Todays Consumer Culture: Bought Self-worth and Artificial Happiness Es

Theres a lady whos certain(p) all that glitters is goldAnd shes buy a stairway to heaven.When she gets there she knows, if the stores be all closedWith a word she can get what she came for.Ooh, ooh, and shes buying a stairway to heaven.From Stairway To Heaven, by Led zeppelinShopping places didnt just happen. They are not the result of wise planners decision making that suburban people, having no social life and stimulation, haveed a pop out to go (Bombeck, 1985). The mall was originally conceived of as a community common snapping turtle where people would converge for shopping, cultural activity, and social interaction (Gruen & Smith, 2005). It is safe to scan that the mall has achieved and surpassed those early expectations. Unfortunately, in todays consumer culture, the mall is the center of the universe and and this has influence consumers in a negative way. In contrast to the original apprehension of providing the consumer with greater choice, the mall actually limit s the choices of the suburb shopper. The consumer is forced to go to the mall to full-fill shopping needs, but, once inside, also made to feel guilty if they do not make any purchases. The mall promotes materialism and superficiality, a sniff out of bought self-worth and artificial happiness. Housing shortages and increased mobility (car) allowed families to move away from the city and into the suburbs. These areas were knowing to be self-contained, pre-packaged communities with schools, parks, homes, etc within close proximity of each other. Not cold from jobs in the city, the suburbs provided the safe, enclosed realm ideal for raising families. The only caper was the fact that most stores were downtown and too far for mothers (who did most of the shopping) to driv... ...y, advocates this round of golf of earning money, spending money, and buying happiness. Overall, the malls promote a sense of superficiality, a need to acquire goods for social acceptance, and an emphasis on artificial happiness. Though they began with guiltless intentions, the sinister effects of changing societal values has left us in a jeopardizing situation. Our shallow needs for consumer goods have weakened troupe and compromised our position as a close community. Works CitedGruen, V., and Smith, L. (2005), Shopping Towns, U.SA. The be after of Shopping Centers. New York Van Nostrand Reinhold.May, Elaine Tyler. Homeward Bound American Families in the Cold War Era. Basic Books, 2008. Miller, Daniel. Capitalism An Ethnographic Approach. Berg, Oxford. 1997. Miller, Daniel. A hypothesis of Shopping. Polity Press, Oxford, 1998.