Entry 5: Response to "Introduction..."

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Hi all:

As before read this rather abstract and theoretical article.

Pick a quotation you find interesting.  Type it into the comment box and then comment on it.

For example, here's a quotation I found interesting:

A culture organized around mass consumption encourages narcissism--which we can define, for the moment, as the disposition to see the world as a mirror, more particularly as a projection of one's own fears and desires--not because it makes people grasping and self assertive but because it makes them weak and dependent. (RD 48)

I am not sure I understand this,  But I find it interesting because it suggests that consumerism makes people somehow more egocentric or self centered (narcissisitic), in this case not because they feel strong or powerful but because they feel weak and helpless.  What is there in the consumer society that could make a person feel weak and helpless?

Nick

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17 Comments

"Both as a worker and as a consumer, the individual learns not merely to measure himself against others but to see himself through others' eyes."

As a result of advertising and consumerism, people become so overly self-concious to the point where they judge themselves based on society's views. I interpreted this quote as a strongly negative statement towards consumerism; it made me think farther than I did before concerning this topic. Advertising, of course, creates a sort of set way people should be and also it convinces people to feel the need for a particular product. For example, those fashion magazines that always bring up new "must-have" styles every now and then. Therefore since everyone will feel that same need to have the new, awesome product, when someone does not have it, they are considered 'old fashioned'. In the end, consumerism leads people to care about their 'outside' a lot more than their 'inside' (i.e. morals/values). And when this happens, society's ultimate goal is to bring massive profits to the large companies or government which in the end would boost the economy, not people's happiness.

"Commodities are produced for immediate consumption. Their value lies not in their usefulness or permanence but in their marketability. They wear out even if they are not used, since they are designed to be superseded by "new and improved" products, changing fashions, and technological innovations."

This quote fits really well with our past readings. Again the topic comes up about how consumers buy goods that are not necessities but wants and desires. Products are not even made to last long anymore and they keep getting outdone by the newest and latest model. I think that this ties in with how a consumer constantly wants the newest product because it gives a sense of instant gratification. This new product may mean standing out and being "cooler" than others. The quote states that these products wear out even if we don't use them. Companies purposely make products so that they really don't last too long or long enough before the newer, better version is released. As trends change consumers continue to buy more for the instant sense of gratification.

“Partly because the propaganda surrounding commodities advertises them so seductively as wish-fulfillments, but also because commodity production by its very nature replaces the world of durable objects with disposable products designed for immediate obsolescence, the consumer confronts the world as a reflection of his wishes and fears” (49).
I chose this quote because it addresses the topic of planned obsolescence in the world of consumerism. It acknowledges that advertising is responsible for displaying products as bringing “instantaneous insight, success, or peace of mind”, even though most products are often designed to only last a short time. Sometimes, consumers might replace their now obsolete product with a newer, better product from the same company, or they might purchase a replacement from a competing company if they realize that the competitor’s product is more durable. So when buying a new product, a consumer will know that his wishes are capable of being fulfilled because his fear of not having the best new thing will be a thing of the past, for now. And, this happens because most consumers are not aware of the concept of planned obsolescence.

"Here again we find an explanation of the modern "identity crisis" that confuses identity with social roles and concludes, rather complacently, that "persistent feelings of discontent" are the price people pay for freedom."

This quote is basically saying that everyone wants to have their own "identity". The thing is that these people saying these things don't know the real meaning of identity. People, the consumers, will do anything be an individual. The consumer does not realize they really just want to be like everyone else. Consumers not being happy with themselves is what they pay for what they think is happiness. Identity is a problem because of the different definitions consumers gave that word. Identity means the continuity of sameness, so it is basically saying that it is a person continuing to always be the same so we can identify them. It is sad how fooled the consumer is about being an individual and having their own identity. This quote makes me want to hit a redo button and change up my style. No one should have to be unhappy to have freedom and that is what this quote is saying and i don't agree with it. I don't agree with it because there are happy consumers in the world that just like to consume.

''Since he will be judged,both by his colleagues and superiors at work and by the strangers he encounters on the street,according to his possessions,his clothes,and his ''personality''-not,as in the nineteenth century,by his ''character''.''

Men and women of the 21st century are more materialistic than ever before.The reason for this is because in today's world(in America at least) people are judged and criticized by all kinds of people including those they know and even those they don't know.Now-a-days people are criticized by others because of their appearances,the clothes they wear,the items they own,and their personalities.People have the tendency to be prejudice towards others and speak bad about them before geting to know them.They tend to ''judge a book by its cover.''Things have drastically changed since the nineteenth century because back then,people would make sure they got to know someone else on a more personal level before making any assumptions about that person or any person for that matter.Society and the media are to blame for transforming people into materialistic people because they have manipulated them into believing that those with more luxurious items are superior to those without fancy items when in reality we are all the same,we are all equal,and we all deserve the same level of respect.

“He lives in a world that has no objective or independent existence and seems to exist only to gratify or thwart his desires.”

