Sign Analysis: Consumerism In American Popular Culture

The term “24/7” specifically refers to the non-stop work and consumption throughout our society. Crary references that sleep slows this continual consuming working cycle and without it our society would sustain “terminal disruption of cycles and seasons” (10) permanently blurring our perception of time.

The consumerist conversation is not new. It is something that has been relevant since the days of the industrial revolution, even if it was not a distinguished term then. The end of the Great Depression marked the rebirth of the American economy and brought with it the rise in jobs, work hours, and overall earnings across the nation over the next 80 years. With this increase in personal income so did the evolution of consumerism. The questions being raised in light of this increase in consumption is, how has this impacted our thinking.

The narrator of Shop Til ' You Drop states, "we 're no longer defined by the work that we do, but by the objects we consume. Industrial society has morphed into the consumer society." Consumer culture is a form of capitalism in which the economy is focused on the selling of consumer goods and the spending of consumer money. Consumer culture is a culture that is displayed in the United States which affects most individuals lives, more specifically the idea of the American Dream. The evolution of consumer culture has been flourishing since the 1900 's and this increasing importance of consumerism in the United States has challenged the core values and beliefs of what the American Dream is and how best it is to achieve it.

In a book Brave New World by Aldous Huxley, he creates a vision of a perfect utopian society that achieve happiness by altering the mindset of its citizens to believe they are happy. In a society depicting such a strange ideology of people are no longer happy as they make their minds up to be, but as happy as the government allow them to be. In Brave New World , it is implied further, that if we are to find true fulfillment and meaning in our own lives, we must be able to contrast the good parts of life with the bad parts to feel both joy and despair. Consumerism plays a huge role in Brave New World because it not only make citizens happier, but it also make them easier to control. The world state keeps the citizens in need of unnecessary

The term “24/7” specifically refers to the non-stop work and consumption throughout our society. Crary references that sleep slows this continual consuming working cycle and without it our society would sustain “terminal disruption of cycles and seasons” (10) permanently blurring our perception of time.

Dominic Strinati thinks that false needs has contributed in suppressing the real needs of social life (55). The more people correspond with fake propaganda and aspire to live as models they watch in an ad, the more they overwhelmed with dissatisfaction and frustration. Richard J Hart says, "consumerism enslaves rather than liberates. We need to expose the lie and illusion that it liberates and leads to happiness. The apparent satisfaction leads to dissatisfaction and lack of fulfillment" (41). He adds, "consuming less will lead to real happiness and fulfillment … the disciplined person makes a distinction between real needs and unnecessary wants"

Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald came to be known as one of the most renowned people in American literature. Fitzgerald and his wife, Zelda lived the lavish lifestyle of the 1920s, known as the Jazz Age, which was characterized as a period of vast economic prosperity and revival for the American Economy. Fitzgerald devoted his whole life, wealth, and even wrote a book dedicated to Zelda known as The Great Gatsby. In the book The Great Gatsby, a poor army soldier named Jay Gatz works hard to please an upper class girl named Daisy gaining his wealth virtually overnight, in an illegal way, and promising the lavish lifestyle that she hoped to have similar to the love life Fitzgerald faced. The 1920s paved way for a new trend in the American

These ideologies are inherently tied to what was clearly a consumer culture.“I shop therefore I am, Citizenship is to be manifested through the free exercise of personal choice among a variety of marketed options” (Rose, 230). This quote somehow embodies what this culture was about, to be a good neoliberal citizen was to be a good consumer. It is also evident that consumption was not limited to commodities, humans of this era could consume time, experience and other people’s versions of themselves; neoliberal ideology when combined with dynamic capitalist systems favour a business of commodities, place and self (Hall et al, 10) . Furthermore, neoliberalism places emphasis on these various consumer practices in order for humans to establish

A social system that is in anomie is one that no longer accepts common values and rejects common meanings that were once widely accepted and understood, while simultaneously lacking new values and meanings to replace the former ones. Anomie theory is used to help explain why deviant behavior exists in modern society and what social changes have occurred in order to cause such behavior. In layman’s terms, this theory gives way to understanding why criminals are exactly that, criminals.

The film Fight Club, directed by David Fincher, was well received and was one of the most popular films of its time. The movie takes an interesting spin on the effects of Dissociative Identity Disorder (multiple personalities), on the individual afflicted as well as their peers. At its core, the film strives to make a statement on the effects of societal norms and the evils of consumerism on an individual’s pursuit of happiness. It utilizes Dissociative Identity Disorder and other mental disorders to accomplish this. The setting of the film is dark and gloomy – the main character/narrator, who remains unnamed throughout the entirety of the film, lives in a seemingly perpetually dark and depressing city, in an old, abandoned house. This dreary

Tyler has a point. We are way past that ‘buying the products that we need’ thing. Sure one may argue about the usefulness of many products that are not essential to our survival in the ‘hunter-gatherer’ sense, and there really are some extremely useful

“Consumerism comes from the verb consume, which is rooted in the Latin word consumere, meaning to use up or to waste. The noun consumerism also refers to a movement that promotes the interests of consumers — that is, people who purchase goods, use them, and then buy more — especially the protection of these consumers from things like fraud or price gouging” (“Consumerism”). Consumerism has changed over the thousands of years since it became an ordeal during the Industrial Revolution. Some people believe that consumerism is excellent where it helps stimulate the economy, but other people see it as an evil force because it hurts people and makes them care less about their self and the world around them. I can agree with the people that says it

Theodore Dreiser is regarded as an influential American novelist in the early 20th century. His novel, Sister Carrie, not only makes him well-known all over the world, but also settles his literary status in America. Sister Carrie mainly tells Carried process of actualization from a penniless girl to an elegant woman. When climbing up the ladder of the upper strata, she does not win her dreaming happiness, but the endless hopelessness and mental torture. The novel was created in 1900 when the modern consumer culture boomingly rises; people’s value orientations and behavior modes were largely determined by the consumption ideology. The new production-oriented ideologies gradually give way to the consumption-oriented one in American society.

Consumerism is known as an era that was characterized by massive buying and consumption of goods. It was caused by the enormous production and increased products in the market. In the USA, consumerism was experienced in the 20th century. Technological advancement enabled massive production making the supply exceed the demand in the market ( Adas, 2010). The Americans were eager to try out new things hence boosted the supply of the goods. With this, the advertising firms were positively benefitted. They always insisted on comfort and luxury while marketing to attract more Americans. The commonly used methods used to advertise were radio and television. However, companies started adopting the use of catalogs which became famous. The catalog usually contained many items from which the consumer would choose. Also, to woe consumers, credit facilities were introduced to enable families to buy bulky goods.

There are people who buy expensive accessories to make themselves feel more valuable. Attire Club argues, “They [American society] end up being owned by the things they buy” (Attire Club). Instead of them taking the time to determine the reason behind buying these expensive, but useless items, they think with their emotions. They let their emotions drive their decisions into buying fancy things in order to show themselves off. People are affected mentally because they think buying material items will boost their confidence within themselves, making them feel more comfortable. The feelings people have motivate them and when they feel motivated they consume more. It is not just adults that are slaves to their materials, it is also teens in the American