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Write a commentary on the influence of consumerism and

subcultural theories on contemporary crime

Consumerism is an ideology that conspicuously promotes the purchasing of goods and

services in excessive amounts. In consumer societies, people are made to believe that
consumerism is the pursuit of happiness, in a sense that nowadays people are defined
merely on the basis of their possessions and material achievements and not just their
personal or professional achievements. Consumerism has become the symbol for success
in many modern societies, people are judged by what they can buy and how much they
spend on consumer goods and services. This belief has led to an ever-greater consumer-
driven society that encourages competition, self-interest, desire for a luxurious life and the
need to follow and keep up with the latest trends and advancements in technology and
fashion just to fit in with the rest of the society and be regarded as ‘normal’. These artificially
created desires are so deeply ingrained in people’s mind that if one was to disregard this
consumerist lifestyle than he may be looked upon as strange and usual. There is constant
pressure on people to earn more than their neighbours or friends in order to buy things be it
the latest automobiles, clothes, technology and so on. People seek to create or maintain
identities and social statuses through buying goods, for instance people believe that buying
expensive automobile or designer clothes will help distinguish them from others and elevate
their social status. We are living in an ever competitive society that is supported by a new
culture of narcissism where people tend to constantly compare themselves to others to see
where they stand in the social class. This culture is driven by the notions of self-interest and
individualism and it is this state of mind that is the core ethic of contemporary capitalism and
a result of mass manufacturing.

To some extent, mass manufacturing and consumption is beneficial for people as it provides
them with things they need and makes life easier and comfortable. It is also productive for
countries as it assists with the development, maintenance and progress of an economy by
establishing and expanding means of trade and exchange of goods and services. However,
mass manufacturing produces mass consumption that eventually leads to a consumer driven
society which creates divisions in society and categorises people into different groups on the
basis of class, religion, age and gender.

According to Featherstone (2007), from the perspectives of classical economists the

purpose of all production is consumption, with individuals maximizing their satisfaction
through buying from an ever expanding range of products, then from the perspective of
some twentieth century neo-Marxists this development is considered as producing bigger
opportunities for a regulated and manipulative cycle of consumption. The desire for
possessions and the accumulation of consumer goods in an avaricious manner is closely
related to materialism. It is not the usefulness but rather the value of a product that is
important for some consumers as it represents a symbolic power and people believe it to be
an effective way to socially distinguish and identify them. As Balmont points out, it is not the
products that people buy but the sensations and representations associated with those
products that attract consumers.

The concept of consumerism may seem innocuous at first but if one was to scrutinise the
manufacturing and marketing process of these consumer goods and its influence on
members of a society especially young people and lower classes, then it can be seen that
the lifestyle consumerism promotes is closely linked to contemporary crime because it is not
made for everyone but is marketed at everyone. Many corporations who manufacture
consumer goods like Nike, Apple, Primark and H & M are exploiting third world countries by
setting up businesses in those countries and hiring their local people to work in those
factories for low wages and poor working condition which is beneficent for those corporation

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because they are saving fortunes on corporate and income taxes and the wages they pay
those workers are stupendously low in comparison to minimum wage in western countries,
not only is this process beneficent for the corporations but it is rather damaging to those third
world countries and their economies. Issues such as child labour and excessive working
hours in deplorable working conditions has shown the reality of these big corporations. They
are driven by greed for expansion and material gains with only one motive in mind and that
is to maximize profits by any means necessary.

The essence of consumerism can be traced back to the birth of capitalism. Adam Smith
(1723 – 1790) who is often considered as the father of modern capitalism highlighted the
importance of self-interested individualism as the perfect tool to maintain an economy. In his
work ‘the wealth of nations’ Smith claimed that the pursuit of luxury worked as an economic
driver that would make individuals wealthier. Best way to support economic development is
to unleash individuals to follow their own selfish economic interests. He provided the model
for an economic system which would take over the world. Capitalism and consumerism is at
the heart of it (Jonathon Porritt: Big ideas that changed the world). Apart from self-interested
individualism, this concept promoted competition, individualism and materialism which is
closely linked to and supports the ever growing culture of narcissism. The same notions that
are deeply ingrained in consumerism have basically emerged out of capitalism and
consumers are the mechanism that makes it work.

