1. Journalism 614: Consumer Culture and Opinion

2. A Consumer Society A nation of shoppers
Mass and Micro Marketing
Shopping Malls
Online Purchasing
Bargain Hunting
Yet some argue consumption produces unease
Americans are preoccupied with getting and spending
Losing touch with deeper values and ways of living
Withdrawing from community life

3. 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
Began with conspicuous consumption (for display)
Current form‘competitive consumption’ (to win)
Used to “Keep up with the Joneses”: conspicuous consumption
Now we try to emulate the lifestyles of luxury seen on TV

4. Buying ≠ Satisfaction
Yet American’s find little satisfaction in buying
American buying more than ever
Working longer hours to afford purchases
More debt and less savings = life stressors
Less happy with life and its direction
Environmental degradation tied to overconsumption

5. Yet consumption continues to rise

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

7. Work Longer to Make More

8. Americans work longer hours…

9. Mid-wage sectors working longer

10. Savings Rate vs. HH Debt

11. Income and Happiness: GDP per capita v
Income and Happiness: GDP per capita v. % very happy, US (Layard 2005)
Source: Richard Layard

12. Overconsumption and ecological / environmental consequences

13. Our Ecological Footprint

14. Per Capita Footprints by Country
Ecological Footprint

15. Sustainability is the Focus

16. Veblen and Status Consumption Models

17. 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

18. Social Comparison & Rising Inequality

19. Bourdieu and Distinction
French sociologist who observed that class status is gained, lost, and reproduced through consumption
Our clothing, car, home, and media use 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.
Now = “preppy”, “sporty”, “beach”, “hipster”, “bohemian”, “street”, “punk”, etc.

20. 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 and opportunities
Massive credit card, car, and student loan debt
Low job prospects for some
Varies by education level and quality of institution

21. Credit Card, Auto, and Student Loan Debt

22. Prospects vary by education

23. 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

24. Consumer Confidence
Consumer confidence is a driver of economy

25. 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

26. 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

27. Consumer critique
& activist practice
Newdream.org