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Style and Consumer Culture: Navigating Everyday Life

Explore the impact of cultural consumption and style in daily life through the lens of malls, urban renaissance, emotional labor, and the hidden costs of consumerism. Witness the triumph of personal style and the staging of cultural commerce, revealing the intersection of substance and aesthetics.

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Style and Consumer Culture: Navigating Everyday Life

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  1. Soc. 118Media, Culture & Society Chapter 9 Scenes From A Mall: Cultural Consumption and Style in Everyday Life

  2. OVERVIEW • The Centrality of Cultural Consumption • The Mall of America • The Triumph of Style in Everyday Life • Video: TV Commercial for Target • Video: The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills • Landscapes of Cultural Consumption • Urban Renaissance • The Staging of Cultural Commerce • Disneyfication • Video: The Corporation – A Private Celebration •  The Hidden Costs of Cultural Consumption • Emotional Labor • In-Class Exercise: Emotion Work in Everyday Life • When Style Conquers Substance

  3. Cultural Consumption and Style in Everyday Life • The centrality of cultural consumption • Recent shift in society • The Mall of America • Focus: • Style in popular culture • Landscapes of consumption

  4. The Triumph of Style in Everyday Life • Elements of style and design • Home décor, clothing, accessories, etc. • Video clip: TV commercial for Target • Postmodern consumption • Proliferation of aesthetics • Communicate through senses • Sensations and reactions • Unprecedented opportunities to express personal style • Massive consumption • Style everywhere • Video clip: The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills • Design intensive everyday environments • Businesses, corporations • Starbucks as "multisensory aesthetic experience” • Google offices encourage “creative play” 4

  5. Landscapes of Cultural Consumption • Style in public places • Urban renaissance (1990s) • Shifts in city life • Esp. in former industrial centers • Urban entertainment districts • Part of larger urban renewal • Attract global tourism • Total experience • Selling unique, “authentic” locales • Examples: Nashville, South Beach, New Orleans • High-concept, trendy, event destinations • Seen in media and advertising 5

  6. The Staging of Cultural Commerce • Simulated environments • Movie-making techniques • Staging, lighting, sound • Disneyfication • Branding, chains, themed entertainment • Restaurants, clubs • Hotels • Shopping malls, stores • Amusement parks • Example: • Video: “The Corporation: A Private Celebration” • Artificial reality • Better than the real thing? • The science of consumption • Engineering shopping • Attract passersby • Manage traffic flow 6

  7. The Hidden Costs of Cultural Consumption • Worker exploitation • Workers reflect the brand • The Commercialization of Feeling • Arlie Hochschild • Goffman’s “Presentation of Self” (Dramaturgy) • Emotional Labor • Additional work to display feeling • To please customers, clients • To benefit employers • Required in many service jobs • Examples • Who does this work? • Techniques • Sincere and cynical performances • Consequences • Manage boundaries of backstage, front stage • Stress, alienation, burnout • In-Class Exercise: Emotion Work in Everyday Life 7

  8. When Style Conquers Substance • Good looks as advantage in society • Studies show higher incomes for taller, better looking • “Looks sell” • Example: Book authors • More obsession than ever before • Online we lie about or manipulate physical appearance • What are consequences? • Best-looking people in human history • Costs? • Where is the real self?

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