Capitalism has been the subject of criticism by many scholars each one of them scrutinizing
it from different perspectives but all have one thing in common that the capitalist system as a
modern economy is favourable only to the ruling class and detrimental to the lower class of
common people. One of these scholars is Karl Marx (1818 – 1883) who believed that private
ownership of the means of production enriches capitalists (owners of capital) at the expense
of working class. He argued that the owners of the means of production exploit the workforce
which eventually leads to a class division between the bourgeois (capital owners) and the
proletariat (wage-earners). Marx saw capitalism as an advanced historical phase which
incited class struggles and a system that would eventually deteriorate due to internal
conflicts and from a revolution ignited by the proletariats. (Boundless.com/sociology)

Another key figure in relation to critiques of capitalism is a Norwegian-American Economist

and Sociologist named Thorstein Veblen (1857-1929), well-known for his work Theory of the
Leisure Class (1899) which introduced the concept of conspicuous consumption. This
concept refers to consumers who buy expensive goods to display wealth and income rather
than to fulfil their real needs. They tend to focus on desires rather than needs and create a
different mind-set and outlook on life, one that is all about class status, and making
statements of one’s possessions and life accomplishments. A flashy consumer uses such
behaviour to gain higher social status. According to Veblen, Conspicuous displays of
consumption and leisure were the means to demonstrate one's superiority. Whether one is
rich or poor everyone attempts to impress others through "conspicuous consumption" and
the ability to engage in "conspicuous leisure". The result, according to Veblen, is a society
characterized by wasted time and money (Conspicuous consumption). He believed that the
capitalist’s class is exploiting the working and lower class by selling them false dreams of
luxurious lifestyles and whilst the lower class is working hard to be able to obtain these
material gains and luxurious lifestyle, the people at the top are the ones that are essentially
living off the labour of the lower classes.

The first concept to examine in relation to subculture theories is the Chicago school theory
that was influenced by the German sociologist Emilee Durkheim who viewed crime as a
pathological phenomenon and considered pathology as the cause of crime and deviance in
society. Durkheim argued that psychological factors influence the behaviour of criminals and
sought to look into the mind of criminals for any unusual factors that may explain the reason
for their deviant behaviour.

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According to McLaughlin and Muncie (2013: 3), many scholars argued that the causes of
crime lie not in individual abnormalities, but in the nature of economic conditions and social
structures. The extract by Friedrich Engels, taken from his classic description of the
devastating conditions of the working-class in industrial Manchester in the 1840s, gave rise
to a series of Marxist-inspired conflict and critical criminologies that emphasized the notion
that crime is the outcome of class conflict and domination.

McLaughlin and Muncie (2013: 3) stated that the Dutch criminologist Willem Bonger was the
first to systematically apply the Marxist-inspired ideas of class conflict and capitalist
exploitation to the concept of crime. Bonger claimed that most crime could be accounted for
by a lack of common ownership of property due to the exploitation of the working class by
the capitalist’s elites.

According to McLaughlin and Muncie (2013: 3), In contrast, the work of the French
sociologist Emilee Durkheim adopts less of a conflict-based analysis of society, preferring to
view the social structure as fundamentally characterized by a collective consciousness.
Durkheim insisted that social phenomenon such as crime and law have an objective
existence regardless of how they are experienced by individuals. From this perspective,
Durkheim believed that crime is normal and inevitable and that crime is useful to society. He
believed that crime performs a crucial function for society in determining clear moral
boundaries and in paving the way for social innovation and change.

Robert K. Merton is also a prominent figure in relation to subculture theories. He developed

the structural strain theory as an extension of the functionalist perspective on deviance. This
theory illustrated that the cause of crime is the gap between cultural goals and the means
people have available to achieve those goals. Societies are constructed by both culture and
social structure. (Structural Strain theory)

The function of culture is to create goals for people and the function of a social structure is to
provide people with legitimate means of attaining those goals. It is only when there is an
imbalance between culture goals and social structure that deviance is likely to occur. In that
case, people know what they want but don’t know how to get it because they can’t find any
legitimate means of achieving those goals. Though everybody knows the usual road to
economic success is education and work, some people simply cannot comprehend how they
are supposed to buy expensive things like expensive cars and houses when their job does
not pay them enough. This leads to tension and frustration among the people and this is
especially true for young people because they are easily influenced by the materialistic world
they see around them. They have a burning desire to be recognised by society and so they
strive for material gain and recognition through a consumer culture.

