Dd101_Tma2__Outline_Who_Are_the_Winners_and_Losers_in_a_Consumer_Society

Outline who are the winners and losers in a consumer society According to many social scientists the contemporary western society is a consumer society. A society in which individual status, identity and lifestyle and is not only determined by occupation but by what people buy and how they put to use or dispose of their acquisitions as well as their ability to participate in ‘consuming’. And as such, the consumer society creates a division between those who benefit and those who are disadvantaged whether as individuals, groups or organizations (Hetherington, 2009). In the following essay I will use Bauman’s theory of the seduced and the repressed and Wrong’s concept of the zero-sum and positive-sum power to describe who the winners and losers are in a consumer society. Bauman argues that in a contemporary society “consumption is the dominant feature…rather then production and work” (Hetherington, 2009, p.27). Certain jobs, for example manual jobs, that in the past used to be considered as lower status can now provide enough disposable income to give the person access to a higher status and a certain lifestyle through consumption. However in Bauman’s view the society still remains divided; in the past this division was seen as a class division between the working class, middle class and upper class, and in today’s consumer society this division is between those that have the ability to ‘consume effectively’ and those that do not (Hetherington, 2009). Bauman refers to these categories of society as ‘the seduced’ and the ‘repressed’; for him ‘the seduced’ are those that have the ability to consume beyond the bare necessities and as such have access to a lifestyle and status they aspire to. The acquisition of goods and services through markets that offer a range of choices provides ‘the seduced’ with the opportunity for self-expression and gives them a sense of belonging and a status within a consumer society (Hetherington, 2009). According to Bauman it is not only income that determines ‘the seduced’ segment of society; mobility, age and talent are also important aspects which open access to participation in a consumer society. ‘The repressed’ segment of a consumer society are those people that are unable to participate in consumption beyond basic essentials due low income, unemployment, disability or lack of mobility (Hetherington, 2009). This segment of society is restricted in consumer choices which leads to feeling of social exclusion, low self-esteem and devalued identity (Hetherington, 2009). Peter Jacksons study of retail outlets and why many people prefer to shop there reinforces Bauman’s concept of ‘the seduced’ and ‘the repressed’ i.e. the winners and losers of a consumer society. According to Jackson’s survey many people prefer shopping at retail outlets not only because of the large range of goods available in one place but also because they consider such shopping places to be safe, regulated and convenient whereas they consider the street to be potentially dangerous, disordered and inconvenient (Hetherington, 2009). But these shopping malls do not cater for everyone and as result help to create the ‘the seduced’ and ‘the repressed’ division in a society as only those who are mobile, have a car and enough disposable income are able to shop there. Those people with low income, unemployed or immobile are excluded from such retail outlets (Hetherington, 2009). Furthermore as people move their shopping to retail outlets the local businesses suffer as they lose customers and cannot compete with the low prices the big retail outlets offer to consumers, as a consequence some local businesses are forced to close due to lack of business which further excludes ‘the repressed’ from participation in consumption as their choices become even more limited (Hetherington, 2009). The competition between the big stores and local businesses reinforce the already existing inequalities between winners and losers in a consumer society. The development of supermarkets has moved away trade from town centers stripping the business from the local independently owned town shops (Allen, 2009). This situation according to Judi Bevan has become worse with the big chains moving into towns and becoming direct competitors to small traders and local shops which, according to Federation of Small Business, have been “closing at a rate of 2000 a year” (Allen, 2009, p.74) as they are unable to withstand the increasing expansion and domination of the big chains such as Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Asda and Morrisons (Allen, 2009). Albeit, it is not only the businesses that are suffering but the consumers are at the losing end as well as the choices where they can shop become more restricted. In Wrong’s terms this is a ‘zero-sum game’ whereby the big supermarket chains benefit at the expense of small traders and consumers; in other words there are only winners and losers. According to Wrong there are situations when all parties involved are winners – a ‘positive-sum game’ (Allen, 2009). As Richard Dodd from British Retail Consortium argues, the big supermarkets offer consumers a choice and range of goods and that if people did not like what the supermarkets offer they would not shop there. He also says that supermarkets help regenerate local communities by offering job opportunities to the local people and that “the four big supermarkets employ 870,000 people” in the UK (‘Evidence in the Social Sciences’, 2009, track 1). One such case of community regeneration is the town of Linwood not far from Glasgow in the UK which greeted Tesco’s proposal of opening a superstore and redeveloping the rundown shopping plaza that would include “a new supermarket, community center, library and an upgraded health center” (Allen, 2009). The proposed plan would not only bring the so much needed long-term employment to the community that has been in economic recession since early 80’s but would also attract new businesses to the shopping plaza: restaurants, bars and different shops (Allen, 2009). Contrary to anti-supermarket claims that the arrival of supermarkets is ruining the small businesses, the pro-supermarket lobby argues that supermarkets encourage small traders by providing them space and giving them opportunity for doing business. The winners in a consumer society according to Bauman are those people that can consume effectively whom he calls ‘the seduced’ and the losers those that are unable to participate in consumption beyond basic necessities. According to Wrong there are two sides to the coin; there are situations to which he refers as ‘a zero-sum game’ in which one party benefits at the expense of the other and situations to which he refers to as ‘a positive-sum game’ in which all parties involved benefit to some extent. References: Hetherington, K. (2009) ‘Consumer Society' Shopping, consumption and social science’ in Taylor,S., Hinchliffe, S., Clark, J. and Bromley S. (eds) Making Social Lives, Milton Keynes, The Open University. Allen, J. (2009) ‘One-stop shopping: the power of supermarkets’ in Taylor,S., Hinchliffe, S., Clark, J. and Bromley S. (eds) Making Social Lives, Milton Keynes, The Open University. ‘Evidence in the social sciences’ (2009) Making Social Lives [Audio CD 1]