Sociology 2275A/B Lecture Notes - Lecture 12: Median Income, Coolhunting, Mark Kingwell
16 Jan 2017
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Manufacturing content: cool and the gang (1) mark kingwell: u of t philosopher. Mk shocked that middle-class kids prefers wearing clothes with slogans, logos. Freedom isn"t freedom to buy stuff demographic determinism (people choose what we buy before we do ). Knowing what we"ll buy is a greater threat to personal identity than drugs. Cultural dopes: if your consumer choices are manipulated & predictable. Majority can"t be authentically cool: they can just buy it! Kids" cool: a bunch of brand names. No authentic self from coolness: facilitate envy. Biggest lie: advertisers just give people what they want. Hm jones counted happy faces in magazine ads: 178/257 + variants. Mannequins of consumerism, grinning avatars of our culture. Make us want things we didn"t know we wanted. Rock music & sex: tied to exploitive third world economy. Unrealistic, harmful expectations (real standard of living higher today). Not persuasion = use of reasons to change someone"s mind.
