Outline the claim that consumption creates new social divisions
There are many ways to look at consumption and how it creates new social divisions. Consumption can be any number of things; whether it’s the food we eat or the car we choose to buy. This essay will demonstrate how the demand of everyday products we use such as ‘mobile phones’ can create social divisions and also how shopping at a ‘Tesco’ can affect different people in different ways. This piece will use evidence such as the ‘seduced & repressed’ theories by Bauman (1988) and it will also look at the ‘zero-sum game’ and ‘positive-sum game’ arguments by Dennis Wrong (1997).
Before starting we must first understand what ‘consumption’ is. ‘Consuming’ is “the acquisition, use and disposal of goods and services” (Kevin Hetherington, 2009, page 13)
The first way to look at how consumption creates social divisions is by looking at Bauman’s theories of the ‘seduced & repressed’. Although ultimately these two definitions can be defined by wealth there are also other elements to them as well. The ‘seduced’ are not only the rich & wealthy but also people who have the ‘means’ to consume more than the necessary. Having the ‘means’ also affords the consumer the choice of what they will be able to buy. “A consumer society promises choice and freedom to those who, because of their financial and social circumstances, are in a position to consume effectively” (Kevin Hetherington, 2009, page 25).
The ‘repressed’ would be people who are unable to participate in a consumer society. This can be as simple as not being able to afford luxuries due to being unemployed or having a low wage. Of course it isn’t always down to money, the disabled or elderly (although having the necessary funds) could also be included as their participation in a consumer society is limited by what they can or can’t do. ‘This group would typically include the unemployed, the low paid, those in insecure casual employment, recently arrived migrants, or those often not in a position to participate fully in a consumer society”. (Kevin Hetherington, 2009, page 29).
One example in everyday life where the theory of the ‘seduced & repressed’ comes into play is with the ‘mobile phone’. ‘Mobile phones’ use to be seen as a luxury, however with the advances in technology and I must say more importantly, a drop in price, we now have a situation where most people in the UK will own a ‘mobile phone’. The main social divide therefore will occur when selecting what phone is right for the consumer. There is such variety these days that it really offers an opportunity to pick a phone that best suits/describes the consumer. In this particular example I am going to talk about the ‘iPhone’. Most
people when asked would have a preference between what phone they use, whether it be an ‘iPhone’, ‘Blackberry’ or another phone entirely. This in itself will create a social divide amongst the ‘seduced’. Figure 1 shows the data collected by ‘comScore’, which is cited by Dan Rowinski (2012) for the recent sales of ‘iPhones’ in the US.
Figure 1
It demonstrates that even though iPhones are bought by all variations of people, the households who purchase the most are the ones with the highest income. It also illustrates that the people who buy the least amount of ‘iPhones’ are people over the age of 65. So in this example the ‘repressed’ are the less well off families, the elderly – who can find it difficult to keep up with the advances in technology- the young, and more than likely the disabled who might find using a phone problematic. Unfortunately as technology develops the social divide between the ‘seduced & repressed’ will grow even larger.
In this second part we are going to talk about the effects of supermarket consumption. Nowadays most of our shopping is done at one of the ‘big 4’ supermarkets (Tesco, Sainsburys, Asda & Morrisons). Consumption has got to the point where we
