Sociology 2172A/B Chapter Notes - Chapter 3: Consumer Capitalism, Asceticism, Social Capital
11 Oct 2016
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Many commodities are designed and marketed not to meet a particular concrete need or desire, but to meet a generalized, abstract desire: a desire for more things, more recent things, and more populat things. Advertisers market commodities by selling who people want to be. Exual relatio(cid:374)s or lack there of have i(cid:373)porta(cid:374)t i(cid:373)pact o(cid:374) o(cid:374)e"s status. Advertisers use this to market goods and services: scantily clothed men and women, models are absttactions; ideal objects/desires. The marketing assumption is that what people desire is determined by whether other people want it. The centrality of consumption and its status became clearer after 9/11. Public figures claimed it was patriotic to spend money to stimulate the economy: people had a duty to do more, even if 9/11 caused them to focus on person, family, and political concerns instead of economic ones. Getting back to normal was linked to shopping and spending: (cid:862)whe(cid:374) the goi(cid:374)g gets tough, the tough go shoppi(cid:374)g(cid:863)
