Consumption Identity

Does our consumption determine our identity?

Sociologists have started to research how the emerging consumer culture shapes people's identities. They found that production and consumption have significant impact on individual and group identity formation.

• We will look at consumption and consumerism in modern society in order to define the factors at play in our identity formation and socialization.
• Then we will discuss the connection between consumption identity and leisure.
• Finally, we will look at different sociological perspectives on consumption identity.

What are production and consumption?

Production and consumption describe the creation and consumption of goods and services. Production levels are driven by consumer demand, so the more that we buy things, the more are created.

Production and consumption have led to a modern 'consumer culture' in which people feel the need to buy more and more things to advance their social position.

What is consumerism?

Consumerism is often referred to as an ideology that encourages the consumption of products that are not needed, but that will serve our personal satisfaction. Consumerism has developed in capitalist societies, where mass production made the consumption of more and more products and services possible.

Consumption identity: meaning

Sociologists of the 20th century noticed that the process of consumption is much more complex than just purchasing certain things. They noticed that people of a certain social group tend to have similar consumption habits.

If a person wants to belong to a certain social group, they might adopt their particular consumption habits (like the purchase of luxury items) and obtain similar cultural capital. Thus, both that social group and its consumption trends become part of the person's social identity.

Consumption of culture and identity

Sociological research also argued that an individual's consumption habits are related to their identity, and social status and can tell a lot about a person's everyday lives, values and interests, which also relate back to their position in society.

Arguably, most of what we think about in life - whether about reaching a goal, about the relationships we have or about self-development - involves us making choices about the things we might consume.

Links between consumption and identity

There are many explanations for the growth of our diverse consumer culture. Joel Stillerman (2015) claims that the two most significant changes that generated the growth of modern consumption culture happened after WWII:

• Technological advancements and the increase in transport and communication links

• The use of the global south as a source of cheap production

Stillerman defines 5 major changes and areas which led to the close relationship between consumption and identity formation.

Changes in the class structure affecting consumption and identity

Bourdieu and Featherstone (2000) saw the growth in consumerism as related to the emergence of the 'new middle classes' due to advances in technology and new jobs in social media and marketing.

Mike Featherstone talks about 'cultural intermediaries' who work in entertainment and have adopted an 'ethic of self-expression through consumption', where they engage in self-care to gain social and economic capital.

These people have influenced the rest of society, which has become obsessed with the 'aestheticisation of daily life'. People engage in self-improvement-based consumption because they feel it gives them social status.

Customisation affecting consumption and identity

Zygmunt Bauman and Ulrich Beck point to access to higher education and social welfare benefits, which have allowed individuals more freedom to pursue their own paths. People can now diverge from traditional external sources of identity (family, work, etc) and can form their own identities.

However, this demands a lot of reflection and a constant worry that they have not chosen the right path, which makes them turn to consumption to help them construct a life narrative.

Subcultures affecting consumption and identity

Consumers often feel the need to consume in order to identify with a certain group and remain in the 'in-group'. This occurs even when the group is supposedly anti-consumerist or deviant. Cova et al. (2007) talk about 'consumer tribes', where people can be part of a group just by having certain things and can enter and leave groups as they wish. Consumers may be part of multiple consumer tribes.

Counterculture affecting consumption and identity

The 1960s counter culture had a reputation for being anti-consumerist, but was actually more about rejecting mainstream, standardized mass consumption and promoting self-expression.

This set the standard for the niche marketing of today, in which people have a wealth of options to choose from to express themselves in an individual way. Some members of this culture went on to create their own consumer outlets that attract similar-minded people.

Postmodernism affecting consumption and identity

Postmodernism rejects the concept of meta-narratives and encourages the individual to create or find their own unique identity in consumption. Firat and Venkatesh (1995) argue that advertising companies are now focused on producing symbols that people can use to construct these identities. This has led to the specialization of products.

Consumption and identity at work

Let us take a look at what consumption and identity at work means.