McLaughlin and Muncie (2013: 4) points out to Merton’s claim that criminals are no different
to non-criminals. They are simply those that have tried to conform to society’s goals but have
found their aspirations thwarted. Merton argued that crime and deviance are normal
adaptations to the conflict between the cultural goals associated with the ‘American Dream’
and the differential availability of institutional means.

Lower class individuals are more likely to experience these strains than working class
individuals because they aim for the same goals as the rest of society; however they have
limited opportunities for success because they may not have the right education or parental
support to achieve those goals. These individuals are therefore more likely to turn to crime
as a way to attain economic success (Structural Strain theory). According to Merton, the
source of crime is the social structure itself. He claims it’s not an excess of criminal values
that leads to criminal behaviour but conventional values in themselves that are criminogenic.
If you have a promise of equal opportunity and consumption is constantly advertised than

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you will try and fulfil your desires by any means necessary or else you will feel worthless and
insignificant. These are the feelings that leads to short run hedonism which make people
seek after something that will make them feel good and significant. Young people are
biologically more prone to short run hedonism because their consequential thinking and
reasoning powers isn’t fully developed and so they adapt to a culture of intoxication by
indulging in drugs and alcohol abuse for momentarily relief and happiness merely to alleviate
frustrations regarding their social status and to forget the roles and expectations society has
placed on them.

Albert K. Cohen is another scholar that is known for his development of the delinquent
subculture theory. It was first released in 1955 and demonstrated how gangs are their own
intricate societies with their own social norms and values. Directed mainly at young people,
Cohen claimed that these people create their own cultural goals and have their own means
to achieve those goals. They don’t rely on social structures to tell them how to go about
acquiring things they desire; they simply have their own set of procedures and ways to
achieve their goals. Most of these methods are linked to criminal activities which the gangs
consider as the only way to achieve their social goals and desires. These gangs emphasized
class membership, loyalty and particularly short run hedonism which support seeking
immediate pleasure without thinking of the consequences. Cohen believed that if you place
people in a structural context where the means of attaining economic success is blocked or
limited, than those people are likely to create their own subculture lifestyle and create their
own values and ways of acquiring material gain, disregarding the social norms and values.

According to Cohen and Kennedy (2013), Marketing is of great important to drive and inject
the culture of consumerism into societies and one of the most striking feature of capitalist
marketing techniques is the way companies promote their distinctive products. Companies
like to categorise people according to their class, ethnicity, education, religion and types of
family responsibilities for instance the responsibility of parents to their children. Each of
these identities differs from each other in terms of their needs, taste and requirements.
Depending on the stage of life they are in, for example teenagers, single people, couples,
elderly, and their requirements and needs also changes over time. Further, people crave
distinction and recognition in society and expect the market to provide it. Marketing tells
people what they want but doesn’t show them how to get it. For this very reason people who
desire expensive consumer goods but cannot afford them feels frustrated and look for other
ways to acquire them and so they turn to crime as a means of providing for the lifestyle they
believe is best for them. This is especially true for young people as they are easily
influenced by their surroundings and living in a competitive society they are under constant
pressure to prove to themselves and to other people that they can be successful and can
acquire anything they want because from a young person’s perspective people are often
judged by what they can buy and how much they spend on goods and services which
creates a certain identity and social status for the consumer. The use of highly manipulative
marketing strategies is also the core reason for aggressive consumers taking up illegal
means to obtain the things they desire.

The role of marketing is of key importance in the maintenance of consumerism. Media plays
a major role in marketing consumer products and creating artificial needs for people by
persuading them to buy things they don’t necessarily need. This influences people to strive
for material gains and class status in order to be perceived by other people in a particular
way. Marketing techniques are of great significance for all sorts of businesses and their
influence and power on people is something unconceivable.

