The Sociology of Consumption by Stillerman Joel;

Author:Stillerman, Joel;
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Wiley
Published: 2015-08-04T00:00:00+00:00

Conclusion

In this chapter, we have explored the different ways scholars understand the relationship between consumption and social class. Veblen’s model of conspicuous consumption and emulation continues to influence academic and popular understandings of status competition, though several scholars challenge the view that all consumption is driven by individuals’ desire to imitate the wealthy. Bourdieu’s understanding of class-specific patterns of consumption and symbolic conflict has inspired a substantial research agenda and provoked considerable criticism. In some cases, authors argue that class has a declining influence on consumption. Scholars focused on individualization suggest that individual consumption or lifestyle projects may have sidelined class as a basis of identity, while Bauman notes that our individualized societies harshly exclude the poor. Poor people must rely on one another to make ends meet and develop complex strategies for satisfying day-to-day financial needs and planning for culturally expected gift purchases.

Class differences are evident in patterns of metropolitan segregation, whether in the form of large-scale segregation between cities and suburbs or small-scale segregation between “hip” young people moving to “unique” urban neighborhoods and poor people with longer-term roots in these communities. Globalization has meant increasing polarization of incomes in the Global South as evident in the cheek-by-jowl location of wealth and misery reflected in the rise of shopping malls and gated communities in poor communities. However, scholars are divided about whether these new settlement and shopping patterns further divide or bring together the rich and poor.

In this chapter, we have considered the continued relevance of class to consumption. While some argue that class is no longer a collective identity that shapes consumption, many scholars agree that an individual’s class background shapes their consumption, even if they do not consciously see themselves as members of a class. Nonetheless, as we shall see in chapter 5, a singular focus on class is deceptive. Gender, sexuality, race, and religion are axes of inequality and difference that intersect with class. Hence, inequalities are expressed in complex ways through individuals’ combined subject positions based on class, race, gender, sexuality, and religion.

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