Lecture - Consumerism

Consumerism

Aims:

Analyse the rise of US consumerism
Discuss the links between consumerism and our unconscious desires
Sigmund Freud
Edmund Bernays
Consumerism as social control

Sigmund Freud : (1856-1939)

New theory of Human Nature
Psychoanalysis
Hidden primitive sexual forces and animal instincts within humans
Looked at peoples dreams
Humans desire violence and sex
The Interpretation of Dreams (1899)
The Unconscious (1915)
The Ego and the Id (1923)
Beyond the Pleasure Principle (1920)
Civilization & its Discontents (1930
 

Edward Bernays: (1891-1995)

Based on Ideas of his uncle Sigmund Freud

Introduced the idea of Product placement
Celebrity Endorsements

Fordism:

Moving assembly line
Standard production models built as they move through the factory
Requires large investment, but increases productivity so much that relatively high wages can be paid, allowing the workers to buy the product they produce

Marketing hidden needs:

Selling emotional security
Selling reassurance of worth
Selling ego-gratification
Selling Creative Outlets
Selling Love Objects
Selling sense of power
Selling a sense of roots
Selling immortality

Consumerism is an ideological project
The consumer self
Through consumption our desires can be met?
To what extent are our lives ‘free’ under the Western Consumerist system?