In the introduction of his book "One Nation Under Goods", James Farrell explores malls and the effects they have on society. Farrell claims that shopping at malls is such a common part of our lives that we take it for granted and overlook what is really going on at the mall, a large-scale cultural interaction. When we go to malls, not only are we searching for items to purchase, we are also searching for an identity. Farrell even makes the claim that malls are similar to churches and museums; they're places where we can figure out our values. He talks about how everything in the mall, from the product design to the architecture, is constructed to please the consumer. He says that there is a "conspiracy of customer satisfaction" at the mall and that the workers genuinely want to please the shopper. Farrell's main claim is that society as a whole gets it's values and culture from the nation's malls, yet he complicates his argument by briefly mentioning consumerism in his last paragraph.
Farrell says that there are many great things about the mall, such as equality, art, and social interaction. However, the one thing that he dislikes about the mall is the presence of commercialism. He states, "Still, my main complaint is not primarily with malls, but with a larger commercial culture that characterizes us mainly as consumers. My main argument is with an