Shopping for Pleasure: Malls, Power, and Resistance by John Fiske
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John Fiske's "Shopping for Pleasure" offers a fascinating analysis of the shopping mall as a cultural and social space. It's a deep dive into the complex interplay between power and resistance within the realm of consumerism.
🟥 Key Arguments
Malls as Battlegrounds: Fiske challenges the common perception of malls as passive spaces where consumers are merely pawns in a capitalist game. Instead, he positions them as arenas of struggle where consumers exercise agency and challenge dominant power structures.
Consumer Power: Fiske emphasizes the overlooked power of consumers. He argues that while corporations wield significant influence, consumers can subvert these strategies through their choices, behaviors, and interactions within the mall environment.
Resistance Through Pleasure: Fiske suggests that pleasure is a form of resistance. By engaging in shopping as a leisure activity and finding enjoyment in the process, consumers can challenge the underlying commercial logic and reclaim a sense of control.
🟥 Key Concepts
Guerrilla Warfare: Fiske metaphorically describes the mall as a battleground where consumers engage in guerrilla tactics to resist corporate power.
Carnivalesque Inversion: He draws on Bakhtin's concept to explain how consumers can temporarily subvert social norms and hierarchies through playful and subversive behavior within the mall.
Consumer Textuality: Fiske views shopping as a form of reading and interpretation, where consumers actively engage with products and spaces, creating their own meanings.
🟥 Implications
⚫ Fiske's work has had a significant impact on cultural studies and consumer research. It has:
⚫ Challenged traditional views of consumer behavior as passive and compliant.
⚫ Highlighted the importance of understanding consumer culture as a site of resistance and agency.
⚫ Inspired further research into the role of pleasure, play, and subversion in consumer practices.
The eassy begins by addressing the metaphor of consumerism as a religion, where commodities are worshipped and the act of buying goods is compared to a holy ritual. However, the author points out that this metaphor, although attractive, has its limitations.
The author argues that the metaphor of consumerism as a religion tends to suppress certain truths about consumerism. Metaphors work by highlighting similarities between two things, but they can also ignore or downplay the differences. When a metaphor becomes a cliché, like the shopping mall-cathedral comparison, it reinforces common sense and limits alternative perspectives.
So, let's focus on the differences instead. In a religious congregation, the worshippers are powerless and follow the rituals and teachings without questioning. They are expected to accept the entire truth presented to them without negotiation or discrimination. On the other hand, in the marketplace, consumers have the power to be selective. Despite the efforts of advertising and persuasion, a large percentage of new products fail to find enough buyers. This demonstrates the consumer's ability to reject offerings that don't meet their preferences or needs.
Fiske emphasizes that the power dynamics between consumers and those promoting consumerism are not comparable to a religious congregation. While a religion wouldn't tolerate a rejection rate of 80 or 90 percent, consumers have the power to reject products and influence the market.
The author suggests that shopping malls and the act of shopping itself are arenas of struggle. They are places where economic and ideological battles take place between those who have the power to shape consumer behavior and those who resist and challenge that power. Consumers, as individuals, may resist or subvert the dominant ideologies and strategies imposed upon them. Their choices and tactics can undermine the power of the market and exert influence on the powerful.
Fiske argues that while the metaphor of consumerism as a religion may help us understand the power of consumerism, it becomes counterproductive when examining the power of the consumer. Shopping malls and the act of shopping are seen as sites of resistance and struggle, where consumers can assert their power and challenge the interests of those in control.
Further in the essay Shopping for Pleasure, Fiske describes a study conducted by Pressdee in a town called Elizabeth, where unemployed youth are a significant part of the population. The study focuses on the dynamics of power and resistance in the local shopping mall.
The mall's promotional slogan, presented as a free ticket, emphasizes inclusivity and equality by stating that it admits everyone. However, Pressdee argues that this slogan disregards the two distinct working-class groups in the city: those who have jobs and those who don't. The word "admits" implies the need to meet certain conditions, but the word "everyone" cancels out those conditions, creating an illusion of equality. This pseudoticket denies the function of a real ticket, which is to differentiate between those who have one and those who don't. It serves the ideological agenda of bourgeois capitalism by denying class differences and the inevitability of class struggle. It creates an illusion of equality achievable only by those who have purchasing power, while ignoring the existence of those without such power and their working-class interests.