This statement gets me thinking about the true role we play in this world as a human being and our desires or wants that never seem to end. This world is held and stabilized by a President where laws have to be followed, but exactly why are we here? People help this economy keep going, without consumerism there wouldn't be this cycle that goes about. Many may not notice, but what Americans and everyone else does is consume and desire. We work our way through life wanting the best of the best with no objective at all. Many people work in this world, as it can be said it’s an obligation, but the money we get isn't only used for necessary things to survive. Many of the money is used for consuming materialistic objects and desires that we want. We get an education to have a successful future where the meaning for successful for most people means to have enough money to live a good life with commodities and no worries. Consuming is a major part of our lives and it is the influence that shapes part of our role in our existence and our world.

"Both as a worker and as a consumer, the individual learns not merely to measure himself against others but to see himself through others' eyes. He learns that the self – image he projects counts for more than accumulated skills and experience.” (46-47)

Consumerism has made people more self-conscious. People are now much more aware of what other’s think of them. If someone wants to be seen a certain way one can easily buy the certain products that accompany the image one is trying to portray. Consumerism, in the form of advertisements, also sets our expectations of others. For example, we may see a commercial portraying a happy and hip person with a certain product and then associate others with this product as “happy and hip” and others without the product as depressed and dull. And, in addition, feel the need to purchase this product, as we do not want others to think of us as depressed or dull. As the quote states one’s image is more than just “accumulated skills and experience,” rather one’s image is projected by one’s accumulated goods.

"Thus the current 'state of the art' in tape recorders, record players, and stereophonic speakers makes earlier models worthless (except as antiques), even if they continue to perform the tasks for which they were designed, just as a change in women's fashions dictates a complete change of wardrobe." (pg. 48)

Christopher Lasch pinpoints the point I've been making; consumers buy the newest products even though they don't need them. If something "goes out of style", we try to get rid of it. Why? They're still clothes. They still have a purpose. People have a fear of being out of style so they buy the "latest and greatest" when they have the same items at home, still functioning. The only way an old item can be a good thing is if it's "antique", or vintage. Consumerism and society have encouraged people to spend money on things they don't need. New and improved objects might be better, but there's no need to throw old items away just to be able to have the new ones.

"Freedom comes down to the freedom to choose between Brand X and Brand Y, between interchangeable lovers, interchangeable jobs, interchangeable neighborhoods."

This quote gives me the thought that the definition of freedom nowadays is a lot more different than the freedom in the past. In the world today, freedom matches the description from this quote. It is the advance in technology, the change in society, and the change in the way how people think that lead to this description of freedom. People today no longer have a big sense of responsibility and consequences as they do back then. Which gives people a sense that they have more freedom and do whatever they like. Such examples can be like what the quote stated. People can change lover so quikly without much sense of responsibility, and they take their job less serious without the sense of consequences. This quote comes to the conclusion that people's freedom is much more free than their freedom in the past. People worry less about their responsibility and consequences. The more free people gets, the less important resposibility and consequences are.

"The consumer's complete dependence on these intricate, supremely sophisticated life-support systems, and more generally on externally provided goods and services, recreates some of the infantile feelings of helplessness." (Page 49)

I chose the particular quotation because I was intrigued by the author's claim of how extreme the current consumer society has become. The idea that current industries and advertisement agencies have purposely crafted a system, in which consumers helplessly depend on constantly changing disposable goods, opened my eyes to a new perspective. I would have never associated the "infantile feelings of helplessness" to the consumerist society, but after the reading I now understand the dramatic word choice. For most of the current generation, people focus their identity through their appearance. Thus to create an acceptable or even an admired appearance by society, people then have to rely on the direction of mass marketing to tell them what is currently acceptable and what will be admired. If people were to make their own decisions, instead of using what the consumer society has suggested otherwise, then they would be deemed like almost social outcasts. So we are left with the confusing decision of either being helplessly dependent on the direction of consumer society to fit in, or hope to be "unique" (risking the possibility of becoming an outcast) by making our own consumer decisions based on our own wants.

"He learns that the self-image he projects counts for more than accumulated skills and experience. Since he will be judged, both by his colleagues and superiors at work and by the strangers he encounters on the street, according to his possessions, his clothes, and his 'personality' - not, as in the nineteenth century, by his 'character' - he adopts a theatrical view of his own 'performance' on and off the job."

When you step foot outside you're home, an instant facade becomes you. You put on an act for every person you see, or that sees you. You want to be worthy, accepted, even cherished. You feel the need to have everyone like you, need you, want you. You go to school wearing the brand name clothing, the best make-up,driving a brand new BMW, you have the newest shoes, you have what everyone wants, and the envy is evident. As the day ends and you walk through the doors of your home, to the warm embrace of your room. Layers upon layers of your "personality" come off. Your clothes, your shoes, your make-up, your facade, everything that you've built up for the day. The mini play you put on for the outside world, all of it comes off and what is left is just you. The you that people never get the chance to see.

