CHAPTER 6:

COGITO ERGO CONSUME

CONSUMER CULTURE AND MATERIAL SELF
 • “ I was absolute master of my old dressing gown, but I have become a slave
to my new one. ”

Diderot effect ( “Regrets on Parting with My Old Dressing Gown.” )

- a phenomenon that occurs when acquiring a new possession leads
to a spiral of consumption that results in the acquisition of even more
possessions. It means that buying something new can cause a chain reaction
of buying more and more things because the new item makes one feel like
Denis one needs other things to go with it or to keep up with it.
Diderot
1713 - 1784
 THE MATERIAL SELF: LIVING IN A MATERIAL
WORLD
“ In it’s widest possible sense, a man’s self is the sum total of all that he can
call his. “

According to William James (1842 – 1910) an individuals- selfhood

William James
can be broken down into several
fragments, with the material self being one. Aside from the physical body, which is considered its
central constituent unit, this facet of the self also include ones closest relatives and material
possessions.
Hermann Lotze in Microcosmus (1890) asserted that each time we get to wear garments of varying
kind is a chance for us to “bring them into the relationship with the surface of our body.” and inject
them with the very “consciousness of our personal existence.”

BODY
CLOTHING
FAMILY
HOUSE
OTHER PROPERTIES

The Material Self Hierarchy

BEST BUYS: CONSUMER CULTURE AND THE
SELF
“ Consumerism has attached itself to a novel identity politics in which business itself
plays in forging identities conductive to buying and selling. “

- Benjamin Barber
“ Necessity is the mother of consumption. “

We consume because we need to. Consumption has become so pervasive that it now seems
second to nature to all of us; part of our identity. The role of products and services in our lives
are now above their literal purpose, for they have become the means through which we express
our “lifestyle”.
 I SAW THE SIGN: THE SEMIOTICS OF
CONSUMPTION
“ To see someone not seeing is the best way of seeing intensely what he doesn’t see. “

According to Ferdinand de Saussure (1857 – 1913) meanings are Barthes

- Roland based off
convention and are, by nature, Arbitrary. In addition, meanings assigned to
words are said to be relational; that is cannot be defined in complete isolation
from others.

Paradigmatic chain
- A continuum of words with identical functions that can serve as
substitute for each other. From the standpoint of the individual,
meanings attached to a symbols are already but a given.

Promotion > Advertisement > Commercial > Propaganda

For Emily Benveniste (1973), The very foundations of subjectivity are determined by a
person’s linguistic status; by the dominant discursive practices in his/her immediate context.

Langue and Parole

Langue
- is a language structure that dictates the rules and conventions.
Parole
- is any given linguistic fragment or item extracted from that very structure.

Langue and Parole are dichotomies in the sense that while langue represents language, Parole
represents speech.
Denotation and Connotation

Denotation (object language)

- is defined as the literal interpretation of
something.

Connotation
- pertains to culture-specific meanings and
interpretation of something.
Anchorage and Relay

In his book of “ The Rhetoric of the Image “

by Roland Barthes wrote two kinds of
relationships between text and image:
Anchorage and Relay.

Anchorage
- underlines the importance of text in
making sense of image.

Relay Anchorage: Notice how the image takes on

- puts emphasis on a more two different meaning just by changing the
complementary relationship between the two. caption or copy.
 HOW DO I DECIDE WHAT TO BUY?
“ Buying is a profound pleasure. “

- Simone de Beauvoir
According to Philip Kotler (1980), there are five stages in the so-called “Buyer Decision Process”

1. Needs arousal/recognition
2. Information search
3. Evaluation behavior
4. Purchase decision
5. Post-purchased feedings.
 THE CALVINIST PRINCIPLE
“ If we are only to pass through earth, we ought undoubtedly to make such a use of
its blessings as will rather assist than retard in our journey. “

- John Calvin

it is through the consumption of material goods that people can truly fulfill God’s
desires. But while Calvin firmly behind the belief that consumption and wealth
accumulation are divine acts, he specified that these must be only be done in
moderation. To avoid the extremes of either complete material abstinence or excess.

These Calvinist principles are often summarized using the acronym TULIP: Total
Depravity, Unconditional Election, Limited Atonement, Irresistible Grace, and
Perseverance of the Saints
 THE MARXIST PERSPECTIVE
“ No production without a need. But consumption reproduces that need. “

- Karl Marx

Positioned consumer culture within the complex entanglements of the capitalist

economic model. if some academic disciplines consider consciousness as the factor
that determines society, Karl Marx suggest opposite; It is society that determines
consciousness. More specifically, economic imperatives dictates how we think or
decide.
Commodity Fetishism
- A rather primitive belief that inanimate objects can be imbued with god-like powers. This can pertain
to how certain goods are given high monetary value with no regard for the labor that went into its
creation, thus becoming but fetishized commodities stripped off their human essence.
Alienation
- Labor in capitalist societies is often imposed and non-voluntary, hence why most employees avoid it like the
plague when outside work premises. Under such conditions, individuals work to afford gratifying
commodities but never for its own sake. Thus work becomes completely separate (or “alien”) from the
individual, as it contains little to no need satisfying value. This leads to worker apathy, and eventually
alienation from ones labor.

LABOR

Earn

CONSUMPTIO ALIENATION
N AS ESCAPE

Spend