Consumerism and Identity

A sort of lengthy quote for the week this, really. A long-ish quote from Zygmunt Bauman on consumerism and identity. It really is worth thinkng about and discussing.

“The schoolgirls and schoolboys avidly and enthusiastically putting on display [e.g. on Bebo, MySpace etc] their qualities in the hope of capturing attention and possibly also gaining the recognition and approval required to stay in the game of socialising; the prospective clients [telephoning all sorts of companies, e.g. banks, estate agents] needing to amplify their spending records and credit limits to earn a better service; the would-be immigrants struggling to gather and supply brownie points [on the UK Govt’s new Points Based System for immigrants] as evidence of demand for their services in order to have their applications considered - all three categories of people, so apparently distinct, are enticed, nudged or forced to promote an attractive and desirable commodity, and so to try as hard as they can, and using the best means at their disposal, to enhance the market value of the goods they sell. And the commodity they are prompted to put on the market, promote and sell are themselves.”

Zygmunt Bauman, (2007) Consuming Life,p 6, Polity Press

Bauman might sound like a Marxist, but he isn’t really. It’s hard to explain briefly, but although he’s influenced by Marxism, he wouldn’t accept a Marxist analysis of class as being something which can usefully be applied to contemporary Britain.