Concept of Consumer Society in Modern Society

Concept of Consumer Society in Modern Society Key Concepts Living in the modern world people live in the consumer society. To get a closer understanding of the notion ‘consumer society’, people should pay attention to the life style they follow. Having a lot of different goods at the market, people consume those and buy more and more other goods. One of the main characteristic features of a consumer society is that while consuming different products people do not do it independently, in vacuum. People are inevitable participants of the consumer society, as buying products they want to buy more and more other related or dependant ones. For example, when people buy a toothbrush, they are unable to use it isolated from other objects, they need toothpaste to get the highest effect from the bought product. The same is about other products, buying some goods, people always want to buy more. Ideology Ideology is a notion which may refer to different spheres of human life. One of the broadest meanings of this notion is the way people think. Ideology is not just the ideas people have in their minds in the relation to one specific problem. Ideology is a set of rules and norms people live with. People should not confuse ideology and culture as these are two absolutely different notions. Culture is an objective notion which just exists in the society.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Concept of Consumer Society in Modern Society specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Culture is created out of traditions which have been formulating for many years. Ideology is a personal subjective treatment of the surrounding world, the attitude to each other and the desire to show a piece of a picture as a whole. Ideology tends to make complex notions simple. Propaganda is one of the sides of ideology, as its main idea is the conviction of other people that his way of thinking is the only correct. Semiotics Semiotics is a notion which is aimed at exploring diffe rent signs and symbols. One of the best practical applications of semiotics is the creation of different planned or constructed languages. Living in the modern world, it is impossible to imagine contemporary life without computers. Programming languages are an inevitable part of any computer program and software. Being divided into different branches, semiotics studies different qualities of sign systems, the relation between signs and symbols and their meaning, the connection between symbols their interpretation. Speech and language are the main objects of research in semiotics. Envy, Desire and Belonging in Advertising Envy, desire and belonging in advertising are the notions which can exist only in the consumer society. When people watch advertising they want what they see. The feeling of desire may be provoked by a number of reasons. It is not a problem when people want what they see because they need it, advertisement just helps them choose a brand. The problem appears when peo ple want to buy a product because they envy those who possess it. This is called an advertising belonging. No matter whether people need this product or not, they will surely buy it as their desire to possess the thing others have is too big. All these notions, envy, desire and belonging in advertising are closely related. To become free from advertising belonging, people should either stop envy those who has an opportunity to belong a specific product or should enclose themselves from the desire to buy it. Essay Introduction There are a number of different definitions of mass culture, and depending on the stress the author makes in his/her definition, this notion have either positive or negative connotation. Having referred a contemporary culture to both mass and popular, it is possible to compare and contrast these two different opinions.Advertising Looking for essay on cultural studies? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More On the one hand, â€Å"mass culture is not and can never be good† (Macdonald 43), on the other hand, being mass, â€Å"popular culture is linked, for so long, to questions or tradition, of traditional form of life† (Hall 442). Thus, identifying the notion of contemporary culture, we have faced the problem whether to consider it as a positive or a negative issue. To answer the question whether mass and popular cultures are the elements of contemporary culture and whether they are identified as positive or negative phenomena, we are going to consider different opinions and key arguments offer by the following thinkers, Stuart Hall, F.R. Levis, Dwight Macdonald, and Raymond Williams. â€Å"Mass Culture Is not and Can Never Be Good† Having stated this idea, Macdonald strictly supports it with the arguments. He is sure that a culture is something individual, which is created by and provided for a human being. Mass use of culture eliminates the very idea of indiv iduality that makes this notion lose its primary meaning. The following idea is used in support, â€Å"a large quantity of people [are] unable to express themselves as human beings because they are related to one another neither as individuals nor as members of communities – indeed, they are not related to each other at all, but only as something distant, abstract, nonhuman†( Macdonald 43). Looking at the problem from this angle, it is possible to agree with Macdonald, but to investigate the truth, it is important to check the meaning of the word ‘culture’ to make sure that the author considers it in a