When put into society where the only things that matter are what you look like on the outside and not how you treat people or how you see the world, you're forced to put on an act for the world. You're forced to become something you're not. American society does this, I believe, more than any other society in the world. We as Americans force others to be the "best" they can be. We make people think that they are never good enough. We do this by making them think that if they don't have or if they don't buy the most expensive things or the top brands, than they aren't good enough, and the only way to become good enough, is to choose a job that will make enough money in order for them to buy the stuff that will make them feel like they are good enough. This is what consumerism does to people, it forces them to become something they aren't. At the end of the day will all of their nice things around them, they still want more and they are still unsatisfied, and they can't figure out why. It's not human nature to feel this way. People used to be content. What happened to those days? They disappeared when shopping malls started being built.

"Any attempt to win someone to your own point of view, or even to expose him to a point of view different from his own, becomes an intolerable interference with his freedom of choice." (pg. 50, article The Mininmal Self)

It is very interesting how people believe that simply just stating your own point of view and exposing it to another person different from their own becomes an "intolerable interference with his freedom of choice." I don't believe that it is an intolerable interference with anyone's freedom of choice. It's a way of becoming more open minded and see another person's point of you. Possibly helping you to not over think in any situation, or clear up what has had you debating with yourself whether it was a good choice or bad choice. I agree everyone has a freedom of choice, but it is great to not be close minded and hear others points of views towards things , leading to explore better things or help you better your choice upon certain situations you come across by in any form.

"A culture organized around mass consumption encourages narcissism-- which we can define, for the moment, as a disposition to see the world as a mirror, more particularly as a projection of one's own fears and desires--not because it makes people grasping and self-assertive but because it makes them weak and dependent."

I agree that it's true that these materials that consumers feel drawn to buying and owning is connected to their narcissism. Buying goods is like feeding one's own desires, which is also making one dependent on the satisfaction of feeling good. This routine, or lifestyle, reflects the person's priorities and needs. One can tell that a person standing in line at the Apple Store at midnight waiting for the release of the newest iPhone is somewhat subjective to whether or not he gets this consumer good.

"In the United States, a consumer culture began to emerge in the twenties..."

I found this quote interesting because I can relate this era to my other classes. Lately, I've been able to make connections between the my college courses and I find it interesting that the United States drastically changed in the 1920's. The 1920's is the post World War 1 era, where some authors claim that many people lost their identities so they started consuming material goods to fulfill themselves for the time being. In my Chicana/Chicano History class I am also reading about the post WW1 era in which the U.S began to have a fear of a Mexican uprising so they created borders of separation and suppressed Mexicans. WW1 definitely flipped peoples emotions and made people paranoid, empty and obsessive with buying material goods.

"The debate about mass culture--revived in the eighties in the form of a debate about "narcissism," the decline of education "excellence," and the cultural roots of America's declining position in the world market--remains mired in the old ruts because those who reject the critique of mass culture nevertheless accept its major premise."
I chose this quote because it comments on the general hypocrisy of criticism of consumer culture in modern society, because even as we decry the way consumers are manipulated into buying "the latest" goods, we too partake, and allow ourselves to be manipulated. It could be argued that, as we are aware, and thus willing participants rather than sheep being led to the metaphorical slaughter (of our earnings), but in the end we are still criticizing a system of which we are part, rendering our otherwise productive thought and speech effectively useless.

"one of the most seminal effects of equating happiness with shopping for commodities which are hoped to generate happiness is to stave off the chance that the pursuit of happiness will ever grind to a halt."

a lot of people in this country have had this need to shop. mostly, the need comes from the desire to feel happy. for some reason, buying things has been attached this idea of the pursuit of happiness. people buy products because they feel that if they buy it, then they will be happy. they are thinking that this product is going to give them happiness. personally, i have been in this state and i know a lot of other people also have been. what i don't understand is why we keep buying products when we know for a fact that it will give us happiness the moment we it and maybe for a little while, but it will not fully satisfy our happiness. we believe that one day we wil be happy forever. well, that is never going to happen and we know it. we know that we will never be one hundred percent happy because there is so much factors that control our happiness that we cannot control. although this need for shopping can make us happy for some while, it will not make us fully happy and that is something we must recognize because it will help us find happiness in other things that are not essentially bought.

"Modern industry came to rest on the twin pillars of Fordism and Sloanism. Both tended to discourage enterprise and independent thinking and to make the individual distrust his own judgement, even in matters of taste."
this quote made me think of all the advertisements that are around us every day. usually these ads make us think different from what we beleive. a good example of this are clothes advertisments. they always show skinny women that look happy. they advertise these clothes in a way that they make you feel as if you need these pair of pants or shirt becaus it will make you feel happy,just like the person who is on the ad.before we see these ads, we are usually not thinking that we need to buy clothes, but all of a sudden this ad comes out on the tv and bam, we are suddenly craving these pants or shirt.usually the ads also have these catchy slogans that when we hear them, we suddenly remember what was being advertised and we come back to that nostalgia of wanting this item, when at first we werent even thinking about it.

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About this Entry

This page contains a single entry by Nick Tingle published on September 13, 2012 11:30 AM.

Entry 4: "Why The Self Is Empty" was the previous entry in this blog.

Entry 6: "What Is Wrong with Happiness?" is the next entry in this blog.

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