Pressdee then uses the metaphor of a cargo cult to describe the official messages conveyed by the mall. The imagery presented suggests that goods are magically beamed down from space, completely detached from the processes of production and consumption. The political and economic aspects of how these goods are created and consumed disappear from the discourse.
Interestingly, despite being excluded from the production process, Pressdee's study reveals that a large percentage of unemployed young people, particularly women, visit the mall regularly. He refers to them as uninvited guests or invaders in the space of those who have consumer power. They gather in the mall, not primarily to make purchases, but to assert their presence, challenge the system, and resist the inequalities they face. The study highlights Thursday nights as particularly significant, as the malls stay open late, attracting large crowds and witnessing a more aggressive presence of young people.
During these Thursday nights, young people pour into the mall, parading and occupying public spaces. They don't necessarily engage in consumerism but visually express the contradictions between employment and unemployment. Security guards and police officers patrol the area, sometimes encountering fights, drugs, and alcohol. There is a tense relationship between the young people asserting their presence and the authorities trying to maintain order. The passage paints a picture of a struggle for space and a confrontation between the disempowered youth and the power structures represented by the mall and its security.
Thus it describes how unemployed youth in a town use the shopping mall as a site of resistance, challenging the inequalities and power dynamics embedded in consumerism. They assert their presence, confront the authorities, and disrupt the normal flow of consumerism, highlighting the contradictions between employment and unemployment.
Fiske discusses the concept of "proletarian shopping," which refers to the act of window shopping without the intention to buy among the youth described in the study. Instead of purchasing actual products, they consumed the images and the space of the shopping mall. This type of consumption didn't generate profits for the mall owners.
The act of parading and offending "real" consumers and authorities in the mall gave the youth a sense of pleasure and allowed them to assert their difference and alternative use of the consumer space. They were like "tricksters" in the sense described by de Certeau, exploiting their knowledge of the official rules of the system to mock and subvert them. This kind of trickery and guile is common in peasant and folk cultures as a means for the weak to resist and exploit the rules set by those in power.
Shopping malls provide an open invitation for such trickery and tenacity. The youth who turned the malls into meeting places or tricked the security guards by concealing alcohol in soda cans were not behaving much differently from regular window shoppers who browse through stores without the intention to buy. People also take advantage of the controlled climate of malls for their own comfort and pleasure, such as mothers bringing children to play in the air-conditioned environment during hot summers, or older individuals using the mall's concourses for daily walks in winter.
While mall owners may hope that these "tricky" users eventually become actual consumers, they have little control over who will make purchases, how many will do so, how often, or how profitable those purchases will be. According to the passage, only a small fraction of window shoppers actually end up buying something. Shopping malls are therefore vulnerable to the tactical raids of the weak, and women, in particular, are portrayed as adept guerrillas in this consumer battleground.
🟥 CONSUMING WOMEN
The essay then explores the relationship between women and shopping, focusing on the cultural and gendered meanings associated with it. The author describes various slogans and messages found on bumper stickers and cards that highlight the connection between women and shopping.
These slogans are not just commodities to be bought but also texts that carry cultural significance. They operate within the cultural economy, addressing themes of gender difference and the division between work and leisure. Each slogan is seen as a feminine utterance that challenges patriarchal norms. For example, the bumper sticker twists the traditional saying "When the going gets tough, the tough get going" to "When the going gets tough, the tough go shopping." This reappropriation of the saying mocks masculine power while transferring it to the realm of shopping, portraying it as a source of power and achievement for women.
Furthermore, the slogans blur the distinction between work and leisure, which is often gendered. Masculinity is traditionally associated with achievements in sport, war, and work, while femininity is confined to the domestic sphere. By appropriating and subverting these messages, women challenge the confinement of femininity to nonwork, nonpublic spaces and assert their presence in the public domain.
The essay also mentions an apron with the slogan "Woman's place is in the mall" displayed in a kitchen equipment shop. This slogan can be interpreted in different ways. On one hand, it positions women as mere consumers within patriarchal capitalism. On the other hand, it opposes the mall to the home, suggesting that the mall represents a space where women can be public, empowered, and free from the traditional roles imposed by the nuclear family.