A good example of marketing techniques and its influence is the emergence and sales of
diamonds. Although diamonds have been around for many centuries, they were never
marketed properly until recently. In 1888, a South African company De Beers which is known
for its domination of the diamond trade and industrial diamond manufacturing was heavily

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involved in the discoveries and trades of diamond mines in the early 19th century. First they
located and bought out all the diamond mines in South Africa, than they consolidated these
mines so all the diamonds found would be traded under one company (De Beers), then they
restricted the supply of diamonds and raised the prices. The newly discovered diamonds
would then be transported to other countries in the world first to be cut and polished than to
be sold in shops all around the world. However this was done in a sophisticated manner as
they did not want to flood the market with an over-supply of diamonds which would heavily
reduce the value and rareness of diamonds in the eyes of the consumers. So first they
gathered all the discovered diamonds together whilst restricting the supply and trade of
diamonds, and then gradually released them into the markets. Although diamonds have long
been perceived as something rare and precious, the truth is diamonds existed everywhere in
the world, where you find carbon you find diamonds. Perhaps the most important feature of
this company is the techniques and methods they used to promote and market their product.
Mass media consumption played a major role in the marketing of diamonds; they promoted
the imaginary preciousness of diamonds through the use of Hollywood movies, magazines
and newspapers. During its golden age in 1920s, Hollywood movies were used for marketing
and promoting many products, one of which was diamonds. They accomplished this by
presenting the biggest Hollywood actresses with a range of diamond rings and necklaces for
them to wear in their movies and on their public appearances for the public to see and
therefore creating artificial desires for the public to acquire diamonds and embedding in them
the belief that diamonds are rare and precious. This was done merely for marketing and
promoting purposes and the target audience for this product were the rich and wealthy.
They used many other marketing techniques to promote diamonds such as advertisements
and word of mouth and created catchy slogans like ‘a diamond is forever’. This whole
movement seems unreal considering how they forever changed the way people value and
perceive diamonds as a luxurious commodity but in reality, diamonds and all associations
we have with diamonds is a product of a very clever marketing strategy.

Some recent events have shown exactly how people feel about living in a consumer driven
society where they are constantly reminded to strive for material objects in order to establish
an identity of their own. The London riots which occurred in 2011 is a good example to
illustrate the sort of frustration and anger young people suffers from as a result of excessive
consumerism and dissatisfaction with authority. Briggs (2011) points out that the riots were
triggered by the death of a man named Mark Duggan’s who was shot down by London
metropolitan police officers who believed him to be a drug dealer and armed at the time of
the shooting. During the incident, a police officer was also shot but survived, however
evidence now shows that Duggan’s was not armed when he was shot and the police officer
who had been shot was fired at by another officer. However, many newspapers have directly
linked the London riots to consumer culture with some interpreting the event as an “out of
control consumerist society with deeply flawed ethos” (London Riots: The Guardian) and
other blaming it on “a culture of greedy consumerism” (London Riots: Telegraph).

Although there are many interpretation and perspective linked to this event, many people
believe the riots were a product of consumerism and opportunism. Giving the opportunity to
loot, people were mostly plundering designer label clothing and high range electrical goods
because they considered them to be highly demandable, expensive and easy to sell. This
belief shows that it is not certain individuals that regard the designer clothing and electrical
goods as highly desirable but instead it is society as a whole that has attached high values
and identities to such material objects.

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Mass media consumption is another phenomenon that is highly relevant to contemporary

crime and involves consuming information, images and sounds through the use of television,
computers and radio. Consumerism has become a tool for social control and mass media is
the mechanism that drives it. Young people and teenagers are most vulnerable to the affects
of mass media consumption because ‘consumer product producers empower kids as
shoppers legitimizing their uninformed tastes, mercurial wants and detaching them from their
gatekeeper mothers, fathers, teachers and pastors." – (Benjamin R. Barber – Social control
through mass media).

Popular culture of a digitalised world that involves media networking, music, movies, and
computer video games affects people of all age and gender. From the rise of violent
videogames like Grand Theft Auto that promotes the idea of being violent and causing chaos
in a virtual reality open world, to the increase in the use of violence, gang culture,
materialism, drugs and alcohol abuse in rap music lyrics has had a significant impact on the
younger generation. They have built a different outlook on life and some perceive violence
and criminal acts as challenging and exciting. Due to lack of self-control, they are
increasingly indulging excessive consumption of drug and alcohol abuse as well as viewing
materialism as the core symbol for success. These notions not only influence them mentally
but are also manipulating their lifestyle choices by playing with their hearts and minds and
providing them with false materialistic goals like the American Dream combined with
unlawful means to attain those goals. Also the violence used in rap music lyrics gets justified
in the name of political inequality and freedom of expression and freedom of speech. This is
leading to young people becoming increasingly aggressive and disrespectful towards
authority and the fixed social norms and values. They are discontented with the labels and
expectations societies have placed on them and are in need of genuine role models to help
navigate them to success and the good life.

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Bibliography
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