Sociology 2172A/B Lecture Notes - Lecture 3: Consumerism, Ally Financial, Diners Club International
17 May 2018
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Consumerism
“We invented credit cards, suburban shopping malls, and day care just to make our consumerism more efficient. We sent our
wives, husbands, children, and grandparents out to work, just to pay for all the stuff we wanted – needed – to buy.
●Korten’s When Corporations Rule the World 1995
1950: “We spend money we've earned to buy things we need to impress people we like.”
2000: “We spend money we haven't earned to buy things we don't need to impress people we don’t like.”
What is Consumerism?
●Consumption: The way we purchase and use goods and services
○Often seen as too trivial to study seriously
●Consumerism: The preoccupation with the acquisition of goods to satisfy needs through material things
●Sociological imagination - take it from the individual to the public
●Have we developed unsustainable consumption patterns?
●How have we reached this point?
●North America contributes to 80% of the world’s garbage
○Goods are more disposable than they used to be
●Conservative estimate: average American uses 30 times the goods as an average resident in a developing country
Cycle of Consumerism
●Advertising tells you that buying anything will make you happier
Role of Advertising
●To manipulate us into buying with little reflection
●Advertisements:
○Appeal to our insecurities
○Solve our problems
○Achieve happiness and freedom
○Restrain our distaste
■They don’t want you thinking too much about the product
Lower-Class Marketing
●Marketing experts:
○Associate success and social standing with a product
●Lower income individuals:
○Buy cars, cell phones, clothes
○Are particularly vulnerable
Document Summary
We invented credit cards, suburban shopping malls, and day care just to make our consumerism more efficient. We sent our wives, husbands, children, and grandparents out to work, just to pay for all the stuff we wanted needed to buy. Korten"s when corporations rule the world 1995. 1950: we spend money we"ve earned to buy things we need to impress people we like. 2000: we spend money we haven"t earned to buy things we don"t need to impress people we don"t like. Often seen as too trivial to study seriously. Sociological imagination - take it from the individual to the public. Consumption: the way we purchase and use goods and services. Consumerism: the preoccupation with the acquisition of goods to satisfy needs through material things. North america contributes to 80% of the world"s garbage. Goods are more disposable than they used to be.
