The growth of consumerism has meant that individuals are increasingly using possessions as a means of developing their personal identities and forming social connections. Specifically, the consumer culture has seen the increase of brands and branded goods as marketers attach emotional attributes to them. Thus, brands have become communicative symbols which display, amongst other things, the owner's values, beliefs and social status. As a result, consumers are attempting to form their identities, social connections and self-worth by consuming (often branded) possessions which they feel are representative of their self or ideal self and will increase their chances of social acceptance. However, psychological studies in consumer behaviour suggest that the increasing propensity to seek inner happiness and social bonds through external means (consumption), has led consumers to be less satisfied with their lives and hence decreases psychological well-being; the focus on external rewards has reduced the importance that individuals place on personal development and intrapsychic developments.This study investigates the relationship between the consumption culture, branding and British adolescents, with a comparison between high and low-income teenagers. Adolescents are particularly prone to assuming consumer orientations (and hence the consequences thereof) due to their stage in identity development, their need for social acceptance and the fact that they are a very profitable market segment. As a result, teenagers are encouraged to turn to consumption for developing their personal and social identities, as opposed to more traditional means such as personal skill development. Although limited studies have investigated adolescent consumption, little attention has been paid to low-income adolescents who are prone to reduced self-worth but have a restricted consumption scope and thus cannot consume their self-worth in the same 'normal' ways as their peers. In light of previous studies, it was necessary to first develop a new measure of self-esteem which included the vital role of possessions (and specifically brands) in feelings of self-worth amongst adolescents. The scale-development process revealed the functional importance of self-esteem as a marker of social inclusion and hence shed light on the reason for the importance that adolescents place on specific brands; they are a promise of fitting-in. A valid and reliable 23-item, self-report measure of self-esteem is presented. Subsequent to developing the new scale, the research provided empirical support for a model of the psychological characteristics of adolescent consumption (including self-esteem). The result is a 'Vicious Cycle' model of consumption which suggests that there is a relationship between the factors which contribute to a consumer orientation and the likely effects of having such an orientation. For example, the model suggests that reduced self-esteem may contribute to consumerism and a consumption orientation may contribute to a reduction in self-esteem. Furthermore, the comparison between high and low-income teenagers showed that low-income teenagers were significantly more materialistic than their high-income counterparts thus supporting the suggestion that low-income teenagers are more prone to consumerism than their high-income counterparts. With reference to the detailed links presented in the Vicious Cycle model, the author proceeds to explore the efficacy of extant consumerist-curbing strategies and highlight the need for more effective methods if we wish future generations to develop in to more than simply shoppers.

This short note reports the eighteenth-century account of Mademoiselle Lapaneterie, a French woman who started drinking vinegar to lose weight and died one month later. The case, which was first published by Pierre Desault in 1733, has not yet been reported by present-day behavioural scholars. Similar reports about cases in 1776 are also presented, confirming that some women were using vinegar for weight loss. Those cases can be conceived as a lesson from the past for contemporary policies against the deceptive marketing of potentially hazardous weight-loss products. / Revisión por pares

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The great success of the advertising industry in the 1950s created a diamond culture where diamonds are continuously associated with images of love and devotion. With all of the diamond's positive associations, no one could have imagined that such a precious jewel could have negative connotations. Yet in the 1990s, the label "blood diamond" emerged and became widely correlated with torture, rape, child labor, and environmental destruction. My three- manuscript dissertation covers the following topics: how diamond jewelry has become ingrained in American consumer culture, how lab-made diamond substitutes create new politics, and how diamonds created from ashes complicate consumers' relationship with diamond jewelry. These three manuscripts cover a series of interconnected ideas about symbolism and imagery of the diamond. In the first manuscript I present a history of how advertisements have influenced American consumer culture. The second manuscript elaborates on the themes established in the first manuscript by examining the political nature of lab-made diamonds in relation to American consumer culture. And finally, in the third manuscript the images presented in the first manuscript become even more complicated when the end product is literally made from ashes. Lab-made diamonds challenge traditional images of natural stones in a way that forces consumers to confront, and perhaps revise, the way they think about diamonds. / Ph. D.

