SSCI 2700U Lecture Notes - Lecture 3: Baseball Field, Consumerism, Structural Anthropology
1. Pop Culture
From Consumption to Consumerism
Social Roots of Consumer Culture
Modern pop culture rise cannot be isolated and separated from rise of mass communication and
mass media
Modern pop culture is rooted in industrialization, mass production, and urbanization that are
associated with the expansion of capitalist economy
1. In other terms, capitalism and market economies have thrived on encouraging
consumption to keep the economic cycle going and profits coming in
Chart shows early 20th century experienced major popular shifts as the urban population
increased
2. This means newly placed citizens lived in cities, urban areas that required more
manufactured goods in order to survive and enjoy their free time
1. This is why industrialization led to the prophetization of material goods
1. Influenced the social fabrics (ties) between family and those who lived in
cities
2. Industrialization associated to rise of new communication technologies
A Woman’s Best Friend
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Economic and social shifts coincided the rise of contemporary culture including the
rise of movies, radio, and later t.v.
For a capitalist based economy, these growing populations represented new and
profitable consumer s of goods and services
Pop culture became central for promoting this new consumerism ethos
One effective tool of distinguishing between largely similar consumer products is the
use of popular culture icons to glorify consumption
3. Examples include marylin manroe “Diamonds are a girl’s best friend”
Blood Diamond
Most misleading and problematic issue of these uses of pop culture and consumption is that they
don’t inform consumer what it takes to get that diamond
Production is being divorced from consumption
As consumers we are never expected to think about the blood and sweat that goes on to get
diamonds
Ever thought of production
Costs range from human to environmental
Pop culture seeks to rationalize our consumerists lifestyles by offering deceivable images that
make unconsciousable consumerism acceptable for us
4. For example, ad for car shows car driving nicely alongside green grass, but it doesn’t
tell us how gas immersions contribute to climate change
Anthropology: Key works and theories
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Document Summary
Modern pop culture rise cannot be isolated and separated from rise of mass communication and mass media. Economic and social shifts coincided the rise of contemporary culture including the rise of movies, radio, and later t. v. For a capitalist based economy, these growing populations represented new and profitable consumer s of goods and services. Pop culture became central for promoting this new consumerism ethos. One effective tool of distinguishing between largely similar consumer products is the use of popular culture icons to glorify consumption: examples include marylin manroe diamonds are a girl"s best friend . Most misleading and problematic issue of these uses of pop culture and consumption is that they don"t inform consumer what it takes to get that diamond. As consumers we are never expected to think about the blood and sweat that goes on to get diamonds.
