Consumerism Lecture

Consumerism Lecture

Sigmund Freud (1856- 1939)

New Theory of Human Nature- PSYCHOANALYSIS. Everyone has primitive sexual forces and animal instincts that need controlling. Repressed Hidden Desires that can lead to chaos. Analysis in The Unconscious (1915) and The Interpreting of Dreams (1899) books. 

Freud's Model of Personality Structure

3 Levels of Desire:

      Conscious- Contact with Outside World (Ego)

      PreConscious- Beneath the surface of Awareness (Superego)

      Unconscious- Below the Surface (The ID)

Civilisation and its Discontents (1930) Book

Fundamental tension between civilisation and the individual

Human desire is incompatible of being alongside a society/ community

Society imposes systems to keep law and order

Humanity will always be unhappy and dis-satisfied

"The Pleasure Principle"

     - Concept- if desires are fulfilled in a socially acceptable way, we are docile, happy and content

World War 1

     - Testament to Freud- not surprised by this reaction as it is a reaction to being discontent

     - Release of desire on a grand scale

Torches of Freedom,

Any business succeeded if you related the product to one of the repressed animal instincts, or any of the repressed unconscious instincts, you can make someone desire that product, through an unnecessary need. 1929 Easter Day Parade, It was taboo for women to smoke, Bernays was employed by a tobacco company to get women to smoke. He payed a bunch of debutons to parade in New York, and at an organised moment, they all lit up cigarettes, and it was photographed, when it was photographed he fed a story that these women were a group of suffragettes, and this was a political protest about women in society, the cigarettes were dubbed torches of freedom, against the male repression of society. Cigarettes had become a symbol of status, and app leaded as sexy. Attaching something meanness to a desire, for status, sex appeal and gratification  - a symbol of power.

1924

Marketing took a new turn with Product Placement, Celebrity endorsements, The use of pseudo-scientific reports. This are bought because the illusion that those things will satisfy something subconsciously in some way. America was investing in more factories and more technology, the need to mass produce things massively improved.

Fordism led by, Henry Ford (1863 - 1947)

Transposed Taylorsim to car factories of Detroit, Mass production, Moving assembly line, (Batch production.) Standard production models build as they move through the factory. Required large investment, by increased productivity so much that reactively high wages can be paid, allowing the workers to by the product they produced. 1910 - 20,000 produces, $850. 1916 - 600,000. This led to the emergence and the importance of brands, and brand identity.

Aunt Jemima's Pancake Flour,

Originally became a product for pancake mix, However, house wives believed this robbed them of their jobs, as the packet mixture was too easy to make. The company reduced the mixture to just flour, so you needed to add an egg to make the pancakes, so house wives took this a believed they were cooking. Aiding that desire that there were actually cooking, and therefore providing for there family.

It became more important for companies to distinct their products from their own competitors as production grew more efficient, this is where the idea of branding comes in, Car adverts seem to base themselves around male sexual potency to draw in their customers.

Roosevelt and the 'New Deal' (1933 - 36),

On the back of a promise to introduce welfare, society security, created jobs, and industry. Rather than a scheme of big business doing what they want for society, 

this was about wealth creation, which was unpopular for big businesses.

World's Fair of 1940, in New York, labelled The Futurama. Futuristic inventions which could be america’s including new modes of travel, a depiction of what the world could be like. ‘Democracity’ which could be yours, at a cost.

Conclusion

You are not what you own, consumerism is an ideological project. We believe that through consumption our desires can be met. The legacy of Bernays/PR can be felt in all aspects of 21st society. The conflicts between alternative models of social organisations continue to this day. To what extent are our lives free under the western consumerist system?