Overall, it highlights the complex and contradictory meanings associated with women and shopping, challenging traditional gender roles and exploring the potential for empowerment and resistance within consumer culture.
Shopping for Pleasure discusses the connection between shopping and romantic love, particularly in relation to gender roles. The greeting cards described in the passage portray shopping as a skill in which women excel while men are deficient. Even the "sensitive, intelligent" male recipient of the birthday card is depicted as incapable of understanding shopping.
The cards suggest that shopping can solve the problems women face in both work and love, challenges that arise from a patriarchal society organized in the interests of men. The concluding statement, "If I can buy enough things I'll never have to work at love again," deliberately uses the logic of patriarchal capitalism to arrive at a nonsensical conclusion. The pleasure derived from this lies in exposing the nonsense inherent in the dominant understanding of commodities, work, and love from a feminist perspective.
The essay then explores the historical reasons for the association between shopping and romantic love. As capitalism developed, it established the nuclear family as the fundamental social unit and assigned women a specific role within this structure. Women became responsible for managing the economic and emotional resources of the family. The romance genre emerged as a form of emotional training for women in their roles as wives within the capitalist nuclear family.
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It also mentions a popular TV game show called "The New Price Is Right," which shares similarities with the slogans on the cards. The show highlights women's skills in household management, their knowledge of commodity prices, and their ability to assess value. These skills, traditionally associated with the devalued feminine sphere of the domestic, are showcased on a public platform with enthusiastic audience applause. This recognition provides a moment of liberation from the usual oppression and a validation of women's skills and knowledge despite their devaluation in patriarchal society.
In simpler terms, it discusses how shopping and consumer culture can provide a sense of empowerment and freedom for women. It highlights the inversion of traditional gender roles in certain contexts, such as game shows and shopping malls.
In game shows like "The New Price Is Right," women's skills in household management and knowledge of commodity prices are rewarded with expensive prizes, representing a carnivalesque and political reversal. Instead of merely managing the family's money (typically earned by men), women's skills are directly rewarded with money or goods for themselves. This challenges the traditional notion that feminine skills solely serve to benefit the family.
Similarly, in live versions of these games played in shopping malls, participants often enter with a receipt from one of the shops in the mall. The receipt serves as a "ticket" for a chance to win. This use of receipts as a form of entry symbolically inverts the subjugation associated with economic dependence.
The text also explores the underlying values and structure of patriarchal capitalism. It notes that earning money is typically associated with masculinity, while spending money is associated with femininity. This division aligns with the broader gendered dichotomy between the public and private spheres, work and leisure, production and consumption, empowerment and disempowerment, freedom and slavery.
The author cites Bowlby's work on the history of the Paris store Bon Marché to illustrate how shopping allows women to cross the boundary between the public and the private. Department stores, like Bon Marché, were some of the first public spaces where women could visit without a male companion, marking a significant break from traditional gender roles. This access to a legitimate and safe public space expanded women's freedom beyond domestic confines.
Additionally, the text mentions Ferrier's perspective on contemporary malls, highlighting the sense of empowerment women can experience through their competence in shopping. Malls are designed to facilitate shopping practices and offer women access to public space without the stigma or threat of the street. This freedom allows women to reject gendered oppositions between public and domestic, work and leisure, and challenges the economic distinction between what is for sale (public) and what is bought (private).
It explores how women can find sources of empowerment within the structured values imposed by patriarchy, as well as by resisting and subverting that structure. It provides examples of how women's ability to spend money, even if it is considered "the man's money," can be an act of resistance within the dynamics of marriage.
Advice given by Elizabeth Cady Stanton in the 1850s, suggesting that women should go out and buy things while their husbands are away. The idea is that when the husband returns and sees the positive effects of the purchases, he will be pleased, and the bills will be paid. This act of buying becomes a form of relative emancipation for women, as it bypasses and mollifies male authority.
It emphasizes the notion that subordinated individuals, such as women in patriarchy, make use of what resources they have available to them. In the case of women, if their only economic power is tied to spending, they will employ feminine "tricks" to turn the system back on itself and use the resources provided by men to serve their own interests.
