عنوان

The Conspicious Body:

شماره

LA129867

زبان متن نوشتاري يا گفتاري و مانند آن

انگلیسی

عنوان اصلي

The Conspicious Body:

نام عام مواد

[Article]

ساير اطلاعات عنواني

Capitalism, Consumerism, Class and Consumption

نام نخستين پديدآور

Michael Carolan

محل نشرو پخش و غیره

Leiden

نام ناشر، پخش کننده و غيره

Brill

متن يادداشت

"A little over a century ago, Thorstein Veblen introduced us to the now commonplace term "conspicuous consumption": the idea that we consume, at least in part, in order to display to others our social power. While the conceptual utility of this term is just as valid today as it was the day Veblen penned it, further elaboration is now required to account for shifting cultural and economic imperatives. In this paper, I argue that we are entering a new era of conspicuous consumption; an era where surrounding oneself with "nice things" is becoming increasingly insufficient for our modern sensibilities in our quest to display status and power. Rather, we are progressively striving to become the "nice thing" itself-to literally embody conspicuous consumption. I locate this conspicuous body within evolving historical tensions of consumer capitalism; tensions which the conspicuous body attempts to resolve (but not without social, cultural, and ecological consequences). This paper also represents an attempt to introduce into the socio-environmental literature the body as a legitimate topic of inquiry. While the body has recently experienced an increase in attention by some social and cultural scholars, such interest has been lost among most environmental sociologists; a surprising point, particularly given the fact that through the body, self and the environment become embodied. A little over a century ago, Thorstein Veblen introduced us to the now commonplace term "conspicuous consumption": the idea that we consume, at least in part, in order to display to others our social power. While the conceptual utility of this term is just as valid today as it was the day Veblen penned it, further elaboration is now required to account for shifting cultural and economic imperatives. In this paper, I argue that we are entering a new era of conspicuous consumption; an era where surrounding oneself with "nice things" is becoming increasingly insufficient for our modern sensibilities in our quest to display status and power. Rather, we are progressively striving to become the "nice thing" itself-to literally embody conspicuous consumption. I locate this conspicuous body within evolving historical tensions of consumer capitalism; tensions which the conspicuous body attempts to resolve (but not without social, cultural, and ecological consequences). This paper also represents an attempt to introduce into the socio-environmental literature the body as a legitimate topic of inquiry. While the body has recently experienced an increase in attention by some social and cultural scholars, such interest has been lost among most environmental sociologists; a surprising point, particularly given the fact that through the body, self and the environment become embodied."

تاريخ نشر

2005

توصيف ظاهري

82-111

عنوان

Worldviews: Global Religions, Culture, and Ecology

شماره جلد

9/1

شماره استاندارد بين المللي پياييندها

1568-5357

اصطلاح موضوعی

BODY

اصطلاح موضوعی

CONSUMPTION

اصطلاح موضوعی

CONTROL

اصطلاح موضوعی

ENVIRONMENT

اصطلاح موضوعی

POWER

مستند نام اشخاص تاييد نشده

Michael Carolan

شماره بازیابی

10.1163/1568535053628436

نام الکترونيکي

فرمت انتشار

p

نوع ماده

[Article]

کد کاربرگه

275578

سطح دسترسي

a

تكميل شده

Y