Among logicians and linguists, the statement “This is a false sentence” has become the textbook example of a self-referring paradox — a statement that can neither be proven true nor false. The key to this type of statement is that it turns our logical reasoning upside down and puts its consistency into question. Another...
Read more →Theorising the struggle for social recognition can be approached from numerous angles. One – rather cynical – account has been given by the nineteenth-century Norwegian-American economist Thorstein Veblen. In his view, the struggle for social standing is carried out in a specific area of communication which is antagonistic in nature. Central to his work...
Read more →Contemporary consumption patterns are characterised by a permanent increase in private and public commodification. These processes usually take place in spheres of exchange in which goods become commodified, decommodified, recommodified or sacralised. Some objects may be consumed and then removed from the sphere of exchange (either permanently or temporarily). In a society which is...
Read more →There is a large agreement that objects are ruling our relations with each other — which implies that social relations between individuals are partially transformed into a relation between things. As objects become part of human interaction and exchange, they often do so through commodification. The process of commodification is the transformation of goods...
Read more →In the sociology of consumption much emphasis has been directed towards the exchange-value of commodities. In contrast to use-value, the exchange-value of a commodity is based on equivalences which unfold when a product enters the market (commodification). In a capitalist system any object X can be made equivalent to a certain proportion of any...
Read more →Throughout history, sacrifice was the classic response in the event of a major catastrophe. In the interest of the lager good, society was required to scarify some of its consumer pleasures. However, since World War II, when the West has experienced serious austerity for the last time, things have changed drastically. Today, the response...
Read more →The literature offers numerous definitions of consumerism. However, one of the most comprehensive definitions of modern consumerism has most likely been provided along the following lines: “Consumerism describes a society in which many people formulate their goals in life partly through acquiring goods that they clearly do not need for subsistence or for traditional...
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