Furthermore, the text suggests that commodities and resources provided by patriarchy do not have to be solely used to support the dominant systems of capitalism or patriarchy. The conditions of production of a cultural system do not determine how it is used or consumed.
The gendered structure of values presented earlier in the passage not only constructs the social meanings of gender but also serves as a means of disciplining women through knowledge. The knowledge that femininity is associated with domesticity, consumption, leisure, and disempowerment is a way of conditioning women into the roles and values prescribed by patriarchy. However, shopping, despite seemingly reinforcing women's disempowerment as domestic consumers, can actually offer opportunities to break free from these meanings and the binary oppositions that create them.
The author argues that successful consumer systems have ambiguous boundaries, blurring distinctions between leisure and work, public and private spaces, desire and satisfaction. Shopping malls, for example, become an extension of consumers' domestic space while also representing a separate "new world." Within these ambiguous boundaries, there is room for fantasy, inversions, pleasure, and acts of transgression that are sanctioned. This creates pleasure and power for consumers, allowing them to experience a sense of liberation within the shopping experience.
The text suggests that women can find empowerment by navigating within the gendered structure of values imposed by patriarchy and by employing acts of resistance and subversion. Shopping, despite its association with disempowerment, can provide opportunities for women to break free from societal expectations and experience pleasure and power through acts of transgression and ambiguity.
🟥 COMMODITIES AND WOMEN
The text discusses the politics of consumption and the relationship between buying and ownership as a means of control in capitalist societies. The author argues that while people have little control over the conditions of production, they can find a sense of control and agency through consumption.
Consumption offers a way to cope with the frustrations of capitalist production. It provides individuals with a sense of control over the meanings associated with themselves and social relations. What people consume plays a more significant role in shaping their chosen meanings in life compared to what they produce.
Ownership, in particular, becomes a form of control that is legitimized in our culture. The act of buying and owning commodities allows individuals to shape and modify their everyday life context and the meanings associated with it. It is seen as an empowering moment, especially for those who are typically marginalized by the economic system. Buying becomes an act of rejecting certain commodities and adopting a controlling relationship towards the system. It includes an anecdote about a woman's mother who would go shoe shopping, spend hours trying on numerous pairs, but ultimately return them the next day. This behavior, although potentially seen as exploiting the shop assistant, is actually a tactical raid or a form of proletarian shopping, aimed at exerting control over the system. It reflects the pleasure derived from the empowered position of the consumer in relation to the producer/distributor.
Furthermore, the idea that production is essentially proletarian (working-class) while consumption is bourgeois (middle-class) is discussed. Attempts to control the context of production pose a radical threat to capitalism as it directly challenges bourgeois interests. Such attempts are met with strong ideological and repressive measures to suppress them. Aligning oneself with the struggles of the working class, who are most severely subordinated by capitalism, may be less likely to succeed due to the power structures and alliances that favor the dominant class. It highlights the role of consumption as a means of control and empowerment in capitalist societies. It suggests that owning commodities and making choices through buying can provide individuals with a sense of agency, even in the face of limited control over the conditions of production. However, it also acknowledges the challenges and power dynamics involved in attempts to control the production context and the social allegiances formed in relation to these struggles.
The text then explores the role of consumption in society, particularly for marginalized or working-class individuals. It argues that consumption, although seemingly supportive of bourgeois values, can be a way for the weak or disadvantaged to find a sense of empowerment and meet their needs.
The author suggests that consumption, such as buying and displaying commodities, is not inherently radical or subversive. It does not fundamentally change the capitalist-consumerist system. However, there are traces of radicalism in the way commodities are consumed and the underlying needs they fulfill. These needs are shaped by the economic system that creates and denies them.
Historical studies of working-class cultures demonstrate that the poor prioritize displaying self-respect over saving for utility. They use their available money to purchase items for display rather than purely functional items. The act of display is a way to meet the need for self-esteem and respect, which may be denied by the conditions of production but can be fulfilled through consumption.
