American, regardless of

The author James B. Twitchell identifies consumerism as being the next evolution of our social behavior. “In our postmodern world we have, it seems, exchanged knowledge of history and science for knowledge of products and how such products interlock to form coherent social patterns” he asserts (Twitchell 321). The implication is that, where we used to rely on crafting items and learning skills for ourselves, we instead find that technological progress has now enhanced the means of production to be so efficient that the value we provide to one another now is not by what we can offer, but by what we decide to buy. These purchase trends are used as a means of forming social connections, and I agree. I have personally observed consumption trends lead to social connections. Certain cultures and sub-cultures have specific styles or looks associated with them. Like-minded or similar interested people can easily identify each other. If an individual is impassioned by rap music, he or she consumes certain brands and types of goods that another person, who’s enthusiastic about country music, would refrain from acquiring.

As we are constantly exposed to mass media and popular culture in our modern society, the insidious nature of consumerism has allowed it to penetrate into every aspect of our lives, dictating our very beliefs, values and wants. Nearly every individual in our society subconsciously conforms to the shallow and superficial mindset that characterises our consumerist culture. This idea is highlighted by the following texts; the poem “Enter without so much as knocking” by Bruce Dawe, an extract from the sermon “The Religion of Consumerism” delivered by Peter House, the poem “Breakthrough” by Bruce Dawe, and the

The dominance of capitalist countries has facilitated the conformity of global civilization and cultural environments resulting in an increase of consumer cultures (Sarmela, 1977; Chaney, 2004). As capitalism experiences a natural and unavoidable expansion, consumers engage with consumer culture creating invisible products such as social status, identity, cultures, and ethical relationships (Sternberg, 2017). There are two sides to consumer culture that are the values held by society; those who conform and those who rebel (Turow & McAllister, 2014). All participants of society align with either submission or resistance to dominant ideas, values, and social structures. However, as a result of continued progressive diversity and fragmentation, the distinction between submissive and resistance are blurred. Nevertheless, those who resist and rebel are still participants of consumer culture. Instead they instead form sub cultures in society with alternative beliefs, values and ideas that challenge the mainstream (Chaney, 2004). In order to better understand the relationship between consumption practice and the resistance of consumer culture, theories of reflexive project of self, prosumers, lifestyle commodification, and incorporation will be analyzed in relation to the vegan movement.

The chosen article is Two Cheers for Consumerism by James Twitchell. In this article he talks about consumerism, commercialism, and materialism. He argues the stand point of consumers and the role they live by every day. In other hands the critics, Academy, gives the consumers and overview description to their consumers.

A ‘commodity sign’ invests symbolic meaning in products or services as a signifier with an image as signified. In recent times, consumer culture is driven by our desire for superfluous wants, causing the production and consumption of commodity signs to become more specialised according to the notion of capital. Capitalism is characterised by economies that are based on open markets and the ethos of individuality over community. French Sociologist Pierre Bourdieu (Distinction 1984) introduced the schema of subcultural capital, which ‘confers status on its owner in the eyes of the relevant beholder’ (Thorton, 2006: 100). Therefore people have the idea that they can buy subcultural capital, as it is seen as self-revealing, in order to impress people or become someone else (Frith, 1996: 5). Thus advertising was developed as a strategy in generating demand in a contemporary consumer culture. Mass marketing has split the unity of signifiers and signified into a language of appearances and images of which we realise as either visible, physical connections or indirect connotations to that which they represent.

Consumption, we describe as the act of meeting basic needs with material goods and the practice of consuming as a way of life is ‘consumerism’ ( Kennedy 173). The ideology that the meaning of life is found in buying things has really caused majority to spend almost their monthly salary on goods and services in search of utility. This excessive recreational spending also plays a part in increase of inflation, also has made more money in circulation.

Consumerism and the effects of branding affect people’s lives. Branding allows consumers to easily identify which products are made by which companies. Yet, the brands create more of an influence on consumer’s lifestyles and in the end decide what kind of consumer that person is. Branding creates a blurred divide in our society. Consumers who are ore likely to purchase the branded products that are associated with better quality and higher prices are put into their own category bucket versus the consumers who choose the cheaper priced products that are made with less quality. When it comes to deciding who you are based off of the products and brands that you associate yourself with, it creates a capital divide in our society. Consumers than associate brands with personal feelings based upon whether or not they associate themselves with those brands. Lives of consumers are heavily influenced. Their lives are worse off when they feel the need to ‘keep up’ with brands in order to feel as if they are portraying themselves in the best light. In a way, this is similar to how all of branding began with livestock. Consumers want to physically brand themselves with specific brands by wearing logos and identifying with a brand. They might not be burning the brands directly onto their skin but they are burning the brands onto their clothes and burning holes in their wallets to keep up with society standards about brands.

Today, people consume for pleasure. The act of consuming goods may allow one to fit in, feel confident, or participate socially in shopping culture. Consumerism has become a universal behaviour amongst most people and groups. According to Sharon Boden, consumption is affected by both external and internal constraints and expectations (150). I argue that consumerism and consumption is no longer an accurate indicator of a person’s actual status and wealth. As a society, we have increased accessibility to commodities and experiences. For example, driving a Mercedes-Benz is no longer a symbol of being wealthy or belonging to the upper class. Leases or loans have brought such luxuries to a broader spectrum of social