The current research explores how luxury brand mentions impacts consumer culture. Specifically, the social, cultural, and economic implications of such mentions when integrated in reality television is investigated. Exploring this phenomenon is important as consumers are afforded several options to skip or avoid advertising when viewing television. Hence, consumers are now exposed to brand mentions that are integrated in media by advertisers who aim to combat the advertising avoidance. Generally, brand mentions are depicted in media as inexpensive, convenient products, such as household goods or food products. But with the emergence and popularity of reality television, consumers are now exposed to those brands, in addition to luxury brands. This is true as brand mentions financially support production costs for many reality television programs and also serve as aspirational props. Luxury brand mentions are worthy of study as they exude exclusivity and status and are traditionally targeted to a niche, elite market. As luxury brands are integrated in reality television, a broader, more diverse consumer audience is exposed to such mentions. This research is one of the first to specifically explore how luxury brand mentions appear in reality television. Using the consumer culture theory framework, two studies were conducted to understand the nuanced meanings of such mentions among consumers. Study One explored the integration of luxury brand mentions using a content assessment. Study Two used depth interviews to gauge consumer response to such mentions. Study One results indicate luxury brand mentions are highly prominent in affluent-lifestyle reality television shows. Five of the most frequently mentioned luxury brands represent the automobile, entertainment/technology, and hospitality product categories. Overall, the promotion of materialism, aspiration, and elitism were messages consumers were exposed to. Study One results were supported by findings in Study Two which revealed informants’ race, class, and gender as strong influencers of their interpretations of luxury brand mentions. / text

Thesis advisor: Jane Regan / American society has been labeled a consumer culture. Consumer culture is not another term for materialism or a framework to explain one's relationship to money; it is an evolving ethos shaping our vision of ourselves, of our neighbor and the common good. The breadth and depth of commodification in the contemporary West informs the collective imagination in unprecedented ways. This dissertation brings together social science critique, educational tools and theological resources to create models for effective adult disciple building that are adequate for addressing challenges of a dominant culture's ideology and practices. Christian formation practices should heighten the Christian community's awareness of its role in dominant culture, both as inheritors of culture and as agents. This awareness requires transformation in many dimensions of one's being: a holistic discipleship. Jesus reminded his followers, "Where your treasure is there your heart will be also." One of the driving questions of this dissertation is: how can the Christian community wrestle ultimate concerns back from the consumer culture to the heart of God for the world? To address that question the discourse of the dissertation is interdisciplinary while maintaining an ultimate vision for an approach to educating for mature Christian discipleship. The dissertation is structured to include social analysis, a vision of alternatives to the dominant lifestyle promulgated by the consumer culture, and effective pathways toward achieving that vision. The first half of the dissertation analyzes the relationship of contemporary consumer culture and Christian experience. The sociological and historical descriptions of this phenomenon lead toward the question, what are the implications for religious identity and meaning-making in light of the consumerist context? Theological resources include the gospel of Luke, Dietrich Bonhoeffer and Gustavo Gutierrez for highlighting key dimensions of culturally responsive discipleship. There are also two brief cases presented of organizations who are attempting to live out promising approaches to Christian community in light of consumer culture patterns.The second half explores theories that can serve as a framework for Christian education practices. Transformative learning theory is introduced as a resource for cultivating awareness of underlying assumptions shaped by culture that are operative in adult decision making and worldview. Henriot and Holland's pastoral circle is described as a transformative learning tool. The dissertation moves toward a model of adapting the pastoral circle for educating congregations to think theologically about culture for the sake of personal transformation and social action. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2011. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Religious Education and Pastoral Ministry.