The meanings of commodities are not inherent in the objects themselves or determined by their production and distribution. Instead, meanings are created through the act of consumption. Cultural meanings circulate through the ways and reasons people consume. The system of production and distribution merely provides the signifiers, while the consumption process produces the cultural meanings.
It also mentions how marginalized groups, such as the working class, engage in self-display through their consumption. They modify or create their own versions of mainstream styles and fashion, expressing their ability to be different and construct meanings from the resources available to them. Displaying their subcultural identities and controlling social relations and their cultural environment brings a sense of freedom and pleasure.
The author argues against the concept of a simple "consumer society," stating that all societies value goods for cultural meanings beyond their usefulness. The distinction between use-value and exchange-value, as discussed by Marx, is deemed unhelpful. Instead, the author highlights that commodities serve a function of relating individuals to the social order and constructing a sense of self. Consumption is not just the endpoint of economic production but a system of exchange and a language in which goods are used to think and communicate within a broader semiotic system . It suggests that consumption, while not inherently radical, can provide a means of empowerment and meeting needs for marginalized individuals. The act of display through consumption allows for the construction of cultural meanings, the fulfillment of self-esteem, and the control of social relations. Commodities serve as tools within a broader system of exchange and communication, shaping individuals' relationship to the social order and their sense of self.
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The text provided discusses different perspectives on the meaning of commodities and consumer culture. It contrasts two approaches: the poststructuralist view of Jean Baudrillard and the more structuralist and Marxist views of other scholars.
Baudrillard's perspective suggests that commodities have a significant influence on shaping individuals' identities and sense of self. As the range of products increases and consumer needs become more fragmented, people find it challenging to maintain a coherent and unified identity. In this view, the meanings associated with commodities are imposed upon individuals by the consumer system.
On the other hand, other scholars, such as Williamson, emphasize the role of individuals in creating meanings out of the commodity system. They argue that consumption is a battleground where culture is formed and negotiated. Goods are not just objects of economic exchange; they serve as tools for expressing and stabilizing cultural categories. Consumption allows individuals to exert some control over the meanings produced by the commodity system.
The text highlights the idea that consumer goods are not merely about ownership or material value. They play a crucial role in language, thought, and social practices. Goods act as landmarks that define natural categories in society. Language and consumption shape the ways in which people conceive of doing things and relate to the social order.
Furthermore, the text suggests that the values attached to commodities are not fixed or inherent but arbitrary. The practices of consumers can transform and modify the system itself. Consumption is seen as a means for subordinated individuals to assert control, pursue cultural autonomy, and find security in a system that denies them power.
The text also mentions the importance of recognizing the everyday practices of subordinated groups. These practices, referred to as "making do," involve creativity, cunning, and power. Feminist scholarship and popular cultural theory have contributed to shifting academic focus from grand narratives and structures to the particular and heterogeneous practices of everyday life. Understanding how subordinated groups negotiate and challenge dominant structures is crucial for a more comprehensive understanding of power dynamics and resistance.
Overall, the text emphasizes the need to study not only the structures of power and domination but also the everyday practices of subordinated groups. Neglecting or devaluing these practices is seen as disrespectful and politically reprehensible. Acknowledging the agency and resilience of subordinated groups can provide insights into how they navigate and resist oppressive systems.
🟥 CONSPICUOUS CONSUMPTION
Shopping for Pleasure discusses the concept of conspicuous consumption, particularly in the context of window shopping and the power of looking. It explores how individuals use the visual language of commodities to make statements about themselves and their social relations.
The text highlights the connection between femininity, women's subordination in patriarchy, and the act of looking. Traditionally, women have been objectified and subjected to the male gaze, which places men in positions of power and control. However, the text argues that the pleasures of shopping and using commodities to construct self-images cannot be solely explained by this theory. It suggests that the pleasure of looking is not just about looking good for men but also about controlling one's own appearance and how others perceive them.
Commodities become resources for individuals who exercise control over their appearance, social relationships, and their position within the social order. For example, when Madonna fans buy fingerless lacey gloves, they are not simply buying the same meanings associated with those items at a Buckingham Palace garden party. Instead, they are using cultural resources to express their own subcultural identity and establish their relationship to the social order.
