SOC 202 Chapter Notes - Chapter 5: Conspicuous Consumption, Complex Differential Form, Subliminal Stimuli
Document Summary
* after 9/11, leaders expressed that going out to shop was important as a means of sustaining the economy and defending our fundamental cultural values; in the immediate wake, Americans stopped spending in an attempt to return to more wholesome values, which must have caused a slow down in economy. Consumer con dence index: measurement that tries to anticipate future consumer desires, done monthly through 5000 households; a tremor in this can result in layoffs and bankruptcies. * consumerism has been associated with a rapid decline of quality of social life. * heath and potter see consumerism as a practice that won"t create change or meaning. Commodities: objects and services produced for consumption/exchange by someone other than it"s producer. * exchange labor for money so we can buy the things we need, including what we work to produce. The creation of consumer society: advertising, credit, debt. * expansion of industry resulted in massively increased amounts of goods.
