Chapter 5 – Shopping

A sub-category of consumption; shopping involves the economic exchange of money for goods in the marketplace

An economic system based on the private ownership of the means of production and oriented towards the generation of profit for reinvestment or private gain

Social theorist known his "Arcades Project," which examines the rise of modern consumer culture in 19th centruy Paris, and critiques the increasing commodification of everyday life.

Developed in the 19th century, department stores are large retail establishments offering a wide range of goods under one roof, creating a captivating – and historically gendered – shopping spectacle.

Freestanding spaces that specialize in selling large quantities of a specific category of merchandise—like toys or pet food—at low prices; typically work to monopolize a specific type of goods, often at the expense of both local retail stores and department stores

Areas that all persons, in principle, have the legal right to access, and from which they cannot typically be barred without cause (e.g., libraries or public parks)

A practice where retailers establish locations in neighbourhoods based on their racial and class composition

A process of urban transformation whereby poor or working-class neighborhoods are transformed through an influx of capital, investment, higher-end retail, and residence by middle/higher-income residents; typically displaces existing residents, who are priced out of the new rental, housing, and consumer markets

Keynesianism is an economic theory advocating for government intervention to manage demand and stimulate economic growth, often through public spending and policies that encourage consumer spending, including shopping.

An approach to social action that assumes that actors are rational, behave purposively, and act to achieve specified results

A sociological concept that refers to the various aspects of our social selves, including who we think we are and how others see us, and often dependent on roles, situations, and membership in social groups

Real or perceived traits that bringsshame or dishonor to a group or individual in a particular social relationship

The change in class position from one’s family of origin to the position one occupies in adulthood based on one’s own education, occupation, and income

Juliet Schor’s term for the phenomenon (particularly since the 1990s)where high-status items consumed by the rich become coveted, desired, and purchased by lower classes

Juliet Schor’s term that describes the increasingly upscale reference groups for consumers that developed in the 1980s and 1990s through the growth of celebrity culture and mass media, and continues up until the present day

View of consumer culture, common among Marxists and environmentalists, which sees consumers as manipulated by capitalist forces that encourage reckless spending. This perspecive emphasizes structural influences over individual agency and highlights the negative aspects of consumer culture including overspending, environmental degradation, and exploitation.

View of consumer culture, common among marketing professionals, economists, and some cultural scholars, which sees consumers as free agents who exercise their agency by selecting and transforming the goods they purchase, with the market responding to serve their needs. This perspecive emphasizes individual agency over structural influences.

The idea that consumer demand is socially beneficial, because consumers are autonomous actors who send messages to companies to produce things they want to buy, promoting a virtuous, self-satisfying circle. This perspective relies on a rational-choice model of human behavior.

The means by which stability and cohesion in a society is maintained; Durlheimian approaches emphasize the role of shared norms and values in maintaining social order, while Marxist perespectives emphasize power and domination.

A theoretical orientation that sees social groups and institutions as performing complementary tasks, resulting in interdependence and stability in society; often critiqued for being teleological and for minimizing social conflict and change.

A form of cohesion that exists when members of a group are connected by shared beliefs, values, lifestyles, strong guidelines for action in social situations, and/or frequent and intense social interaction

Durkheim’s concept describing ways of acting, thinking, and feeling that exist independently of any one individual. Social facts constrain individual actions, are realities in their own right, and are resistant to change.

Durkheim’s concept denoting the values and sentiments that members of a society come to share through living together, and which shape and regulate their behavior

An object, animal, force, or phenomenon used as an emblem to represent aspects of a group’s shared identity. Totems are collectively revered serve to foster group solidarity

Durkheim’s concept describing social cohesion in pre-industrial societies in which social solidarity emerges from a strong common culture based in religion and the absence of a clear division of labor differentiating individuals’ roles

Durkheim’s concept describing social cohesion in technoloigcally advanced, complex societies in which a specialized division forms the basis of social solidarity through mutual support rather than shared experiences and beliefs

Durkheim’s concept describing individual responses to a lack of shared norms and values in modern societies. Durkheim was concerned that the absence of collective social standards in modern life threatens social stability and could lead to a breakdown of social order.

A system of belief that stresses the primacy and moral worth of the individual, sometimes at the expense of the collective

Research method in which small groups of people participate in a guided discussion about a topic supplied by the researcher; particularly useful for eliciting multiple perspectives on a topic and observing group meaning-making processes

Study in which a researcher collects data on the same subjects at multiple points in time

A situation or behavioral pattern socially defined as pathological and requiring regulation, treatment, or improvement