Expression of Social Relations in Consumption - Essay Example

Expression of social relations in consumption practices Table of Contents Introduction 3 Discussion 3 Conclusion 10 References 11 Introduction Consumption practices are not only limited to the behaviour of single consumer but also related to social institutions. Buying, using and disposing commodities enhance effective relationship between people in several ways. Commodities are not only objects but also act as collection of social relation that takes place in the society on regular basis. Consumption is an aspect that leads to sharing of experiences in the contemporary society. For example, people go to market, restaurants and theatre halls to purchase commodities or get services and recreation. They get socially attached to other people by doing these activities. The understanding level of relation between consumption practices and social relationship is complex because it has become a very common part in the society. People do not bother to remember the experiences that are gained through real life activities. Acknowledgement is a powerful mode of communication and it creates positive relationship among human beings in society. Many anthropologists have observed the change in human nature from the past era to recent contemporary era. They share knowledge to the society regarding socio-culture, archaeology and biological anthropology based on the relevant observations. In the modern world, consumers not only make decisions based on service or product attributes but also based on several emotional elements, such as joy, anxiety, fear and feelings. This essay explains how social relations are expressed in consumption practices with the help of case-studies and ethnographic examples. Discussion In the modern world, it is believed that betterment of a society or country is directly proportional to the enhancement of consumption process. Though it might seem that it is only based on economic perspective but there are scenarios, where it has been observed that consumption processes have integrated the social relationship within human society. Human experiences are valuable and exchange of knowledge is possible only by communication processes. People communicate with each other in general contexts and it helps them to enhance their own knowledge and skills. For an example, according to Kabyle of Algeria in the ‘Outline of a Theory of Practice’ there is an important significance that provides the understanding of a social anthropological study. According to the study, social influence is imposed on an individual through education and socialization and is expressed through cultural practices, such as consumption (Barnard, 2001, p.570). Knowledge about anything is not only important for the person who seeks it, it is also important for others because knowledge never goes in vain. The increased visibility of online consumption sites and production of consumer goods have allowed social commentators to suggest consumption over production. Famous ethnographer Fetterman provided an effective ethnographic example. He conducted an experimental work with the hidden homeless in order to investigate the social relationship. The investigation focused on responses of individuals regarding lack of consumer products including health care services, shelter, hygienic food products and clothing. After the collection of evidences, it was significant that survival of the homeless people were often connected to large communities that rejected traditional welfare system (O’Reily, 2012, p.33). This experimental study proved that lack of efficient consumption practices affected the enhancement of social relationships. This shows that social relations are significantly expressed in consumption practices. Consumption has a great impact on social relationship because it deals with initiation of communication among people belonging from different geographical areas. For an example, Commodities are purchased, exchanged and used across the globe. The manufactured computers in the United States of America are purchased and used by consumers and they are further sent to recycling firms after the devaluation. The United States of America exports the wastes to several countries, such as China, where low-cost labours are available and finally they are recycled. The entire process requires combined working of plenty of people and it results in the development of a social relationship. The e-trash connections between the United States of America and China illustrate the networks in which mutual consumption constituted. People belonging from different nations work together, this helps in exchange of knowledge and information. Exchange of knowledge is essential because it enhances the life of people. Each and every culture has its own beliefs and knowledge. The education system of China and America are different. Therefore, exchange of knowledge and experience helps people of different cultural background to work collaboratively. Social relationships comprise of encounters, interactions, relationships and practices between people, place and things. According to a famous Anthropologist Arjun Appadurai, “important insights could be achieved from politics of link between value and exchange by studying social life of commodities” (Gumucio, 2006, p.41). His book ‘The Social Life of Things’ provides significant ethnographic example regarding the value of consumption, commodity and social relationships. In the book there is also great emphasis on post structural perspectives and social development of consumption practices. The theorist visited public places and discovered the importance of consumption practices in the social life of people. Hence the book provides much information regarding the inter-relation between social relations on consumption practices (Appadurai, 2002, p.34). In the modern world there is a gradual rise in the development of landscapes associated with consumption. The consumption level of people has increased on a huge scale compared to historical times because they get an opportunity to express their feelings after getting socially attached. According to Andrew Jones, the famous anthropologist; “The settlements of Grooved ware depicted tremendous social change in Orkney.” He provided an ethnographic example about his journey to the famous tourist spot in his book ‘Archaeological Theory and Scientific Practice’. The tradition of wines during celebrations is something he liked about Australia because people latched themselves socially during the festive occasion (Ferraro, 2014, p.127). It shows that consumption of food and drinks during festive occasions are generally loved by people and social relationships get strong due to the celebrations. Some theorists might have arguments regarding the celebrations stating that social relationships are not enhanced during such occasions because they do-not last for longer duration. However, it has been observed that people get an opportunity to come close to each other and share their personal experiences with each other due to which they are able to gain knowledge about the living experiences from others, which is very important. Social relationships can be enhanced during social unions and get-togethers. The example of Andrew Jones resembles the evidences from Archaeological anthropology. There are archaeologists, who study about people and culture of past. In the Archaeological anthropology, information about material remains, evidences of past environments and information about historical life of people are studied. Researchers have found that there is great relevance in the life of people in the modern world compared to the people, who existed in past. It shows that despite the changes in the living standards, people find enjoyment and social attachments in simplicity like visiting to historical places and obtaining knowledge from them. It has also been observed that there are many people, who visit museums and historical places and recommend their friends and families to visit them instead of going to modern social events like pubs and clubs. Famous anthropologist