Consumption identity and leisure

Marxist theorists John Clarke and Chas Critcher (1985) argue that leisure is the by-product of work, and thus it is closely connected to capitalist ideology and consumerism. Leisure is sold and bought just like any other product of capitalism to the worker. Its real purpose is to restore the worker's energy to be ready to work effectively again as a member of the capitalist economy.

According to Clarke and Critcher, the working class is defined and controlled through leisure just as much as through work, benefiting the ruling class of capitalist society.

Chris Rojek's research (2000) argues that the leisure activities of an individual cannot be separated from their social and historical context, and so leisure time as a universal theory can't be studied effectively.

Rojek, nevertheless, believes that leisure is a crucial part of cultural life and identity formation. People are increasingly pressured into spending their free time 'productively' as well. He also asserts that people secure their social statuses through their leisure activities.

Sociological perspectives on consumption identity

The sociological perspective on consumption and identity involves the following.

Marxism and consumption identity

Karl Marx was the first to extensively study consumption. He created the term 'commodity fetishism' which refers to the belief that commodities are created by other commodities regardless of human labour.

Marx pointed out that through commodity fetishism, the focus shifted from the relationship between people to the relationship between people and material goods. This built the basis for further studies on consumer consciousness and consumer identity.

In a religious context, Durkheim wrote that both material and non-material objects are important to culture and community as they are symbolic of the values, behaviours and ideologies that bind communities together.

Durkheim, therefore, believed that material objects and consumption of these are integral to culture, and highlighted the role that consumer goods play in traditions and cultural rituals all over the world.

Max Weber and consumption identity

Weber was an important scholar in the field and the first to discuss the concept of 'status symbol' in detail. According to this idea, people's status and position in society are determined by the products and services they can and do afford. For example, the purchase of luxury items tends to refer to higher economic status.

Following Weber, Thorstein Veblen discussed the concept of 'conspicuous consumption', which became very influential for sociologists studying the display of status and wealth.

The Frankfurt School and consumption identity

Max Horkheimer and Theodor Adorno argued that society was inundated with cultural products, from Hollywood films to the music you hear in lifts. All of these 'products' were designed to satisfy the needs of a growing consumerist culture for entertainment whilst earning a profit.

They argue that this commodification of culture is tantamount to the commodification of human consciousness, and thus stops autonomous thinking and criticism in order to protect the current class order.

Herbert Marcuse claimed that Western societies try to solve political, cultural and social problems through the market and through consumerism. They do this instead of dealing with them within the real realms of those issues or getting to real solutions.

Feminism and consumption identity

Feminists have highlighted multiple ways consumption influences female identity. Ann Oakley (1970) drew attention to women's oppression and exploitation through housework.

She also blamed advertisements for targeting women with domestic goods and generally presenting women as primarily responsible for everything related to the home: shopping, cleaning, cooking and raising children.

Fig. 1 - Feminists criticised consumerist culture's role in linking female identity to domestic labour and motherhood.

Feminists also point to consumerist culture's representation of ideal masculinity and femininity. The purchase of certain household products started to define 'the good mother and wife', while the purchase of fashion items and services related to appearance (hair, body and facial care) defined the perfect woman. Ideal heterosexual masculinity was represented by expensive cars, stereo equipment, vacations, and the interest in Playboy magazine.

Initially, feminists encouraged women to resist the urge to consume the products advertised to them to liberate themselves from patriarchal cultural control. However, in the second half of the 20th century, feminist scholars argued that shopping, for example, can be a liberating act of public engagement for women, and when done consciously, it can actually lead to fuller ownership of one's body, appearance and identity.

Postmodernism and consumption identity

Postmodernist sociologists study the ways people look for validation and community through linking their identity to consumption. They believe that people can choose their identity due to globalization and consumption. They think social class, gender and ethnicity still influence one's identity creation, but not as much as previously.

While they generally consider this individuality as a positive change, they also acknowledge that globalization had some negative effects on, for instance, ethnic identities, as it transformed or even wiped out certain cultures and traditions.