Tma2

TMA 02

Outline who are the winners and losers in a consumer society

Essay Plan

    • Introduction

    • Definition of a consumer society

    • Definition of Bauham – Seduced and Repressed

    • Definition of Veblen’s – Conspicuous consumption

    • Changing consumer behaviour

    • Power of the supermarkets

    • Description of positive sum game and zero sum game

    • Use of migrant workers in UK and overseas

    • Conclusion

    • Word Count

    • References

    • Self Reflection

This essay will outline the winners and losers in a consumer society.   Firstly, the essay will describe what a consumer society is and who is included and excluded.     Secondly, the essay will discuss conspicuous consumption.   The next issue to be discussed is the changing behaviour of shoppers who are overlooking the high street for the convenience of retail parks and supermarkets.   Next the essay will discuss the power of the large supermarkets.   The essay will then define what is meant by a zero sum game and a positive sum game.   Lastly, the essay will discuss the use of migrant workers in the UK and overseas workers.   The essay will draw on evidence of theorists to support these arguments.

A consumer society is a society where what people consume has become as important as what people do for a living.   Shopping is a part of what social scientists call consumption. (Hetherington, 2009, P. 13).   People shop for essentials such as food and clothes but also shop as a leisure activity.   They buy goods and services in order to maintain a specific lifestyle.   ‘Consuming is one of the ways that people can feel they belong or are part of something’.   (Hetherington, 2009, P. 20)

The social scientist Zygmunt Bauman (1988, cited in Hetherington, 2009, P.25) places people in Western society in to two main groups which he calls the seduced and the repressed.   The seduced are people who are able to buy into the consumer society because of... [continues]

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