Browsing by Subject "Consumption"

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The advertising construction of identity in Lebanese television
(2010-08) Nasr, Assem; Wilkins, Karin Gwinn, 1962-; Straubhaar, Joseph D.; Kackman, Michael; Kraidy, Marwan M.; Kumar, Shanti
The Middle East saw much social change in recent tumultuous decades. On one hand, some communities embraced Westernness as part of the inevitable path to development and modernization. On the other hand, there were communities that resisted global trends that were mostly dominated by the West. The latter deemed these trends as a threat to native cultures, religious groups, and local traditions. This made the Arab world a ground for constant redefinition of the meaning of identity. Of the countries in the region undergoing a turbulent debate over what constitutes national identity, Lebanon serves as a good example. Ever since its independence, Lebanon was a nation-state with no sense of nationality to unite its people. As some communities saw themselves more francophone than Arab, others felt a close connection to a pan-Arab nation. Arguably, the Lebanese people found themselves amidst a tension between the two poles. Defining one’s identity required a negotiation between the two extremes. Not only did this negotiation demand a thorough investigation of one’s beliefs, social network, and history, but it also necessitated a diligent ‘performance’ of identity. An individual represented her identity by habits and expressions that she associated with that particular identity. The study at hand is an exploration of the relationship between identity and consumption in the Lebanese society. This project applies a unique approach in that it considers the producers’ agency in the construction of identity. Taking television advertising as a site for inquiry, the study explores how commercial advertisers utilize the tension between the local and the non-local to promote the consumption of the advertised products. Through exploring the values that educate advertising producers’ choices in creating text and meaning, this study applies theories of globalization, postcolonial studies, and consumer behavior through which advertisers manifest an ambivalence of identity. Therefore, by taking Lebanon as an example and focusing on advertising, this study contributes to the debates of globalization and the Arab world by invoking questions of producers’ agency in producing identity references through attitudes, behaviors, and social status associated with the featured products.
Chica(no) lit : reappropriating Adorno’s Washing machine in Nina Marie Martínez’s ¡Caramba!
(2010-05) Uzendoski, Andrew Gregg; Perez, Domino Renee, 1967-; Cox, James H. (James Howard), 1968-
This master’s report presents a literary criticism of the novel ¡Caramba! by Nina Marie Martínez that attends to both genre and mass culture theory. The novel, when recognized as a multigenre text consisting of both chick lit and Chicano literature conventions, reveals how informal economies employ methods of cultural appropriation in order to articulate an oppositional voice. In particular, Martinez’s literary intervention of the trademark symbol subverts dominant forms of consumption (and genre) to expose how her protagonists emerge as subjective, discerning consumers in her fictional Californian town.
Consuming manhood : consumer culture and the identity projects of black and white millennial males
(2011-05) Thomas, Kevin Devon; Henderson, Geraldine R. (Geraldine Rosa), 1963-
This study qualitatively examines the synergetic relationship between marketing communication, identity formation, and consumer behavior within the context of black and white males of the Millennial Generation. The sample consisted of 20 males between the ages of 18-29; ten self-identified as black and 10 self-identified as white. This project expands the knowledge base of consumption/identity research by incorporating intersectionality into the present body of consumer behavior work. A consumer’s identity project is far more complex than what is represented by current consumer behavior scholarship. Consumers must navigate multiple sites of identification that constantly shift in importance and involvement. To more closely reflect consumers in the flesh, this study incorporated multiple sites of identity projects into the analysis. By taking a more “true-to-life” approach to consumption/identity research, this project unearths new knowledge that is proximate to the lived experience of consumers. Consumer culture theory (CCT), a division of consumer research that moves the discussion of consumption behavior deep into the realm of cultural impact was used as the conceptual focus of this project. Autodriving was utilized to collect data. This form of photo elicitation involves the use of informants taking photos of a particular phenomenon and then “driving” the interview by discussing the photos they have taken. In the context of this study, informants were furnished a disposal camera and asked to photographically document representations of the following: achievement & success, morality, humanitarianism, nationalism, and freedom. Informants were strongly encouraged to also visually document anything that did not fit into the abovementioned categories but represented something they found particularly interesting or offensive. To examine the impact of marketing communication on the informants’ identity projects, print advertisements featuring different configurations of masculinity and manhood were explored. Three key themes emerged from the data. All informants used the marketplace to express values. The concept of identity elasticity was developed to explain the significant difference in identity potentiality between white and black informants. Many white and black informants shared the perception that they live in a post-racial society. However, the experience of a post-racial society was highly divergent based on racial formation.
