Perspectives on Consumer Culture

Abstract

Three accounts of consumer culture are discussed in this paper. The first one, the production of consumption perspective, presents the culture which develops around the accumulation of commodities as leading to greater manipulation and control. The second, the mode of consumption perspective, focuses upon the way in which goods are variably used to create distinctions and reinforce social relationships. The third perspective examines the emotional and aesthetic pleasures, the desires and dreams generated within particular sites of consumption and by consumer culture imagery. In addition the paper discusses the alleged tendencies towards cultural disorder and de-classification within consumer culture which some refer to as postmodernism.