proper way. Reading an essay by Raymond Williams who tries to explore the origin and etymology of the words ‘culture’ and ‘mass’, many different definitions of the word ‘culture’ was identified. But, there was not mentioned that culture means individual expression or a possession to a specific human being. Moreover, Ray mond underlines that the variations of whatever kind of the word ’culture’ â€Å"necessarily involve alternative views of the activities, relationships, and processes which this complex word indicates† (Raymond 28). Thus, the word culture does not mean a specific characteristic of one particular person, it is a set of issues which characterizes a group of people. The Benefits of Mass Culture According to Hall, popular culture has a positive connotation as it reflects traditions people have. To make the discussion clear, popular culture is a mass culture, as â€Å"the things are said to be ‘popular’ because masses of people listen to them, buy them, read them, consume them, and seem to enjoy them to the full† (Hall 446). The main idea of this opinion is that if the culture is mass and people like it, it is popular and there is no need to speak about negative connotation of mass culture.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Concept of Consumer Society in Modern Society specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More But, Levis tries to contradict this point of view by means of providing some negative effect of such mass popular culture. It is not a secret that culture changes. The changes which occur in the society may be too fast and people may not even notice those, but, if too look at the problem broadly, it can be easily noticed that parents are unable to understand their children, â€Å"generations find it hard to adjust themselves to each other, and parents are helpless to deal with their children† (Levis 34). Thus, the generations which are so close have different cultures. The inability to have an individual or at least family culture leads to misunderstanding and conflicts. Hall can contradict this opinion stating that it is not the culture which changes and makes people become different, it is the change in the relationships. Culture changes when a specific tradition becomes dominant over another one. He states that â€Å"almost all cultural forms will be contradictory in this sense, composed of antagonistic and unstable elements† (Hall 449). Contemporary Culture as Mass and Popular One: Personal Opinion Having considered an opinion of different thinkers on the problem devoted to culture and its essence, I came to the conclusion that contemporary culture is a mass popular culture which denotes the present ideology of people. Thus, I definitely disagree with Macdonald and his point of view that â€Å"mass culture is not and can never be good† (Macdonald 43). The problem of likes and having a personal opinion appears in the frames of this issue. Living in the age of mass entertainment, some people still manage to appreciate high and avant-garde culture. So, it may be concluded that popular culture in the contemporary world is more than just an opinion of the vast majority of people, being interesting to a limited group of p eople, a specific culture may be popular as well. It is not the opinion of a separate individual, so it is also mass. Being in demand among a group of people, it is considered to be popular and mass. Mass in this meaning may denote something revolutionary and opposite (Williams 32). Turning to the personal opinion, I mostly agree with Hall who states that popular culture is a mass one which expresses the ideas of people who consume the cultural products. Culture should be and is referred to the tradition. It can be even stated that culture and tradition are interconnected notions which should always come together. Still, I also agree with Levis, who highlights that culture is in crisis now (34), thus it is impossible to discuss this problem.Advertising Looking for essay on cultural studies? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More One may state that culture and tradition are not related as there are numerous directions in the modern culture of one specific nation. A close consideration of this problem allows us state that the culture of one specific nation is changing by means of influence and domination of different streams, but still, there is always something traditional in ach new trend which makes this very culture related to the national tradition of people. Conclusion In conclusion, contemporary culture is both mass and popular as the characteristic features of these notions coincide with the understanding of the modern culture. I strongly believe that culture should be connected with traditions as only in this way each nations will remain particular and unique. Cultural and traditional features are the most characteristic for describing different nations. Hall, Stuart. â€Å"Notes on deconstructing ‘the popular.† Cultural theory and popular culture: a reader. Ed. John Storey. Upper Saddl e River, NJ: Pearson, 1998. 442-453. Print. Levis, F.R. â€Å"Mass Civilisation and Minority Culture.† Popular culture: a reader. Eds. Raiford Guins, and Omayra Zaragoza Cruz. New York: SAGE, 2005. 33-38. Print. Macdonald, Dwight. â€Å"A theory of mass culture.† Popular culture: a reader. Eds. Raiford Guins, and Omayra Zaragoza Cruz. New York: SAGE, 2005. 39-46. Print. Williams, Raymond. â€Å"’Culture’ and ‘Masses’.† Popular culture: a reader. Eds. Raiford Guins, and Omayra Zaragoza Cruz. New York: SAGE, 2005. 25-32. Print.

