MODULE 2
Consumer Spending in Society Today
PRE-CLASS ASSIGNMENT:
a. Read reviews of Juliet Schor's Book, Overspent American (1998; 2003)posted on Canvas. See video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_nk2_rk0FLw
b. All pages referenced are from your Solomon (2017) text.
c. Outcomes of Consumption - The Dark Side of Consumer Behavior (p. 56).
d. Each student is required to submit typed double-spacedanswers to the discussion questions listed below.
e. Answer the question under each questions. 3 pages.
Group Exercise: Discussion Questions
A. Do you or the members of your group buy designer clothes/merchandise? Make a list of what items you buy (including the designer's label). What factors influence your decision to buy or not to buy?
Did or does your family buy brand names and/or designer-label products? Why or why not?
"One study found that women rated an identical shirt differently on the basis of the label it carried and the store it supposedly came from. When the shirt carried a designer label or a Nordstrom's tag, it was rated as more stylish than when it bore a K-Mart's private label. A similar study asked men to evaluate three nearly identical pairs of Haggar slacks, two of which had been relabeled Ralph Lauren and Hart Schafner and Marx. Among the men who were familiar with the brand names, the two prestige brands rated higher on quality and on willingness to purchase." (Schor)
See the section in your text entitled, "Status Symbols," (p. 445-449). According to Solomon (2017), "A major motivation to buy is not to enjoy these items but rather to let others know you can afford them." Do you agree or disagree with the statement - "He who dies with the most toys, wins"? Explain.
B. As far back as 1897, sociologists were observing that suicide rates were much higher among the wealthy (Durkeim 1897). According to Solomon (2017), p. 435, there is a phenomena in society today called "affluenza," where many well-off consumers seem to be stressed or unhappy despite or even because of their wealth.
Are you familiar with people who suffer from affluenza? What are the causes of this so-called disease?
Does "status anxiety" have a role to play in the development of affluenza?
C. How does the "visibility difference" affect the marketing of products? What is the difference between a "visible commodity and a non-visible commodity"?
In her work, Schor proposed the following regarding the visibility of products:
a. Socially visible products deliver less quality for a given price.
b. People buy top end brands of visible products far more than high quality invisible ones.
Do you agree/disagree with these propositions? Give examples.
D. Birthday parties are treasured rituals in our society. See the discussion of rituals in your text (p. 501- 510; 514). Back at the turn of the 21st Century, Schor contended that, "The standards for birthday parties are escalating. Americans give their kids more in pocket money than the world's half-billion poorest adults earn each year. Schor discusses the undergraduate research of one of her students: "The more time parents worked the less time they spent with their children; the more they bought them gifts. Parents that were with their kids more spent less."
In your textbook, Solomon (2017) states: "The popular phrase ‘keeping up with the Joneses' (in Japan it's ‘keeping up with the Satos') refers to a desire to compare your standard of living with your neighbors - and exceed it if you can." Discuss the need of American parents to "keep up" regarding spending for their kids. Cite examples. What is the role of parental guilt in the equation? What about parental yielding (p. 474)?
"American consumers seem to accumulate large numbers of things in which they subsequently lose interest." (Schor). See article:
https://learning.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/03/12/does-buying-and-accumulating-more-and-more-stuff-make-us-happier/comment-page-6/?_r=0
How has "all this stuff" contributed to the "second hand market"? Explain its growth today. Name some retail businesses that help consumers organize their stuff.
Think about consignment shops, eBay, horders, 1-800-packrat.
E. Schor discusses the evolution of"competitive acquisition." In her mind, Americans possess the "escalation mentality." The American market "imperative is bigger, better, and more." This mentality has also been coined the "Diderot Effect" after the 18C French philosopher, Denis Diderot:
"Diderot's regrets were prompted by a gift of a beautiful scarlet dressing gown. Delighted with his new acquisition, Diderot quickly discarded his old gown. But in a short time, his pleasure turned sour as he began to sense that the surroundings within which the gown was worn did not properly reflect the garment's elegance. He grew dissatisfied with his study, with its threadbare tapestry, the desk, the chairs, and even the room's bookshelves. One by one, the familiar but well-worn furnishings of the study were replaced." (Schor).
Give examples of the Diderot Effect in your life and in society today.
Watch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hygiSxasQ9c
F. Who are the nouveau riche? (p. 431; 447). Describe their lifestyles and consumption patterns. Is their status "achieved" or "ascribed"?
G. "Seventeenth and eighteenth-century Italian nobles built opulent palaces with beautiful facades and, within those facades, placed tiles engraved with the words Pro Invidia (To Be Envied). For centuries, aristocrats passed laws to forbid the nouveaux riches from copying their clothing styles.
At the turn of the century, the wealthy published the menus of their dinner parties in the newspapers. And fifty years ago, American social climbers bought fake ‘ancestor portraits' to hang in their libraries."
Additional support for this theory comes from Thorstein Veblen's book, Theory of the Leisure Class. Veblen contended that in rich societies, spending becomes the vehicle through which people establish a social position. "The conspicuous display of wealth and leisure is the market that reveals a man's income to the outside world.The rich spent conspicuously as a kind of personal advertisement, to secure a place in the social hierarchy." From Veblen's theory, modern society has coined the term, "conspicuous consumption."
See p. 28; 447- 448; 520 in your text. Describe how "conspicuous consumption" is evident in society today. Do people still spend to establish a social position? Explain the term, "invidious distinction." Give examples.
What was Veblen's inspiration? (p. 447).
I. What is parody display? Do you see yourself displaying this form of conspicuous consumption? How about your friends or family? (p. 449).
J. Take a minute and write down the following:
1. List what constitutes, "The Good Life."
2. Read this article:
https://20smoney.com/2010/04/27/how-do-you-define-the-good-life/
3. In your life, what items are "necessities" and what items are "luxuries."
• First, write down your own personal list.
• Then share/compare your personal list with your group.
Back at the turn of the 21st Century, Juliet Schor found that few Americans feel they have a good chance of achieving the "good life."
• Please comment.
• How did your personal list of necessities vs. luxuries compare with your group?
Materialism: are you what you own? (p.40)
K. See the Classic View of the US Class Structure (p. 432). "These classifications imply that access to resources, such as money, education, and luxury goods increases as you move up the ladder from lower lower to upper upper."
• Define: Homogamy. How does it relate to the American Class Structure? (p. 433)