Dematerialization: a changing paradigm in architecture
(2009-11) Brown, Meredith; Lutz-Carillo, Sky
A look at dematerialization, the reduction in the amount of materials required for various purposes, with a focus on how it applies sustainable architecture. This paper presents the case that society is adopting "a new paradigm" based on awareness of the planet's limited resources, and describes how basic decisions in the design of architectural projects can reduce material consumption over many years. Based on a presentation by Niklaus Kohler.
Fashion, social media, and identity expression : an intersectional approach to understanding the fashion consumption patterns of black middle-class women
(2017-05) Morris, Angelica Noelle; Kahlor, LeeAnn; Thomas, Kevin; Close-Scheinbaum, Angeline; Ainsle, Ricardo; Tang, Eric, 1974-
The ability to freely express one’s identity through apparel is a staple of U.S. cultural freedom. The rise of social networking sites (SNSs) have increased these liberties, as fashion-related user-generated content has curtailed much of the influence of fashion industry powerhouses. This ability to freely use apparel to express identity, however, is not fully available to all Americans—particularly members of historically marginalized groups like black middle-class female consumers. In spite of this marginalization, these women have historically impacted popular fashion trends, frequently use SNSs to exchange fashion-related information, and have strong buying power. Despite their value, however, knowledge of their apparel-related consumption behaviors is limited. Using an intersectional theoretical approach guided by theories of black feminism and black respectability politics, this study utilized Photovoice and in-depth interview methods to explore the complex relationship between black middle-class female identity and apparel-related consumption. The four themes that emerged from this data (cultural double-standards and appearance, the respectability politics of fashion, within-group differences, and #BlackGirlMagic) provide valuable theoretical and practical insights, including increased evidence for the use of an intersectional approach in Consumer Culture Theory research, a proposed extension of the Model of Situational Ethnicity and Consumer Behavior, and suggestions for cultural-relevant marketing and advertising messages, both on and off-line.
In search of a good drink : punches, cocktails, and imperial consumption
(2016-01-11) Knerr, Kerry Marjorie; Hoelscher, Steven D.; Thompson, Shirley
This report examines the relationship between forms of domestic alcohol consumption and the histories of global capitalism—specifically, the shift from punches to cocktails as the most popular form of hard alcohol consumption. It argues that punches served to direct the products of the periphery into the metropole and that cocktails exist only as a direct result of American engagement with global markets. The availability of new, exotic ingredients from colonial holdings allowed particular kinds of consumption clusters to form in European societies; these newfound tastes then fueled further expansion, as in Sidney Mintz’s analysis of sugar and capitalism. The growing institution of the bar encouraged individual forms of drinking, leading to the downfall of punch and the ascendance of cocktails.
Mapping immaterial flows : how consumption invisibilizes labor : the satellite and shipping container
(2018-06-27) Ali, Hiba; Lucas, Kristin, 1968-; Mallapragada, Madhavi; Smith, Mike; Chambers, Eddie
The kiosk system went down and everyone missed their flight. I had this experience recently at Chicago O’Hare International airport when I was flying to Austin. It affirmed the importance of understanding networks and how their working (or in this case, the lack thereof) immobilizes goods and people. Usually, when you check in for a flight, there is a kiosk, a station where you can print out your ticket, bag tags, and receipt. This automation of airline customers and their luggage is routine and due to its speed, allows a lot more people to obtain services. A standard of speed and ease of access is therefore coupled and expected. When this automation is no longer available, people lose their shit or more elegantly stated, the artifice of entitlement becomes gruesomely apparent. I understand everyone has a place to go and we won’t get their soon enough. However, the system is down and the airline workers are doing their best. Of course, once the network is back in place, the kiosks will resume operation and yes, they will arrange a later flight. But in a global economy where networked spaces are equated solely to make money at an expedient pace, how do we get people to understand other ways to respond to a malfunction? The common assumption is that systems are supposed to be perfect and a glitch or a malfunction is an exception, however it is quite the reverse. What if networks weren’t based on dualism? The binary being either: an all digital internet of everything kind of space or a cyberpunk infused reversion to the analog. Instead, what should be thought of and put into place is a multiplicity of network configurations such as A to Z, alif to bari yay, 1 to a 1000, uno to millón. This is what I propose in my research and arts practice: how do we build multiplicity and equity in systems? Networks are not arbitrarily put into place, they have funders, users, buyers, beneficiaries, and losers involved. Therefore, they are porous flows, exchanges, and axioms, always open to change. My research lies in between histories of media, technology, and globalization. I investigate these themes through performance, sculptural installations, reading groups, and workshops that focus on the role of technology. Specifically, my practice is focused on objects that are produced from global circuits and their embedded codes, encompassing both the technological and sociological. I investigate the history of objects such as the satellites and shipping containers and make immaterial streams tangible. The specific objects of the satellite and shipping container carry information that frames notion of historic and present day globalization facilitated by technology. The sections of this text are not necessary meant to be read sequentially, there are organized like nodes. In the first node, I will examine the role of satellites in my projects, Satellites and TELL A STAR. Satellites project examines Our World, the first global transmission (1967) through a sculptural installation, video and website. This project critiques the notion of techno-utopianism, a idea that technology will resolve all inequalities plaguing humanity. Then, I will review TELL A STAR, a 3-channel installation, where I divert the history of the first American satellite, Telstar (1962) through the lens of Afrofuturism, archival research and fluidity of identity. In the second node, I will review my project, Con-tain-er, its installation and performative elements and the role of “flows” within global shipping networks. Near the ending node, the role of networks, “junk,” and the use of workshops will be examined as part of my arts practice. Demanding the creation of more inclusive and divergent networks is central to imagining fluidity. It is within reach, we need to imagine it.
