Home / Composition 2 / Class Consciousness of Economic classes

Level 5


Alienation through/ due to:

Conspicuous Consumption
or
Commodification



Class Consciousness

  • Class Consciousness refers to a set of theories and philosophies that focus on the differences and problems with economic classes of people.
  • Of the hundreds of theories within Class Consciousness, we'll focus on two
    1. Conspicuous Consumption
    2. Commodification
  • Both of these concepts have the same concern of Alienation.

Who Created This?

  • Commodification: No One
  • Conspicuous Consumption: Thorstein Veblen

General Guidelines





Loneliness


  • Currently, there is a crisis in loneliness
  • A 2023 Surgeon General Report on "Our Epidemic of Loneliness and Isolation" states that a lack of social connection is as deterimental to health as smoking 15 cigarettes a day.
  • Looking at the graph, we can se that drinking SIX alcoholic drinks per day is healthier than lacking social connections.





Loneliness Corollaries

  • Pew Research shows the demographics of loneliness; these three factors contribute to a person nbeing loneliness:
    • Age: the younger, the more lonely
    • Education: the less educated, the more lonely
    • Income: the lower the income, the more lonely





Decline in Friendships

  • 12% of Americans (more than 1 in 10 people you see everyday) have zero friends.
    • No one to confide in
    • No one to celebrate with
    • No one to commiserate with
    • No one to assist them or help them





Causes

  • Numerous causes exist concerning why loneliness has increased
    • Lessening of third spaces
      • Typical gathering spots for late teens and 20-somethings has lessened. Younger generations changed (reduced) drinking alcohol, and current economic conditions prevent having their own apartments or homes. The need for third spaces has outgrown actual third spaces.
      • These generations then seek digital spaces.
    • Separation due to digital technologies
      • One recent study shows that using abbreviations when texting is seen as being less sincere, and respondents to abbreviated messages do not respond as in depth as they typically would.
      • According to "What is Causing Our Epidemic of Loneliness and How Can We Fix It?" on Harvard's website, "73% of those surveyed selected technology as contributing to loneliness in the country"
      • The Harvard article lists the results of a survey where people gave reasons they think are the causes:
        • 73% Technology
        • 66% not enough time with family
        • 62% overworked/busy/tired
        • 58% society is too individualistic


Effects on the body

  • This study, "The Epidemic of Loneliness", lists a series of effects that are caused by or aggravated by loneliness:
    • impaired cognitive function
    • depression
    • anxiety
    • increased risk of suicide
    • cardiovascular disease
    • diabetes
    • infectious diseases




What is Alienation





  • Alienation is the symptom of both of the theories in this section.
  • Alienation concerns when people feel disconnected from one another.
  • People don't meet people; they meet their economic standing or their ascribed title or role.
  • Many philosophies and philosophers see alienation as one of the prime causes of strife between people and within each person's mind.




What is Conspicuous Consumption

  • Conspicuous Consumption, literally defined, is to consume for the sake of showing off or signaling one's economic position.
    • 20th century examples of Conspicuous Consumption concern rich people showing off their expensive items such as clothes, cars, and houses.
    • However, Conspicuous Consumption occurs when anyone's status with an in-group(of any economic level) sets them apart from others.
  • Examples revealing Conspicuous Consumption
  • Social Media and conspicuous consumption
    • To some people, Conspicuous consumption is caused and maintained from our view of work.
    • The journal article "Social Media Influencers and Followers’ Conspicuous Consumption" details the various desires of buyers following influencers: "the desire to mimic, materialism, social comparison, FOMO, and conspicuous consumption"
    • This article's discussion points out that number of social media followers is no longer an important metric; engagegment is.
    • Sponsors and advertisers are moving more toward these two types of social media influencers because they have more engagement with their followers which means more authentic connections with followers.
      • Micro-influencers (10,000 to 100,000 followers)
      • Nano-influencers (1,000 to 10,000 followers)
    • Engagement, then, becomes a weak substitute for friendship




Conspicuous Consumption and Alienation

Writing about Conspicuous Consumption in your film

  • Look in the film for STUFF that characters buy, show off, and/or use to set themselves apart (often as "better") from others.
  • Discuss how the utilization of that STUFF causes that person to be alienated from others, and then continue on to discuss how that alienation affects that character.
  • In other words, it is NOT enough to merely suggest the character conspicuously consumes, AND it's not enough to simply say that such consumption causes alienation. MOSTLY, discuss in what way/manner that alienation is detrimental to the character, either as consequence in the world or concerning their own mental state.




What is Commodification

  • Commodification is when people, unbeknownst to themselves, think of themselves as a commodity, a product to be bought and sold.
  • Commodification is easily experienced in the contest of "who has the higher ranking job in society."
    • In other words, we tend to interact and treat people based on their position in the social hierarchy. We also tend to change our behaviour accordingly.
    • This whole mechanism makes us all easily fooled.
  • One central aspect in America when meeting new people is to ask (or be asked), "What do you do?"
    • STOP! Stop perpetuating Commodification.
    • Next time, tell them what you LIKE to do as enjoyment, not what you do as a job.
    • Watch them struggle as they try to figure out how you make money at playing video games, or drawing, or hanging out with friends.
  • If ever you hide (or hid) from work calling you on your day off, you've felt commodification. Why not answer? The fear that saying no will be held against you.
  • Why can they call you in on your day off, but you cannot (without repercussions) call off on your day to work?
  • A job, like a friendship, should be equal standing; a job should not be a friend that only takes from you and never helps you. (And no, just because they pay you a bare wage does not mean they own you; wages are for hours you are there, and nothing else)
  • The commodified perpetuate commodification onto others, which sustains each generation being commodified.

Writing about Commodification and Alienation

  • In your film, look for the instances when people's roles (job titles) influence how the characters interact with each other, or even dismiss others based on those others' jobs or perceived position in society.
  • For instance, the trope of a rich person being rude to a worker class.
  • Alienation occurs because people will not meet and interact with each other as people, as humans. Rather they interact with the COSTUME the person is wearing.
  • While role playing may be fun, we know during Halloween that someone dressed in a certain manner might act in that character's manner, but when we consider everyone in reality is ACTUALLY wearing costumes, we start to see the alienation and absurdity of treating people differently based on those costumes.
  • One of the reasons that Post-Apocalyptic films and shows appeal to me (and I think to many others) is that commodification ends with civilization.




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