Consumer Culture

Abstract

The term consumer culture refers to the culture of the consumer society. It suggests that the representations (signs and images) and values of contemporary societies revolve around consumption: the purchase and enjoyment of goods for the construction of lifestyles. Advertising is important here in supplying images and representations of the good life which have become associated with particular commodities and brands. Consumer culture is driven by a modernist dynamic to expand the range of goods and meanings on offer, emphasizing novelty, technological innovation, and the exotic. Many of the activities of everyday life are dominated by the consumption of goods and experiences in a variety of sites such as malls, city centers, department stores, theme parks, tourist resorts, heritage centers which offer a range of simulations, spectacular spaces, and sign play. These ‘dream worlds’ lead to the estheticization of everyday life with the promise of new experiences, the loosening of emotional controls, and the exploration of desire. At the same time, consumer culture also provides resources for lifestyle construction and the promise of self-improvement and renewal: for reworking the body, identity, and relationships. Resources for repositioning the self within a consumer world in which the constant supply of new material goods, signs, and images make the task of classification, of ‘reading the signs,’ and locating people and things within stable status hierarchies, all the more difficult and compelling.