A Complete Analysis Becoming Abigail English Literature Essay

A Complete Analysis Becoming Abigail English Literature Essay Young Abigail is a Nigerian girl alternating short sections focusing on her past as well as her present life. She is Abigail the daughter but there is the dominant Abigail, the mother who died giving birth to her. The death of Abigail’s mother plays a huge role in the entire novel. Abigail is portrayed as an affliction child, without a mother, striving to discover her future. She is an African girl, symbolizing the corrosion of national and confined cultural distinctiveness into the end monumental continental identity of Africa. Abigail tries to personify and preserve herself in her mother’s figure and bequest. The father is chronic drunkard who foregoes his paternal obligations and responsibility. He has his daughter who constantly reminds him of his late wife. Abigail’s is characterized by misery and tragedies. Her childhood is pathetic and she spends most of it mourning her late mother in commemorative self-induced rituals. She mutters incarnations, cuts hers elf, tears and burns her mother’s photos, burns herself (Abani, p.10). â€Å"And this. Even this,† (p.18). The novella starts. In less significant hands, this may not be a hopeful starter, but Abani steers us out of the fog swiftly. â€Å"This memory like all the others was a lie.† (p.18). Abigail, a youthful girl in Nigeria, is nostalgically recalling her mother’s memorial service. Abigail act of mourning is to some extent troubling. It is symbolised by among other acts, the killing of birds and later dressing them in lace from her mother’s bridal dress. But, as written by Abani, explaining the symbol from an authorial distance, we realize that not much is substantiated in the rest of the book, â€Å"this tradition recognized complex ways to be human, and she was allowed to mourn.† (p.18). In addition, another frequently evident symbolic device is the use of two alternating strands, â€Å"Now† and â€Å"Then,† throughout the n arrative. The latter is associated with Abigail’s reminiscence of life in Nigeria with her depressed father and his choice to send her to London with a strange family member named Peter. Nearing to their departure, Abigail’s father performs suicide, despite the fact that he had intuited the agonies in anticipation of his daughter. The end of the first chapter leaves us with the impression that Abigail takes after her mother. Their extreme resemblance makes the author propel us through the mind of her father as he watched her mourn her mother’s death similar to watching his dead wife grieve. She is likened to a younger version of her mother grieving her death in advance. Her father â€Å"turned and looked at her and she saw the photo and recognized it. She resembled her mother that when he saw her suddenly, she knew he wanted her to be Abigail.† (Abani, p.20) Although Abigail is now a grown-up, she misses her childhood, one that she never got to enjoy. The author takes us through her mind which juggles us from the present to her past and childhood. That’s when the author alternates the two titles, Now and Then. Abigail has had an experience with men that she remembers with so much regret. All the in her life had never been interested in knowing her true personality neither appreciate her beauty, not to mention how she was careful with her hair to make sure that she looked presentable. She was light-skinned – An inherent feature from her great-grandmother. The author likens her to a foreign country, especially when it comes to the men in her life as they never stayed.

Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Assignment Example Most sweatshop employees are working in incredibly harsh conditions and suffer a great deal. Surprisingly, this is even a problem for staff in North America, because all of the jobs go to employees in sweatshops since they get paid barely anything to work. The manufacturers of these products are perfectly satisfied with providing incredibly low wages because it is not against the law to make deals like this. The employees are suffering while the manufacturers are extremely wealthy. The press is constantly describing the troubles that the sweatshops cause for their employees. As mentioned, the conditions are incredibly harsh and no Canadian or American worker would survive in those conditions. Some Mexicans even try crossing deserts in order to escape the rule of the sweatshop employer. Some of the measures that can be done to prevent people working in sweatshops is to create North American ideas to consumers about avoiding buying products from those labels. If Nike does not sell anyt hing, it can no longer function and would have to close down.