Social forces and hedonic adaptation
(2013-05) Chugani, Sunaina Kumar; Irwin, Julie R.
Consumers acquire products to enhance their lives, but the happiness from these acquisitions generally decreases with the passage of time. This process of hedonic adaptation plays an integral role in post-acquisition consumer satisfaction, product disposal and replacement behavior, and the "hedonic treadmill" that partially drives the relationship between consumption and happiness. Humans are social animals, however, and we know little about the relationship between the social environment and hedonic adaptation. My dissertation addresses this gap by exploring the moderating role of social presence (Essay 1) and self-concepts (Essay 2) on hedonic adaptation to products. Essay 1 explores how social presence affects hedonic adaptation to products. Research on general happiness has shown that significantly positive life events tend to maintain their positivity for longer periods of time when they involve active social interactions. I examine a more common situation in the domain of product consumption, i.e., the presence of others during consumption, and test whether hedonic adaptation to products is moderated by public contexts. By tracking happiness with products over time, I show that a "social audience" (i.e., the presence of others and the perception that those others notice the consumer) moderates hedonic adaptation through a consumer's inference of the social audience perspective. Inferring that the social audience is admiring one's product slows down adaptation, and inferring that the social audience is negatively viewing one's product accelerates adaptation. Essay 2 explores the role the identity-relevance of a product plays in hedonic adaptation. Extant research illustrates that consumers avoid consuming identity-inconsistent products in order to avoid dissonance arising from product choices conflicting with important self-concepts. I show that dissonance can also arise from consuming identity-consistent products because of the force of hedonic adaptation. I provide evidence that consumers feel uncomfortable experiencing declining happiness with identity-consistent products and thus resist hedonic adaptation to such products in order to resolve the dissonance.
The power of play : East German toy design, consumption, and the socialist personality 1949-1979
(2015-05) Nagy, Shannon Romayne; Crew, David F., 1946-; Hake, Sabine; Bsumek, Erika; Rubin, Eli; Neuburger, Mary
This dissertation explores how East Germany used children’s toys to educate its citizens on how to act and consume like socialists and establish a specific socialist society that differentiated itself from the West. Toys, like other objects, are meant to be manipulated, rendering them ephemeral and part of everyday life. Yet, they are also a representational medium for the prevailing mores of a culture and society—their ability to influence individual sensory experience and cognition has made toys enduring features of education, socialization, consumer culture, politics and ideology. By approaching the history of East Germany from the perspective of material culture, this dissertation reveals the extent to which socialist ideology pervaded the design, production, and consumption of East German toys and demonstrates how the state's efforts—literally and figuratively—shaped the material lives, national identity, and quotidian practices of its citizens. A major tenet of socialist ideology in East Germany (GDR) was the commonly held belief that citizens of the state could be molded into "better" socialists through education, paternal supervision, and manipulation of the physical environment. Therefore, government officials and pedagogues hoped that through the process of childhood political indoctrination, the responsibilities and mores of a socialist society would come as second nature to GDR citizens. Using toys as a lens, this project reveals how the East German government attempted to establish a socialist product landscape and way of life much different from the ones in the West by dictating and controlling the material culture of everyday life and creating new relationships between people and things. Ideology drove the shape, style, and appearance of the material world while the GDR marketed its aesthetic as "national in form, socialist in content" and changed the everyday surroundings and physical world of its citizens. Finally, while traditional historiography of the Cold War relationship between East and West Germany focuses on East-West competition and the political relationships between the two states, this study examines East Germany's cultural and ideological strategy for negotiating the creation of a distinctive aesthetic and specific socialist personality among the most impressionable and youngest members of the state, its children.