Consumption, consumer culture and consumer society

Abstract

This paper mainly deals with the concepts and issues surrounding the contemporary notion of consumption. Consumption is a complex social phenomenon in which people consume goods or services for reasons beyond their basic use-value. Conspicuous Consumption, Symbolic Consumption, Addictive Consumption, Compulsive Consumption and Sacred Consumption are five main categories defining distinctive consumption styles. Basic characteristics of consumer culture can be summarized in the transforming of needs to desires, utilitarian/hedonic needs-values, commodity fetishism, conspicuous leisure and consumption, cultural values, aestheticization, alienation, differentiation and speed. A consumer society is one in which the entire society is organized around the consumption and display of commodities through which individuals gain prestige, identity, and standing. The paper explores the main factors fueling the engine of consumer society that has over the past few decades gained a global perspective.