The text argues against the criticism that the language of commodities is limited or pseudospeech. It suggests that while commodities may speak class identities rather than individual identities, this does not make them inferior. All language systems, including verbal language, relate the user to the social order and allow for individual interpretations and expressions. The pleasure and control offered by linguistic and visual expressions can intersect with personal and social realms.
Furthermore, the text acknowledges that the abundance of goods in shopping malls serves as a demonstration of the capitalist system's success on an economic level. It also aligns with the ideology of individualism, emphasizing the importance of consumer choice. However, it notes that exercising choice is not merely buying into the system; it also empowers individuals to use and interpret commodities in their own cultural ways.
Thus, Conspicuous consumption involves using commodities to communicate and assert one's identity and social relationships. The act of looking and controlling one's appearance plays a significant role in this process. Commodities become resources for individuals to express themselves within the social order, and consumer choice can enhance the power of subordinated groups to make cultural use of the system.
In simpler terms, the text discusses the relationship between style, taste, and class within capitalist societies, using the example of Sydney's Centrepoint shopping center. It explores how individuality is constructed through a play of similarity and difference, and how commodities are used to express and bear the already constructed sense of individual difference.
The text mentions that people wearing the same clothes or furnishing their houses in the same way may feel embarrassed because our society values individualism and prioritizes individual differences over social or class allegiances. Capitalist societies often contrast themselves with communist societies by emphasizing consumer choice. Westerners tend to believe that limited consumer choice in communist societies leads to a lack of individuality and a uniform, undifferentiated mass of people. According to this belief, the absence of commodities as a language and the denial of individual freedom in communist systems result in people having no control over their social relations or their entry into the social order.
To counter this perception, capitalist shopping centers like Centrepoint emphasize the abundance of commodities. The center showcases a wide variety of goods, although they are all produced within the same capitalist system. Individuality is constructed upon the interplay of similarity and difference. Similarity allows individuals to enter the social order, while difference allows them to negotiate their individual space within that order.
The text also distinguishes between style and taste. Style is more socially oriented and relates to group membership and social factors like class and age. Taste, on the other hand, operates within style to differentiate and construct individual preferences. Sydney's Centrepoint exemplifies this interplay by having different levels that are class-determined, but each level offers a diverse range of commodities. Riding the escalators through these levels becomes a metaphor for class mobility. In late capitalist societies, style and taste often replace economics as markers of class identity, and they provide more flexibility and control for consumers in constructing their identities.
The text mentions an earlier study that explored how class markers are reflected in the location and design of shops within Centrepoint. The shops on the lowest level, selling low-priced goods, have open fronts and boundaries that blur with the public concourse. On the middle-class level, trendy fashion shops mark their boundaries more clearly but still allow goods to spill out onto the concourse. The shop windows are packed with a multitude of goods, arranged tastefully according to color and style. This abundance of differences offers resources for individual tastes to draw upon. The shops differentiate themselves through lighting, color, and overall identity while maintaining stylistic unity within the shopping center. Window shopping involves purposeful wandering from shop to shop, exploring potential identities until a shop's identity matches or offers the means to construct an individual's desired identity.
The text highlights how capitalist shopping centers like Centrepoint emphasize the plenitude of commodities to allow individuals to construct their identities within the social order. Style and taste play a role in this process, with style relating to social factors and taste allowing for individual differentiation. The design and presentation of shops within the shopping center contribute to their identities, attracting individuals and inviting them to explore and express their individuality through the consumption of goods.
The text discusses how the shops in Centrepoint shopping center are organized based on class and how they signal their identities and exclusivity through their design and presentation. The shops on the lower level, considered "democratic," don't stress their own identity or differentiate themselves strongly from each other or the public areas. They are more accessible to everyone who appreciates the identity they offer. As you go up the class structure, the importance of individual differences increases.
The middle-class shops differentiate themselves more clearly and are identified as different from each other and the public areas. They have well-lit windows filled with goods arranged in a pleasing manner. This suggests that the commodities within those windows cater to a specific taste and style shared by a particular group. It's like lighting up the chorus line in a theater production, highlighting the group identity associated with the goods.
