The views of retail parks included, ‘safe, convenient and modern places for families to shop’ (Jackson, 2009, p. 45) and with many retail parks becoming available, the divide becomes apparent when peoples access, or lack of access as the case may be is shown. Lack of mobility and transport is cause for some of the divide in consumer society when people are unable to reach retail parks therefore these in Bauman’s terms would be the ‘repressed’.
This would take assumption that those in the seduced category are ones with the above views regarding retail parks and those with money to spend and transport to travel there. This type of exclusion in society is therefore unequal, and the seduced could be seen to have an exclusive membership to a consuming society simply because the repressed are unable to participate. This exclusivity however isn’t one that cannot be changed or altered, due to people’s circumstances changing.
Such as a ‘seduced’ person losing their job, would result in them being unable to continue consuming fully changing their status and changing them into the ‘repressed’ group, similarly a ‘repressed’ individual who learns to drive and could then move into a position to contribute to consumer societies better. The idea that some people are excluded from society by what they decide and are able to consume is part of the theory by Thorstein Veblen, in which he used the term ‘conspicuous consumption’ to explain how many people hoose to display their choices of consumption in order to be accepted into social networks, or to simply show their identities (Veblen, cited in Hetherington, 2009, p 32).
The Term Paper on Make Mone Television Society People
Man lives in a world erected by the stories that he hears, sees and tells. These stories and their messages socialize people into roles of gender, age, class, vocation, and lifestyle. Stories of the American society weave the seamless web of its cultural environment, cultivating most of what people think, what they do, and how they conduct their affairs. This has become an important issue to ...
This theory by Veblen can show the divide in consumer society because some people are able to buy items considered as ‘luxury’ items such as cars, homes, and clothes and would therefore be the people considered to be main contributors in consumer society. In Veblen’s theory it would mean some people become excluded due to their failure to consume items thought of as a sign of wealth.
This results in people not looking as if they are a valued member of society and can be seen as being worthless in society. Veblen’s book The Theory of the Leisure Class, was published about how people such as the newly rich, successful industrialists and their families often would purchase items for the main reason of making a positive impression to others rather than a specific purpose, (Making Social Lives, p, 31).. In contrast in the area of Linwood, many see a new development as a ‘positive-sum game, where due to ‘mutual exploitation’ everyone involved benefits and all are winners’ (learning companion, 2009, p19).
The two views are very different with peoples preference on a where to consume creating divides in opinion. Many oppose the building of more large supermarkets, especially Partick believing it will take over the local area and restrict peoples consuming choices especially as Tesco already operates over 3700 stores in 13 countries, just over 2000 of these are in the UK (Competition Commission, 2008); whereas Linwood is pro supermarket as residents want the area to be regenerated. The idea that consuming society is a divided society can be seen in many places and by individual people.
Many social scientists, such as Bauman, Veblen and Wrong have come up with theories, all of which have shown consuming society as having divides and not being completely equal. Bauman displayed ideas that members of society are categorised into the ‘seduced’ and ‘repressed’ depending on how they consume. Veblen and his theory show consuming paying a large part in people’s lives and the way they interact with what they consume builds their identity and their place within a growing consuming society.
The Essay on Mass Society Theories, Social Responsibilty Theory and the Media
The first half of the twentieth century played a vital role in the state of the present media. The century commenced with the influx of new forms of media as modernization uncontrollably invaded all social forms. The dominant medium of the nineteenth century, the newspaper, sustained its power at the beginning of the century. Moving pictures, or film, was born and started to form its own cult of ...
Many people end up becoming unable to consume which excludes them, as well as this, new consuming proposals, such as the developments in Partick and Linwood end up dividing people’s opinions on consuming due to the way they feel about their current communities which is shown in the zero-sum and positive-sum theory of Wrong. This issue of a divided consuming society is one that is likely to remain as new developments are produced which continues to split people’s opinions, exclude people and structure the way we view our consuming society.