The study of ideology has long interested sociologists and consumer researchers alike. Much consumption research has approached ideology from various macro, meso, and micro levels of analysis. However, many studies fail to address the dialogical interplay among these three levels of analysis when examining how ideology manifests in, and interacts with, consumer identity projects. Many consumption-based studies examining ideology provide descriptive and normative accounts, affording practices of consumption emancipatory potential. In response, this research adopts a critical marketing perspective in order to draw out the macro and political implications of meso cultural production systems and micro consumption experiences and identity projects. Focusing on the contemporary American feminist movement, and on discourses around sex and sexuality, it explores how hegemonic (patriarchal) and counterhegemonic (feminist) ideologies are communicated in the marketplace, through the media, to understand their role in regard to consumers’ lived experiences and interactions with advertisements. Working within the consumer culture theory tradition, this thesis employed a variant of phenomenological interviewing that explored female emerging adults’ sexual narratives and their interpretations of sexualized ads. By generating data on a specific type of experience, inferences were drawn about how young women experience and relate to the contemporary feminist movement. In total, 14 American women, aged 20 to 31, were interviewed twice and also created media collages of what they considered ‘sexy’. Implementing a multi-step hermeneutic analysis, the data were analyzed through an iterative process, moving back and forth between the idiographic cases and theory. Through multiple iterations, micro, meso, and macro level inferences were made. This study suggests that young women foster diverse and temporary identifications with feminism in the pursuit of two, often overlapping, goals: ontological security and status. This results in a micro process of ‘ideological shifting’, which has depoliticizing effects, insofar as (anti-) feminist brands and identities were readily appropriated and discarded depending on specific contexts and situations. Thus, contrary to much work in the consumer culture theory tradition, which presents consumption as having transgressive and liberating effects, this study finds that while the young women had the power to dialogically interact with marketized (meso level) ideologies that constitute the marketplace, they failed to intercept the macro level processes of marketization and commodification and consequently did not challenge the hegemonic (patriarchal) ideology at large. In adopting a critical perspective, this study offers valuable insight into the relationship between ideology and consumer behavior. Ideology is shown to be disseminated via hegemonic processes of commodification and marketization. Because these processes occur at a macro level, counterhegemonic ideologies are hegemonized and subsequently depoliticized before even reaching the consumer on a micro level. By examining ideology across all three levels, this study finds that consumer agency is largely relegated to the realm of the marketplace, where consumers’ dialogical interactions and consumption practices do not challenge the macro ideologies or oppression at large, but merely alter their marketplace expressions.

My dissertation explores how digital media have transformed ritual, community, and the meaning of church. My research focuses particularly on the SaRang Community Church, one of the largest Protestant churches in South Korea. I examine how a Korean megachurch adopt digital media to reach out to the public and promote itself. The questions I will answer include: How does a megachurch present religious messages using visual and audio effects? How do people perceive those mediated messages? How do they configure communities through media experience? How does the megachurch reconnect communities through media? Is a church a medium of Christianity? What relationship does the megachurch have with consumer culture? While answering these questions, my dissertation focuses on the relationship between media and modernity. The dissertation picks three important themes: authenticity through media, nationalism and identity, and consumerism. To explain these issues through the lens of the transformation of the religious sphere in Korea, my dissertation examines (1) how the candle, an important symbol in Christianity, has been digitally represented, and how that representation has influenced rituals; (2) how digital media reconfigure various kinds of communities, as seen through the example of Korean Christian women’s daily religious practice; and (3) along with the development of digital media, how megachurches have grown in size, population, and social impact in Korea, a country well-known for its technological innovations and development. My overriding interest is in how religious rituals materialize through digital media.

American consumer culture is often depicted as competitive and based on the acquisition of capital and status through goods or experiences. To date, researchers commonly exclude children from this conversation and therefore fail to wholly assess the impact consumer culture has on one’s choices or behavior. This study adds to a growing body of literature exploring the experiences and agency of children within the broader consumer culture by examining how marginalized children from a lower socioeconomic background use food as a resource for belonging among peers. Observation and interview data collected during designated lunch and snack times at a summer program in Tampa, FL reveal that children co(construct) a reality all their own which allows peers a chance to belong and simultaneously acquire capital. This project contributes to the understanding of the role race, class, and emotions play for children within the American consumer culture, especially regarding food consumption.

Sustainability in the fashion industry has become a widely discussed issue. Various actors in theindustry, brands, designer labels, fashion magazines and other media sources, as well asconsumers all contribute to this matter. Although a considerable amount of research has focusedon consumer behavior and consumption patterns, the way the fashion industry affects thesefactors has been neglected. Moreover, many studies show that consumers claim to beecologically conscious, but that they disregard this aspect when consumption actually occurs.This study aims to contribute to a better understanding of the relationship between consumersand institutions and how it affects sustainable fashion consumption. The understanding of theseprocesses is done using several approaches such as Kawamura’s (2005) theory about the fashionsystem and Arnold and Thompson’s (2005) view on consumer culture theory. To obtain adeeper insight into the fashion industry, qualitative interviews with fashion mediarepresentatives and consultants within sustainability development are conducted. To ascertainthe consumer perspective a focus group discussion is moderated. Findings show how a wholesystemapproach is needed for the fashion industry to become a more sustainable environment.