McCracken, mentioned about the ethnographic methods of consumer practices stating that “the relationship between consumption and culture is significantly interrelated. With the evidence of history, practice and theory social relationships can be expressed via consumption practices. According to an ethnographic example by Holt, employment of anthropological approaches described the American people’s consumption is structured from cultural capitals (Durrenbarger, 2012, p.16). Holt used a semi-structured interview pattern and conducted research among buyers and sellers in Jordan’s central marketplace and demonstrated many ways in which culture may influence the retail structure in traditional societies. It was observed that ethnicity plays a pivotal role in the consumption process and it enhances the social relations. The emergence of social events organized by industries has increased the social unions due to which people tend to share their experiences with each other. Most of the industries in the modern world provide high quality food and drinks for their consumers and it helps them to get socially attached with other people as well as the industry members. The socio-cultural Anthropology provides information about the change of consumer behaviour in the modern world compared to distant past. The socio-cultural anthropologists examine social patterns and practices of different cultures. Based on the observations researchers of anthropology have concluded that there are two pivotal implications of consumption. First the meaning of expression of taste provides the meaning of social background through cultural practices. Second, acts of consumption practices are inserted in appropriate contexts to enhance social contact and capital advantages. This signifies that the life of the people in the modern world has enhanced to a certain level but there are some cultural beliefs in people due to which there are similarity in behaviours. Thus it can be stated that consumption processes have wide-variety of role in the development of social relationships. Purchase and exchange of commodities enhance the social relations between companies, markets and consumers, which is also beneficial for socio-economic developments. In making space for a detailed material approaches to the study of consumption processes and human behaviour, it is essential to review the appropriate place for research. According to the example provided by anthropologist Creighton, the Japanese stores layout significant ethnographic evidences related to product and services (Robertson, 2008, p.216). The pubs and bars of Japan reflect the perfect example of consumption practices and during the events social relationships are valued most. During the conduction of the experiment Creighton also interviewed some staffs of the pubs and they responded in favour of social relationship enhancements. The development of technology has affected the enhancement of social-relationships in many ways. The emergence of the websites like e-bay, restrict people from going outside their house and communicating with other people. Lack of communication has reduced the social interactions and bonding that existed previously. Most of the people prefer to interact through social media instead of face-to-face interactions. The consumer market is still dependent on people, who prefer going to markets instead of buying commodities online. Anthropology researchers have observed that people in the modern world prefer making transactions through internet mediums like PayPal. The Biological Anthropology describes about the biological implications on cultural processes. Moreover, the anthropology also describes about the biological origins and variations of people. The anthropologists working in this field have observed that the behaviours of people are changing because of rapid development of technology. Human nature has always forced them to learn and adopt new things and rise in technology has forced people to adopt them. The distinct change in the socio-cultural value of people has occurred because of lack of interactions. Lack of interactions has tremendous effect on the social relationships. There is a need for people to understand the consequences that have emerged due to lack of interactions and work in appropriate manner. Anthropologists are employed in several universities, colleges and educational sectors; they are interested in finding out evidences related human behaviour from historical period to modern world. The information available from them proves that the social relations associated with consumption practices in past were much different compared to modern practices. The consumption practices in the modern world have not only changed the expression of social relationships, it has also incorporated change in the production of commodities. Previously, people were not offered many choices regarding the selection of products and services whereas the change in the consumption process has developed the versatility of goods in the market. Furthermore, the services provided to the consumers by company’s management have been changed drastically because of highly competitive markets that exist today. It has been observed that people prefer to purchase products online instead of traditional shops because online websites provide wide-variety of products and people can select them sitting at one place. The social relationship that emerged due to consumption processes is on a decreasing trend. Social relationships enhance the civic life of society and it brings peace and prosperity. Researchers and anthropologists have discovered that the modern trend of low social interaction has raised social-disturbances (Eller, 2009, p.174). Youths do not give much importance to social interactions and it leads to generation of criminal activities in the society, which is unacceptable. Hence possible initiatives should be taken to maintain the social-relationships. Conclusion It is clear from the ethnographic examples that social relationships are continually being expressed and mediated with respect to commodities and consumption. Social co-existence has a direct effect on market, trade and transaction. Hence consumption practices have a direct impact on production of commodity and the entire process is expressed by social relationships. Based on the experiments conducted by Holt, it is clear that culture plays a very important role in the changing model of market. Because of social relationships, new form of market has emerged from the traditional market. In the modern world, production of goods is based on consumer’s choice. Each and every individual in the society has own experiences of life and sharing knowledge helps them to enhance critical thinking process. The examples provided in the discussion are extracted from case-studies and theories obtained from the research of anthropologists and they provide pivotal information about the change in social relationships experienced due to change in consumption practices. It is significant that the social life of people in this contemporary era have enhanced compared to historical times due to advancement in technology. Therefore, it can be concluded that social relations are expressed in consumption practices through cultural trade, production of commodity, exchange of knowledge and experiences. References Appadurai, A., 2002. The Social life of things: Commodities in cultural perspective. London: Cambridge University Press. Barnard, A., 2001. Encyclopaedia of social and cultural anthropology. New York: Taylor & Francis. Durrenbarger, P., 2012. The anthropological study of class and consciousness. Colorado: University Press of Colorado. Eller, D. J., 2009. Cultural Anthropology: Global forces and local lives. London: Routledge. Ferraro, G., 2014. Cultural Anthropology. Stamford: Cengage Learning. Gumucio, A., 2006. Communication for social change Anthology. New York: CFSC. O’Reily, K., 2012. Ethnographic Methods. London: Routledge. Robertson, J., 2008. A Companion to the Anthropology of Japan. New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons. Read More