Buying Our Identity - Part 2

Continuing from yesterday, here is more from David Burns on the influence of the consumer culture on our identity:

A key to the role of consumption activity in self-construction involves establishing a point of difference from others: to establish one's self as a distinct, independent entity. It is not sufficient merely to "keep up with the Joneses"; instead, it is necessary to be different from the Joneses, or in other words, to possess a self unique from others. Self-construction via consumption then not only concerns the quantity of goods consumed but also the extent to which the goods make "physical visible statements about the hierarchy of values to which their chooser subscribes." As a result, desires are often not for any particular product or quantities of products but for products that are "different." Indeed, [studies suggest]that "[s]hopping appears to have undergone re-skilling, from a management task defined by the shopper's ability to select "bargains" (or quantity at low cost), to a creative task defined by the shopper's ability to locate unusual, unstandardized, or personalized goods."

[In one study] it was observed that when given a choice of possessions, behaviors, and social activities of actual students, 84% of observers chose possessions as their initial cue when evaluating student's personalities. Furthermore, the observers who based their assessments on possessions produced more accurate assessments than those who used alternative cues. Within a consumer culture, through the avenue of symbolism, consumptive activity has seemingly become the primary avenue through which individuals evaluate their selves and others.

In other words: We are what we buy and we buy what we are. And in a postmodern culture where objective truth and meaning is dismissed for subjective truth and meaning, this should not be a surprise. If the only means of defining ourselves is through constructing that identity ourselves, then why not buy it. This means that personal identity can change based on change in fashion, trends, or anti-trends. The marketplace always drives towards the center to capture the lion's share of the market. As soon as enough people start to buy the thing that makes you different (and they will), you will have to move on, and find the new product that will make you different, make you "you" and become the person you think you should be. Until everyone else becomes like you...and the search continues.
Another post on this tomorrow.