School policies and procedures Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

School policies and procedures - Essay Example In fact, most teachers have also formed a strategic plan of motivating students by rewarding them and building their positive attitude in the classrooms. In this case, this essay will talk in deep length about a certain school I happened to visit whereby they have established their own rule and procedures, which the students should follow as well as the consequences of not complying with the rules. Easily notable is the school rule on absenteeism. In that school, the rule explains with clarity the consequences of any student who violates the rule. It states that if a student happens to be absent, they are supposed to report and clarify to the teacher why they were absent for the whole day or partial day within three days after being absent. Either way, they are allowed to bring a note from their parents/guardian or a phone call explaining why they were absent. The student is also allowed to bring a doctors note if they were sick, failure to do so, the absenteeism is taken as an offense hence consequences follow. Therefore, students who do not comply with that rule are assigned to a five-hour Saturday school for a period of twenty days to compensate for the absenteeism. They can also be placed in-house suspension where they are not allowed to go beyond the school for a certain period as set by teachers. Students who repeat the same offense are placed on the attendance behavior contracts with their parents where the regional educational officers are also summoned. The second notable rule is meant to control fighting and use of vulgar words among students. In this rule, students are not required to fight each other either physically or verbally. Any student caught in this act is enrolled for counseling section that could either require the presence of the parents. In addition, during this section, the student may be put on suspension from the school for about two weeks depending on the

The field-mouse and October is written by the same writer, Gillian :: English Literature

The field-mouse and October is written by the same writer, Gillian Clarke also that they both have three stanzas. The theme of the field- mouse is about a mouse which symbolises. From the sheet I had four poems that I could choose from ‘Mid-term break’, ‘The field-mouse’, ‘A difficult birth, Easter 1998’ and ‘October’. From these four poems I had decided to compare, ‘The field-mouse’ and ‘October’. The first two things that are noticeable is a similarity between these two poems. ‘The field-mouse’ and ‘October’ is written by the same writer, Gillian Clarke also that they both have three stanzas. The theme of ‘the field-mouse’ is about a mouse which symbolises a child in a war, â€Å"the child comes running through the killed flowers, his hands a nest of quivering mouse†. Whereas the theme of ‘October’ is about the month of October and how it represents death because in the month of October the days are very gloomy with mostly rain and never sunshine, â€Å"Wind in the poplars and a broken branch, a dead arm in the bright trees†. The relationship in ‘the field-mouse’ is that the child (mouse) represents a close member of the reader’s family and the emotions that the narrator talks about have a direct and similar effect on the reader because the reader imagines that the child is a close member of his family. On the other hand the relationship in ‘October’ is between two friends and one friend dies in the month of October. The living friend expresses her feelings and emotions through metaphors and other poetic devices using the atmosphere surrounding the world around, in October. The image in ‘the field-mouse’ is the mouse. The mouse helps to portray an image for the children about how they are powerless, â€Å"We know it will die and ought to finish it off†, vulnerable, â€Å"My neighbour turned stranger, wounding my land with stones†, weak, â€Å"their bones brittle as mouse ribs†, and innocent, â€Å"his hands a nest of quivering mouse†. Nevertheless in ‘October’ the image is the month of October. October is a good visual image to show the feelings and emotions of the living friend because the month of October is very

