The Connections Between Consumption, Identity, Taste And Style - Essay Example

? THE CONNECTIONS BETWEEN CONSUMPTION, IDENTITY, TASTE AND STYLE By The Connections between Consumption, Identity, Taste and Style Consumption is the amount of a product that a consumer is willing and has the ability to purchase at a specific point in time. There is no guarantee that the product will be consumed at the specific point in time though. Products are classified according to their utility nature. While some are consumable products, others are fixed products that cannot be consumed by the purchaser. Various reasons prompt people to acquire products. Some people purchase goods and services for basic use, others purchase as a means having fun while others simply purchase for show off. The various reasons why people buy what they buy are determined by different factors. Their level of income, the purpose in which the product will be put into, their social status and class as well as the economic conditions affecting them are all factors affecting people’s buying patterns. Evidently, there is a connection between consumption, identity, taste and style as portrayed by people’s purchasing patterns in the society. However, there are inherent factors in play that influence these phenomena in the society. These include consumers’ ability to buy as determined by their level of wealth, social status and economic status of the people as well as the prevailing status of the economy. This paper will look at the connection between people’s consumption habits in reference to the three habits. Additionally, the various factors influencing the people’s purchasing power will be discussed in the paper. The conclusion will prove that identity, taste and style come along with increased levels of consumption among the people. Economists point out that there is a connection between consumption, identity, taste and style among people, which determine reasons why people purchase different goods and services. Abraham Maslow designed the hierarchy of needs in which he proposed that people’s consumption behaviors are affected by the needs they want to satisfy. In his hierarchy, five stages determined the needs to be satisfied and the reasons for their satisfaction. According to him, the most important needs people satisfy are the basic needs. People need food, shelter and clothing in order to survive. However, as the needs keep being satisfied, consumers move up the stages to incorporate other needs in the hierarchy. The top most stage is self-actualization achieved after people successfully satisfy esteem needs that are geared at instilling confidence and earns respect from other people. Esteem needs and self-actualization needs influence the consumer behavior of people in the society. In this category of needs, people’s desire to have an identity among other people in the society, a change of taste for the type of products they purchase and shopping for style all influence the consumption behaviors of the people. Availability of disposable income to spend by people is the biggest determinant of the kind of commodities and services purchased. Additionally, the social status of people too determines their reasons for settling to purchase different goods. Extravagant lifestyles characterize identity as a consumption behavior among the people in the society. Logically, people purchasing for show off rarely need the goods purchased. With the main intention of showing their self-worth and level of their wealth, identity consumers generally make purchases for goods that they do not require in their lives (Bauman 2001, p. 25). People generally want to be identified with what they can afford as a measure of their financial ability. Therefore, wealthy people show their level of wealth through the types of goods they buy or the services that they can pay for (Zukin and Maguire 2004, p. 177). Subsequently, their shopping places and residential areas define their class. Socially respected people opt to show their class through their methods of consumption. Identity has created a social problem among people in the society. According to Giddens (1991, p. 14), modernity has been created as a result of social processes inherent among the people that have taken place overtime Industrialization, urbanization, post-industrialization and globalization are processes associated with the problem of identity. Beck and Beck-Gernsheim (2002, p. 48) points out that with industrialization came class difference among different people in the society due to increased levels of income. People in possession of the means of production accumulated a lot of wealth as those working in their industries remained poor. While the factory owners could afford high lifestyles and increased levels of expenditure, workers remained poor struggled for the most basic amenities like food and shelter. Urbanization, post-industrialization and globalization processes further widened the already created class difference between the rich and the poor people in the society. Rich people in the society kept becoming richer, with their levels of income growing tremendously. People could therefore spend more, and established a class of the rich and the wealthy people in the society (Featherstone 2007, p. 125). Additionally, these processes broke down the traditional norms of the society and authority among the people, creating a rift between the rich and the poor. However, the effects of these were more visible on the consumption behaviors of the varying classes of people in the society. While the rich had enough wealth to spend on the various needs, the poor could not afford the basic needs for their survival. Traditionally, people’s identity was socially identified with social roles and values. Modern identity however, is characterized by mutual recognition of the different individuals in the society. Current research has proven that identity has a big stake among people in the society, especially by influencing their behavior. Identity is viewed with increased substantial weight, and regarded highly by the people. The justification of the reasons for creating an identity by every individual in the society is self-recognition by the members of the society. Uniqueness in the mannerisms of doing things is indicative of the need for people to be singled out from others. This desire of people to create a world of their own separate from other people leads to adoption of a culture of spending unique from other people (Holt 1998, p. 12). The characteristic of this phenomenon is increased levels of spending among the people. To stand out from the others, people purchase luxurious and ostentation goods, while others go for rare commodities in the market that are highly priced and unaffordable to the common person. People portray various consumer behaviors with their ability to pay for the commodities available in the market. Availability of disposable incomes among people determines their willingness to spend on extravagant lifestyles. Their desire to spend more money on the most basic products is determined by their levels of disposable incomes as well as their desired comfort and level of satisfaction expected. Consumer behavior in varying economic times is yet another determinant of their levels of income in the society. People with a high affinity to spend even in times of low economic growth indicate how wealthy they are. People’s need for class and comfort, lifestyles and taste for goods increase due to improved economic times (Maguire and Stanway 2008, p. 76). They classify themselves in a class of their own that is marked by consumerism and high spending to differentiate themselves with the rest of the community. The theme of extravagant consumption for show off, impulsive buying and random shopping among people are all determinants of social wellness and class among people. People’s tastes and preferences change with their level of income. As people’s income levels increase, their tastes and preferences change. Likewise, the