Welcome Back! Midterms 1 & 2... Final Exam: 30 min presentation vs. Traditional paper? Must let me know group & topic by March 8 th if you want to do presentation... Must let me know group & topic by March 8 th if you want to do presentation... March 24, 27, 31 First come, first choice

Conspicuous Consumption Veblin: From 1899 to today! Veblin: From 1899 to today!

Criminology of Leisure? Ontological Insecurity Vocabulary of Motives Edgework Culture of Narcissism The effects of “wasted effort” (aesthetics) is pleasing to us chiefly because we have been taught to find them pleasing... (Veblin, [1899] 1994: 56) The effects of “wasted effort” (aesthetics) is pleasing to us chiefly because we have been taught to find them pleasing... (Veblin, [1899] 1994: 56)

Historical Materialism Why do people behave in ways that are ‘bad’ for them/others? Economic – Social Relations False Consciousness Needs/wants Communication Commodity Fetishization

Conspicuous Consumption Predatory Culture Social Identity is fashioned mainly and often violently around the excesses of marketing and consumption... History of women & work Labour for who’s comfort?

Indulgence & Class

Chattle: should consume, but... Conspicuous consumption of valuable goods is a means of reputability of the gentleman of leisure... Vicarious consumers...

Wasteful Consumption Consumption as evidence of wealth (prestige/branding) Production beyond Need Wants beyond Production Ostensibly purposeless leisure.... presenting ‘desirable things’ in these times of global ahistoricism Subtlety...

“In order for it to be reputable it must be wasteful” (Veblen,1899: p.66)

Conspicuous Waste How is ‘risk’ and ontological security incorporated in maintaining conspicuous consumption & waste?

Critiques ? Postmodern liquidity =( Consumer behavior shaped by lifestyles that defy social hierarchy? Autonomy... Dynamic nature of lifestyle... Struggle with social mobility

Critiques ? Assumption of trickle down =) Bourdieu Bourdieu Trickle-round! Trickle-round! Aesthetics of Economic & Cultural Capital

“Weighing in at near $250,000[....] To justify the price tag, Dussault added 16 single carat and 26 half- carat rubies, eight half-carat diamonds and more than a kilo of 18k white or rose gold.” “Weighing in at near $250,000[....] To justify the price tag, Dussault added 16 single carat and 26 half- carat rubies, eight half-carat diamonds and more than a kilo of 18k white or rose gold.”

Just Do It: Just Do It: Killers Consumers & Violence “The glossy phantasmagoria of youth and beauty, freedom and pleasure, obscures widespread devastation and suffering [...]to ‘consume’ is to devour and destroy, to waste and obliterate.”

Covert affinity between the ‘monstrous’ serial killer and the ‘normal’ consumer....

Commodification of Violence Culture Industry (not “society” not “media”) Murderbilia: “merely a hardcore version of a mainstream obsession with the serial killer” Shockvalue has translated into surplus value.

Masking Violent Consumption “we treat people like objects, and objects like people...” Hegemonic – Hegemonic – gender dyad Masculine = mastery, virility & control Feminine = victim/object ‘Policing’ through self- obsession Advertising = create needs/conspicuous consumption

Androgony “While serial killing is both literally and symbolically a male affair, the paradigmatic consumer is of course female in consumer culture there is a ‘general tendency to feminize objects... All objects... become women in order to be bought”

Baudrillard: Obey your Thirst The Dream of Becoming: Consumers are ultimately encouraged to consume themselves.... “[a] negation of the flesh at the exaltation of the fashion” Blurring of capital and corporeal Body fascism Collection...

‘New Slavery’ At the national level the consumer economy produces radical inequalities that encourage violent crime. At the international level, consumer capitalism depends heavily on a ‘new slavery’ for millions in the developing world who are incarcerated in dangerous factories and sweatshops and subjected to the repetitive violence of Fordist production. (Jarvis, 2007: 329)