Sociology and Consumer Society
Essay plan-
Introduction- Brief description on what a consumer society is? Topics being discussed
Main points- The seduced The repressed- Concepts by Zygmunt Bauman Rich and the poor- social exclusion. Campaigns against Tesco STOP- Stop Tesco Owning Patrick Market Power- Advantages and disadvantages Buying Power- Cost-Prices Anti-Supermarket lobby Pro-Supermarket lobby Zero-sum game- Dennis Wrong Positive-sum game Power of the supermarket
Conclusion- Summary of the above Divided opinion
TMA 2- Outline who are the winners and losers in a consumer society.
This essay will show how a consumer society contains both winners and losers based on concepts by Zygmunt Bauman. It will also show the difference between the repressed and the seduced, it will look at claims and counterclaims and finally the power of the large supermarkets using the concepts of Dennis Wrong.
A consumer society is the society in which we all live, what we buy and why we buy them is what a lot of social scientists would call a ‘consumer society’. We fall into two categories, the seduced and the repressed according to the social scientist (Zygmunt Bauman, pg 25, making social lives. 2009). The seduced is by Bauman’s claims; the wealthier side of the consumer society, wearing the right brand of clothing or sporting the right logo identifies someone as belonging to a certain social group. For people to fit into that category they must have a high standing in the community or be able to show that they have sufficient income. Most of the seduced will be employed full-time with a wealthy lifestyle giving them the opportunity to purchase goods
Introduction- Brief description on what a consumer society is? Topics being discussed
Main points- The seduced The repressed- Concepts by Zygmunt Bauman Rich and the poor- social exclusion. Campaigns against Tesco STOP- Stop Tesco Owning Patrick Market Power- Advantages and disadvantages Buying Power- Cost-Prices Anti-Supermarket lobby Pro-Supermarket lobby Zero-sum game- Dennis Wrong Positive-sum game Power of the supermarket
Conclusion- Summary of the above Divided opinion
TMA 2- Outline who are the winners and losers in a consumer society.
This essay will show how a consumer society contains both winners and losers based on concepts by Zygmunt Bauman. It will also show the difference between the repressed and the seduced, it will look at claims and counterclaims and finally the power of the large supermarkets using the concepts of Dennis Wrong.
A consumer society is the society in which we all live, what we buy and why we buy them is what a lot of social scientists would call a ‘consumer society’. We fall into two categories, the seduced and the repressed according to the social scientist (Zygmunt Bauman, pg 25, making social lives. 2009). The seduced is by Bauman’s claims; the wealthier side of the consumer society, wearing the right brand of clothing or sporting the right logo identifies someone as belonging to a certain social group. For people to fit into that category they must have a high standing in the community or be able to show that they have sufficient income. Most of the seduced will be employed full-time with a wealthy lifestyle giving them the opportunity to purchase goods
References: Bauman, Z. Hetherington, K., ‘One-stop shopping: the power of supermarkets’, in Taylor, S., Hinchcliffe, S.,Clarke,J, and Bromley, S. (eds) Making Social Lives, Milton Keynes, The Open University. Stop Tesco Owning Patrick (STOP) (undated) [online], http://www.Stoptesco.info (Accessed 19 November 2008). Wrong. D (1997) Power: Its forms, Bases and Uses, New Brunswick, NJ, and London, Transaction Publishers. Allen. J (2009) ‘One-stop shopping: the power of supermarkets’, in Taylor,S.,Hinchcliffe,S.,Clarke,J, and Bromley,S. (Eds) Making Social Lives, Milton Keynes, The Open University. Self-Reflection- I have enjoyed reading about different claims and counterclaims and finding the various references and pulling them all together. I have found the conclusion challenging just trying to summarise the whole essay without sounding repetitive.