more people earn their preferences changes as their desire for goods with class and increase. In finding the relationship between consumption and taste, experts believe that people are consumers of not just the necessities but are influenced by tastes and preferences in their consumption patterns. According to Trigg (2001, p. 105), people have a considerable need for taste for the various goods and services that are available for them in the society. To survive, people emulate others, especially their role models who keep them on their toes. People ranked highly in the society forms the role models that others emulate. Their consumption patterns, lifestyles and mannerisms create a ground for others to follow. As their incomes grow, their tastes change to match those of their role models. Since the social status of a person is determined by the amount of property that they hold, these people will do anything to be in the same class as their role models. The change of social class, combined with emulation brings into existence a culture of preferences in the society. The resultant of this phenomenon is increased desire to consume goods and products according to their needs and satisfy them with luxurious commodities. The leisure class is also determined by the level of earnings among the various people in the society. As the status increases, so does their levels of preferences and tastes. People thus can purchase any amount of goods or services so long as it is satiable with their wealth. The more people earn, the more the demand for leisure goods increase. Historically, the era of mass consumption marked a new kind of consumption pattern among the people. Increased levels of consumption for leisure goods and influence of fashion in the people’s purchasing habits took shape. Apart from establishing a class of consumerism among people in the society, the acquiring of goods and services with the intention of pleasing oneself took shape. Luxurious needs for consumers became insatiable, as their desire for more rare commodities kept rising. Producers of luxurious and Veblen goods made a booming business from the increased demand for the products. Continuously, the demand has remained high, as the wealthy class has kept increasing with the increase in the global economic levels. Taste has been described to presuppose consumption, and determines the choices by different consumers. Taste determines the attributes of people in a society and classifies people in accordance to their wealth. Class is influenced by the level of wealth a person holds and therefor, to prove their worth, they group themselves in classes of high consumerism, driven by the desire to spend more and outdo one another in the society. Consumption has also been linked with style. In addition to the wealthy people shopping for class and leisure, style takes shape in their choices of goods and services. Affordability determines the kind of goods that they settle for, especially the high end commodities. Income, wealth and financial capability of the people determine the kind of lifestyles they lead. Thus, the higher the level of income, wealth or financial stability of the people, the higher the amount of money spent on commodities that they purchase to satisfy their needs. Additionally, good lifestyles come along with better living conditions. Due to their ability to afford, the people choose to eat the best food available in the market, drive the flashiest cars and live in the mist expensive estates and luxurious homes. At the bottom level of Maslow’s pyramid of hierarchy of needs, people shop for basic commodities. The desire of these people is to live a day as it comes without the thought of comfort or luxury. High spending cultures are not part of this class, as people shop for their basic needs. Low income levels among people give them the opportunity to pay for shelter, food and clothing. Of no importance to these people is acquisition of commodities for show off and improvement for their lives. Lifestyle is defined as the distinctive ways and styles of life by different groups of people in the society. Baudrillard (1998, p. 23) observes that embedded together is a web of needs and requirements that lifestyle consumers seek to satisfy with all types of commodities that adequately satisfy them, clothes, speech, activities undertaken in times of leisure, homes, cars, choice of holiday places all take center stage in determining their lifestyles. People abandon their struggle to purchase goods and services for basic consumption, and start considering class, comfort and convenience. Simmel (1991, p. 68) observes that style differentiates between the poor and the rich people in the society. To set their standards and make a mark in the society indicative of their financial abilities, wealthy people settle for the expensive far from the reach of others. With lifestyle, people may choose to buy the basic commodities, but buy goods that show class and wealth. Their mode of consumerism is determined by commodities with a high satisfying effect. For instance, the classy and flashy cars people drive is indicative of their lifestyles. Individualism and the desire for self-expression among the people show how conscious they are about themselves while in presence of other people. Although style is a generic phenomenon, it requires choice. People have the potential of spending unlimited amount of income on unlimited number of commodities, but have to choose on the most suitable goods to meet their needs and requirements. The period marked by the Second World War saw the growth and expansion of the middle class which has been characterized by images, acquisition of different types of commodities and style. Anonymity, defined as the increased desire for visible credentials became a norm among the people. The expansion of the markets for different commodities and increased desire to show self-worth largely contributed to the growth of the middle class who increasingly needed more leisure (Maguire 2008, p. 67). Currently people have increasingly acquired the right and freedom of individualism and living in seclusion. Increased levels of security among the rich class have created more opportunities for the rich to live in highly secluded areas safe from congestion (Adams 2003, p. 228). The generation of this class of people has therefore given birth to consumerism and show off. The pursuit of pleasure among people with money has largely contributed to the growth of consumerism behavior and heightened levels of self-romance. Experts are observant that the absence of the means and inability to buy goods of luxury removes the aspect of self-actualization, making them remain at the lower levels of Maslow’s hierarchy. In conclusion, the connection between consumption, identity, taste and style are related in the level of income of the people in the society. The more people seek to satisfy their need for identity, taste and style, the more they are willing to spend on different goods and services. The need for identity, taste and style are self-actualization needs that come after the basic needs have been fully satisfied. There are numerous changes that have taken place overtime which have led to the development and growth of the trends among the people. Moreover, their ability to pay for the lifestyles in a big way determine the kind of goods and services the people buy to meet their needs. Therefore, the level of income, wealth and financial capability of the people in the society determines their levels of consumption and the amounts of money to spend on various goods. This has a direct influence on the people’s styles, tastes and identity. Works Cited Adams, M 2003, “The reflexive self and culture: a critique”, British Journal of Sociology. Vol.54, no.2, pp. 221-238. Baudrillard, J 1998, The Consumer Society: Myths and Structures, London: Sage. Bauman, Z 2001, Consuming Life, Journal of Consumer Culture. Vol. 1, no.1, pp. 9-29. 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