Consumer culture and identity economics
Consumer mentalities and interdisciplinary approaches
Keywords:
identity economics, consumer culture, identification processes, socioeconomic structure, objectification, department store, shopping mallAbstract
The paper aspires to contribute to consumer culture discussions. It focuses on anthropologizing orthodox economic models through the paradigm of identity economics as portrayed in economic theory. The emphasis is on a comparison between the economics definition of identity and anthropological concepts. The conceptual framework of the analysis is based on anthropological structuralism — according to which tastes become a form of social differentiation — and also on the theoretical perspective of the objectification of culture in the global context. Empirical ethnographic material on consumer practices and experiences is examined using qualitative methodology in accordance with the rules of grounded theory. Expressive dimensions of the consumer culture are examined from a diachronic perspective of Croatian society starting from the second half of the twentieth century until today. The scope of this analysis includes the interrelationship between consumer practices with reference to a dominant department store during the socialist era and the same in modern shopping malls. The authors question structuralist principles, arguing in favor of the creative character of the identification processes. In illustrating narrative examples, they demonstrate how consumption can become a matter of subjectivity regardless of the economic transaction being realized or not. Research shows how material objects become symbols of individual identity both for those who use them and those who reject them. Finally, the paper affirms the benefits of a methodological shift in the direction of interdisciplinarity, i.e. the identity–based interpretation of consumer society and the necessity of attributing performative meaning to economic practices.
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Jednom prihvaćeni članak obvezuje autora da ga ne smije objaviti drugdje bez dozvole uredništva, a i tada samo uz bilješku da je objavljen prvi put u Obnovljenom životu. Uredništvo će obavijestiti autora o prihvaćanju ili neprihvaćanju članka za objavljivanje.
Članci objavljeni u časopisu se, uz prikladno navođenje izvora, smiju besplatno koristiti u obrazovne i druge nekomercijalne svrhe.