On the other hand, the upper-class shops are exclusive and individualistic. Their windows have fewer goods, dimmer lighting, and sometimes they are not easily visible. This signals that their commodities are not widely available and are intended for a select few. The lighting in these windows is focused on highlighting the individual commodity, such as a luxurious fur coat or a haute-couture dress. This suggests that wearing these commodities will make the individual stand out from others.
Centrepoint uses vertical differentiation, placing the upper-class shops on the highest floor and the "democratic" ones on the lowest. This practice reflects a bourgeois ideological perspective that conceptualizes classes in a spatial relationship rather than a social one. This construction of class differences as a spatial hierarchy reinforces the notion that upper is better and down is inferior, based on the moral and social values associated with up and down in our culture. This metaphorical use of space serves to naturalize and legitimize class distinctions, making them appear inherent and normal.
Centrepoint's arrangement of shops based on class reflects and reinforces social and cultural values. The design and placement of the shops communicate their identity, exclusivity, and availability of commodities, catering to different tastes and styles associated with each class. The spatial metaphor of up and down is used to establish a hierarchy and naturalize class differences, aligning with our cultural notions of moral and social values.
🟥 PROGRESS AND THE NEW
The text explores the emphasis on newness in shopping malls, particularly in Centrepoint and Carillon. The malls create an overwhelming sense of newness through shiny surfaces, bright lights, and the absence of any signs of wear or age. This focus on newness reflects the economic and ideological interests of capitalism, as it drives production and consumption.
The desire for newness is not solely created by advertising but is rooted in the ideology of progress that dominates Western societies. In these societies, time is seen as linear, moving forward and constantly bringing change. Progress and development are valued, and the concept of newness aligns with this ideology. Other cultures that perceive time as circular may have different values and perspectives on newness.
However, not all groups in society benefit equally from this ideology. Pleasure and satisfaction derived from progress are most accessible to mature, white, middle-class males who align with the ideological norm. Social groups that deviate from this norm, such as young, black, working-class females, have limited opportunities to experience the pleasures of progress. Yet, they are exposed to the same ideology of progress as the privileged groups.
The possession of a job that offers a sense of progress achieved can influence one's desire for newness. Men's jobs, traditionally seen as goal-oriented and achieving, may provide a sense of accomplishment, making them less inclined to seek newness in fashion. Women's jobs, often repetitive and circular, may lack this sense of progress, and participating in fashion becomes a way for women to engage with the ideology of progress. Fashion is often associated with newness and receives public recognition and validation. This dynamic is further influenced by the masculinization of progress and newness, which aligns with societal expectations and norms.
The stereotype of the dowdy housewife who has "let herself go" carries negative values because she is perceived as missing out on both progress and public recognition. This reflects the societal bias towards valuing newness, progress, and public visibility, particularly in relation to gender roles and expectations.
In simpler terms, the text discusses how fashion and consumer goods can provide women in a patriarchal society with a means to engage with the social order and access certain privileges. While this approach may not be radical or challenge the gender inequalities inherent in patriarchy, it can be seen as progressive and empowering in the sense that it allows women to partake in traditionally masculine pleasures.
Just as department stores were the first public spaces accessible to women, the fashionable commodities they offer provide a legitimate way for women to establish a public identity and participate in the ideology of progress. Similarly, in youth subcultures, both genders often express a strong desire for up-to-date fashion and music. For individuals who lack the goal achievements associated with middle-class jobs, engaging with style and fashion becomes a source of pleasure and a way to establish a more independent relationship with the social order. Through creative use of commodities, young people can transform themselves into icons of street art and use consumer goods for subcultural and resistant purposes.
The text also refers to a greeting card that humorously reflects on the role of work, love, and shopping in society. The female speaker in the card acknowledges that these activities are all ways of forming social relations. The phrase "If I can buy enough things, I'll never have to work at love again" suggests that patriarchy exerts greater control over work and love than it does over shopping. Thus, purchasing commodities offers a sense of freedom, however irrational, from the burdens of working and loving in a patriarchal system. Working and loving are conflated as chores from which shopping provides an escape.
Overall, the text highlights the complex relationship between women, consumerism, and patriarchal norms. While engaging with fashion and consumer goods may not challenge the underlying inequalities, it can serve as a way for women to navigate and find some agency within the existing social order.
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