“Discuss_the_Role_of_Power_in_Shaping_the_Distribution_of_Benefits_and_Losses_in_Consumer_Society.

Discuss the role of power in shaping the distribution of benefits and losses in consumer society. Today, there is a growing recognition amongst social scientists of the importance of consumerism in contemporary society. Namely because it can have an effect on all aspects of society. In modern times, the average consumer identifies him/herself by what they buy rather than their jobs. ‘Consumer society’ is a relatively new term that started in the 1980's with the disappearance of many traditionally working class manufacturing jobs. Before this downward turn, working class people were proud of their skills and identified strongly with their colleagues and there was a strong sense of solidarity amongst the workers both within and outside the factory. People now have a tendency to identify themselves in terms of what they buy and their leisure activities. Various social scientists have set out to explain and define the different types of consumer and identify the reasons why people shop. For example, Bauman divides the consumer into the seduced and the repressed and they are defined by their ability to consume i.e. the seduced have the financial means to consume, have a stable job and have a good credit rating. By contrast the repressed may be unemployed, may not possess a good credit rating or be in low paid jobs without any future. One could argue that this is quite a simplistic concept as it does not take into account the people who do not like to shop in supermarkets for example as they are against them on principle. Even though they may be relatively well off. These people are neither ‘seduced’ or ‘repressed’. Following the credit crisis, many people who lost their jobs are no longer the ‘seduced’, but are now members of the ‘repressed’. Zygmunt Baumann (1988). Whereas Veblen another social scientist believes that consumers are driven to shop due to conspicuous consumption and the necessity to display their status in life. Veblen, T. (1899) On the other hand, Susman’s concept rests on the fact that consumers shop to show their identity, and distinct personalities, their sense of ‘personal self’. Susman, W. (2003) Can the success of the big 4 supermarket chains, Tesco, Asda, Morisons and Sainsbury be explained by their ability to take into account any or all of the above concepts when marketing/selling their products' In the audio programme "Evidence in the social sciences" John Allen author of Chapter 2 - one stop shopping – The power of supermarkets, tables a discussion between Helen Rimmer of Friends of the Earth and Richard Dodds of The British Retail Consortium. ‘Do supermarkets drain the life out of the high street or are they an active force for regeneration’ Helen Rimmer representing the anti supermarket lobby claims that there is distinct correlation in the increasing number of supermarkets with the continuing decrease in the number of local stores in the high street. She claims that there is a tendency for the big retailers to draw business away from the town centres by building out of town retail centres. Consequently local stores are closing down at a rate of 50 every week. Ideally Rimmer would like the government to invest in present town centres rather than continuously giving planning permission to the large retailers to build more and more out of town retail centres. This in turn would regenerate the town centres thus creating more local jobs. According to her, encouraging a diversity of retailers would result in increased growth of family shops. The town would thus retain its local flavour. Conversely, Richard Dodd agrees that town centres are doing less retail business than say in 1997 when town centres accounted for 50% of consumer spending. However this figure had dropped to 43% 11 years later. Despite the figures, Dodd blames the decline of the town centre on its infrastructure, i.e. lack of parking, inaccessibility and crime rather than the growth of the supermarkets. According to Dodd, customer satisfaction is behind supermarket growth. Therefore the consumer has the power to choose where they want to shop. The consumer is therefore benefiting from the wider range of goods and competitive prices found in supermarkets as well as the convenience of being able to shop for everything from food to CD’s in one store. Moreover, Dodd points out that the retail stores are now going back into the high street in the form of Tescos Local or Sainsbury’s Metro. He emphasizes that local people both work and shop in these convenience stores. Thus By contrast Rimmer claims that when a Tesco Express moves into a high street, this results in a 30/40% decline in local shops. Despite her claim, she does not offer any real evidence to back this up, i.e author of study, date, etc which makes her argument less compelling. In direct contrast to Dodd’s belief of supermarkets as a beneficial force for the consumer, Rimmer argues that decrease in diversity of shops in the high street results in less consumer choice as people are forced to buy from the big retailers. Additionally., as quite a few of the big retailers are out of town, the old, the poor and the handicapped quite often don’t have access to a car so they could be defined as losers. Their consumer power and voice is not very strong so they tend to be overlooked by the dominating supermarkets. Dodd points out that 94% of consumers have at least one of the big 3 retailers within15 minutes of where they live. He sees this as evidence that there is no dominating retailer in the UK. Furthermore, as the big supermarkets employ approx 870,000, it could be argued that supermarkets are using their power in a beneficial way to create jobs. Both Dodd and Rimmer make relevant points In relation to the negative and positive affects of the power of supermarkets. It is interesting how the same evidence can be proven to support the arguments of both the pro and anti supermarket lobbies depending in which context they are used. Over the years there have been growing opposition to the installation of further Tescos in the UK. In the past Tesco has been able to wield its enormous political and economic power to ensure that they receive the go ahead to build stores wherever they choose. But organisations who oppose them are springing up such as STOP – Stop Tesco owning Partick. They are against Tesco building a huge 24 hour shopping complex in Partick as they argue that it will have a negative impact on the local stores. Less than 10 miles away in Linwood, Tesco are also planning to build a Tesco superstore but here the locals would welcome this as it would bring employment opportunities to a repressed area. So we can conclude that Tesco would be using its power in a beneficial way resulting in a win win situation for the both the locals and Tescos. After reading and listening to the evidence as to whether supermarkes use their power to shape the distribution of benefits and losses in a consumer society, I would conclude that this is not an open and shut argument. Diversity of retailers would definitely help to prevent abuse of this power and limit the domination of supermarkets in the uk. References Bauman, Z (1988) Freedom, Milton Keynes, Open University Press Susman, W. (2003) Cultures as History, Washington DC, Smithsonian Books Veblen, T. (1899) The theory of the Leisure Classes: An economic study in the evolution of Institutions, New York, Macmillan " John Allen author of Chapter 2 - one stop shopping – The power of supermarkets, 'Evidence in the social sciences' (2009) Making Social Lives [Audio CD 1], Milton Keynes, The Open University. ----------------------- 5