Education and Guest Speaker Essay

â€Å"No matter how hard life is, one has to hope for happiness. Sorrows and failures are to be accepted as milestones towards success.†Ã‚  To our guest speaker __________________, school administrators and officials, teachers, parents, classmates, fellow students, guests, ladies and gentlemen a pleasant (morning or afternoon).  Today is a happy day for all of us. It is a day of celebration as we students of this school finish our elementary education. It is not a simple accomplishment. All of us know how we graduates struggled, burned our midnight candles just to pass our examinations and submit our school requirements. Further, at some point in time, our parents experienced financial difficulties but by God’s grace, we were able to accomplish the tasks laid before us successfully. Definitely, God is good. Leaving the portals of this school which I loved since prep school is not easy. It is from this academic institution that I learned to value the importance of education in one’s life. With that in mind, I gave my best efforts in my studies. Excellence has become my battle cry. The basic education the school has taught me laid down a strong foundation that will help and guide me as I continue my studies and pursue my ambition in life. I know I would be successful for I have anchored my faith in God, molded by the Christian values the school has imparted and with the unconditional love of my parents who patiently provided me with advises, love and support me for all my needs. Life at school has become meaningful and was shaded with different beautiful colors as days pass. It can be compared to movies or â€Å"teleseryes† on television. There is drama. There is comedy, action and adventure. The different activities we have joined and actively participated completed our academic training. We were not only confined to the four walls of the classroom but at the same time encouraged to bring out our hidden talents, skills and potentials. Sharing one’s self to a classmate or to a friend is such a great joy.

How to Write a Sales Letter for English Learners

Sales letters are a type of business letter used to introduce products or services to consumers.  Use the following example letter as a template to model your own sales letter on. Notice how the first paragraph focuses on issues that need to be resolved, while the second paragraph offers a specific solution. Example Sales Letter Document Makers2398 Red StreetSalem, MA 34588 March 10, 2001 Thomas R. SmithDrivers Co.3489 Greene Ave.Olympia, WA 98502 Dear Mr. Smith: Are you having trouble getting your important documents formatted correctly? If you are like most business owners, you have trouble finding the time to economically produce good-looking documents. This is why it is important to have a specialist take care of your most important documents. At Documents Makers, we have the skills and experience to come in and help you make the best possible impression. May we stop by and offer you a FREE estimate of how much it would cost to get your documents looking great? If so, give us a call at and set up and appointment with one of your friendly operators. Sincerely, (signature here) Richard BrownPresident RB/sp Sales Emails Emails are similar, but they do not include an address or signature. However, emails do include a closing such as: Best regards, Peter Hamilton CEO Innovative Solutions for Learners   Sales Letters Goals There are three main goals to achieve when writing sales letters: 1) Grab the Readers Attention Try to grab your readers attention by: Offering a solution to a problem that the reader may have.Telling an interesting (short) story  Presenting an interesting fact or statistic Potential clients need to feel as if a sales letter speaks or relates to their needs. This is also known as a hook.   2) Create Interest   Once youve grabbed the readers attention, youll need to create interest in your product. This is the main body of your letter.   3) Influence Action   The goal of every sales letter is to convince a potential customer or client to act. This doesnt necessarily mean that a client will purchase your service after reading the letter. The goal is to have the client will take a step towards gathering more information from you about your product or service. Useful Key Phrases to Avoid Being Seen as Spam Lets be honest: Sales letters are often just thrown away because so many people receive sales letters - also known as spam (idiom useless information). In order to get noticed, its important to quickly address something important that your prospective client may need.   Here are some key phrases that will help you catch the readers attention and present your product quickly: Are you having trouble ...This is why it is important to have ...At X, we have the skills and experience to ...May we stop by and offer you a FREE estimate of how much it would cost to ...If so, give us a call at X and set up and appointment with one of your friendly operators. Begin the letter with something will catch the readers attention immediately. For example, many sales letters  often ask readers to consider a pain point - a problem that a person needs solved, and then introduce a product that will provide the solution. Its important to quickly move to your  sales pitch  in your sales letter as most readers will understand that your sales letter is a form of advertising. Sales letters also often include an offer to encourage customers to try the product. Its important that these offers are clear and provide a useful service to the reader. Finally, its becoming increasingly important to provide a brochure along with your sales letter providing details about your product. Finally, sales letters tend to use  formal letter structures  and are rather impersonal because they are sent to more than one person.