Arsenyuk Anastasia

Dragomanov National Pedagogical University,

Institute of Sociology, Psychology and Social Communications,

(Ukraine, Kyiv)

Pet’ko Lyudmila, Scientific supervisor,

Ph.D., Associate Professor,

Dragomanov National Pedagogical University (Ukraine, Kyiv)

CONSUMPTION AND SOCIETY

Арсенюк Анастасия

Национальный педагогический университет имени М.П.Драгоманова, Институт социологии, психологии и социальных коммуникаций,

(Украина, г.Киев)

Петько Людмила, научный руководитель,

к.пед.н., доцент НПУ имени М.П.Драгоманова (Украина, г.Киев)

СПОЖИВАННЯ ТА СУСПІЛЬСТВО

Consumption – the process in which the substance of a thing is completely destroyed, used up, or incorporated or transformed into something else. Consumption of goods and services is the amount of them used in a particular time period [8].

Consumption, in economics, the use of goods and services by households. Consumption is distinct from consumption expenditure, which is the purchase of goods and services for use by households. Consumption differs from consumption expenditure primarily because durable goods, such as automobiles, generate an expenditure mainly in the period when they are purchased, but they generate “consumption services” (for example, an automobile provides transportation services) until they are replaced or scrapped [2].

Theories of consumption as a means of social reproduction and class differentiation (Bourdieu, 1984; Holt, 1997; Savage, 2000; Warde, 1997), accounts of consumption as central to identity formation through the cultivation of lifestyle (Bauman, 1988; Beck, 1992; Giddens, 1991) and analyses of engagement with material culture (Chin, 2001; Kopytoff, 1986; Messner, 2000; Miller, 1987) are discussed [7. 157].

Sociology of consumption an as yet ill-defined and extremely diverse field of sociology that developed rapidly during the 1980s. Its substantive focus is the material culture (especially the mass culture) of advanced capitalist societies. The essays collected together in, The Sociology of Consumption (1988) [6] or, Consumption Matters (1996) [5] are a good illustration of the diversity of the field [4].

Developments in the sociology of consumption have been modelled in different ways (Featherstone, 1990; Halkier, 2002; Lury, 1996; Warde and Martens, 2000), although there is broad consensus about the major outlines of the three dominant perspectives. The first, “production of consumption” (Featherstone, 1990), embraces early work by critical culture theorists who conceptualize consumption through analysis and interpretation of the characteristics of the sphere of production. The second approach draws attention to the ‘mode of consumption’ and how it comes to represent distinctions and mediate the social relationships between different groups. Finally, what has been called “consumption as aesthetics” groups together work by postmodernists such as Baudrillard [1] and social theorists including Giddens, Bauman and Beck. Recent trends in the sociology of consumption are perhaps more difficult to fit into one thematic (theoretical) group [7, 156].

For us is a very interesting article by L.Martens, D.Southerton, S.Scott that has set about the task of identifying a theoretically informed empirical agenda for the further study of children and consumption. Finally, by analysing three key theoretical approaches in the sociology of consumption (mode of consumption, lifestyle and identity, and engagement in material culture), the authors have identified a set of themes that further understandings of contemporary childhoods and of processes of consumption [7].

At last, H.Cherrier and Murray Jeff B. write “today, arguing that consumers are in control over their life and that they can freely write their own stories appears too simplistic. Society and human beings are indeed too complex and too subtle to simply take a pure agentic approach to marketing. Consumers’ motivations for buying goods are multiple and hybrid, made of many fragments of personal roles, of history, and of social experiences. The result is intricate and messy; consumer practices are not unified in the pyramidal order, and are not completely congruent with social, ethnic, or geographical groupings [3, 509]”. Along with this position, the authors offer Baudrillard’s structural approach to marketing as a conceptual warning, suggesting the need for more reflection and critique on the virtue of marketing [1].

In conclusion, consumer society it is set of social relations based on the principle of individual consumption. Characterized by mass consumption of goods and the formation of the system of values and attitudes. Mass consumption that goes far beyond the needs of subsistence (survival) of a person is one of the features of modern society.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

1. Baudrillard, Jean. Consumer Society / in Jean Baudrillard: Selected Writings, ed. Mark Poster, Stanford, CA : Stanford University Press, 1979. – PP. 29–56

2. Carroll Christopher D. Consumption [Web site]. – Access mode: http://global.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/134578/consumption

3. Cherrier Hélène, Murray Jeff B. The Sociology of Consumption: The Hidden Facet of Marketing / Journal of Marketing Management, 2004. – № 20. – PP. 509–525. [Web site]. – Access mode: http://www.academia.edu/785453/The_sociology_of_consumption_the_hidden_facet_of_marketing

4. Consumption, Sociology of [Web site]. – Access mode: http://sociology_en.enacademic.com/402/consumption%2C_sociology_of

5. Edgell Stephen. Consumption Matters / Stephen Edgell, Kevin Hetherington, Alan Warde. Oxford : Blackwell, 1996 –321 p.

6. Otnes Per. The Sociology of Consumption: An Anthology. – Solum Forlag, 1988 – 192 p.

7. Martens Lydia. Bringing Children (and Parents) into the Sociology of Consumption. Towards a theoretical and empirical agenda / Lydia Martens, Dale Southerton, Sue Scott / Journal of Consumer Culture, 2004. – 4(2). – PP. 155–182. [Web site]. – Access mode:http://www.socialsciences.manchester.ac.uk/morgancentre/people/staff/southerton/docs/children-sociology-consumption-southerton.pdf

8. What is Consumption? [Web site]. – Access mode: http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/consumption.html