...How are fashion and appearance central to the construction of social identities? Fashion can be defined as the prevalent style and custom at a certain point in time. Besides being necessary and protecting us, clothing also shapes and defines us in the cultural, social and psychological aspect. It has been a part of culture and identity since the earliest of times. We live in a world where fashion and clothing play a significant role in shaping and determining the identity and social image of people. This physical appearance often determines other people’s impressions of us and becomes a measurement of our self-worth. Nowadays with an increased self-consciousness, establishing the social identity of a person, fashion and appearance have played a crucial role. Wilson (1992: 13) has said, ‘clothing in fact, has the unique characteristic of being able to express ideas about sex and the body while simultaneously it actually adorns the body.’ While sexuality for both men and women has largely been shaped by the central ideas of fashion and appearance, there is evidence indicating women have been impacted more by the influences of fashion than men have. Therefore it is possible to say women, who are strongly influenced by fashion, may be more susceptible to social identities as Craik (1994: 176) said, ‘women are fashionable but men are not.’ Although Finkelstein (1996: 56) has argued that, ‘fashion has been seen as a device for confining women to an inferior social order,’ showing...
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...Kubra Nur Erdemli, SEMA KESKEKCI 21000321, ENG 102-116 OUTLINE TEMPLATE FOR ARGUMENTATIVE PAPER Subject: CONSUMERISM Working Title: consumerısm and the mıllenıum generatıon INTRODUCTION Topic: how does consumerısm affect the mıllennıum generatıon? Definition/Explanation: consumerısm : the state of an advanced industrial society in which a lot of goods are bought and sold • disapproving when too much attention is given to buying and owning things (taken from dictionary.cambridge.org) Millenium generation : The millennials have different characteristics than any generation before them and in order to serve them better, K-12 education and colleges and universities are having to change the way they do business. The millennials have grown up in a society that is very different than any group before them. They have been plugged into technology since they were babies, are a safe generation, are the first generation for which Hispanics/Latinos will be the largest minority group instead of African Americans and have the most educated mothers of any generation before them. They are the most scheduled generation ever, are true multi-taskers, expect to have 6-8 careers in their lifetime and are attracted to diverse environments. Taken from http://www.cpcc.edu/millennial Disagreement about this issue: Thesis: although some people may disagree, consumerism has affected the millenium generation negatively by damaging their physical health,damaging their psychology...
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...premise asserts that “gender identity is performed” and thus, performances of masculinity and femininity are not natural to those born with the genitalia of men or women (Seidman, 2013, p. 215). Butler also argued...
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...In her article, “The Signs of Shopping” Anne Norton says, “walking from window to another, observing one another, shoppers, especially the astute and observing adolescents, acquire a facility with the language of commodities…shop windows teach composition” (88). In the following essay, we will be looking at how consumerism and advertising influence and help us develop our identity. What is identity? According to the Merriam- Webster Dictionary, identity is the qualities, ideas and beliefs that differentiate a person from the rest of the group. Our identities form from different aspects of our lives; such as family life, school life, friends, professors and religion. In addition, places such as the mall also helps shape our identity. The mall...
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...Then * World’s largest producer but lacked a unified global identity. * Brands managed in a decentralized fashion * Years of slow performance * Lack of sound corporate strategy * Numerous low-volume brands * Small global presence compared to competition * Mediocre performance in emerging markets Now * Reduce portfolio to 400 “core” brands * Path to growth Initiative (Brand building and brand development – separate functions) * Concentrate on product innovation to fuel internal growth * An initiative to create an overall umbrella brand across all Unilever’s brands * 2 WHY DOES UNILEVER WANT FEWER BRANDS? * * Global decentralization brought problems of control. * Company’s brand portfolio had grown is a relatively laissez-faire manner. * Unilever lacked a global identity. * Product categories had checkered identities. * Embarked on a 5 year strategic initiative “Path to Growth”: * - Winnowing 1600 brands down to 400. - Selected “Masterbrands”, mandate to serve as umbrella identities over a range of product forms. * - Global brand unit for each “Masterbrand” * 7. ‘BEAUTIFUL YOU- TODAY, TOMORROW’ - A CALCULATED RISK? Media Explosion on the idea of ‘BEAUTY’ Increased pressure to ‘Look beautiful’ according to popular perception Worldwide criticism of Fashion Brands and brands that made people aspire to appear a standard way Perceived...
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...capitalism they developed the capacity to take up a wide range of symbolic associations which overlay their initial use-value and hence become comodity signs which leads to the loss of a sense of reality.Featherstone (1991,p. 56). Commodities came to lack authenticity and met ' false needs' . Consumers began to have a passive role , be manipulated, rather than creative and active beings. Karl Marx in his theory of capitalism says that production is for the market and for profit. Veblen's in his reaserch explains how goods are used as symbolic markers of social status, and how consumption is for the purpose of imprassing others.Mackay (1997, p.4) In 1984, Bourdieu provides a seeing of social relations as cultural as well as econimical. He argues that cultural capital is distributed in such way that social groups have different capacities to vest cultural value in symbolic goods.Mackay (1997, p.7) Consumption is the articulation of a sense of identity. What shapes our identity? Is it something that comes from inside of us, or something that we have been influenced...
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... E-Wallet had been receiving enormous attention globally due to its high innovativeness as a secondary option to leather wallet. Usage of credit cards, cash or checks had been reduced due to the advancement of technology and emergence of e-Wallet. E-Wallet is an easy-to-use, convenient electronic prototype which acts as a secure global payment system by using only a mobile smartphone. This study is directed towards developing a model to explain the consumer's’ intention to adopt e-Wallet in the social context. It adopts Consumer Need for Uniqueness Theory based on the concept of Counter-Conformity Motivation (CCM) also known as Need For Uniqueness. Many researchers had explored the relationship of consumer’s intention to adopt on the technological usage context. However, little research in social context had been carried out. Therefore, this paper aims to examine the factors affecting the consumer adoption intention in social context. This paper found that CCM, self-identity and word-of-mouth (WOM) are the salient determinants in this study of knowledge of consumer adoption intention in e-Wallet. Keywords: e-Wallet, intention to adopt, counter-conformity motivation, need for uniqueness 1.0 Introduction According to the historical evidence, the first use of money is assumed to have started around 600 BC in term of coins (Davies and Davies, 2002). However, the world is evolving, due to the rapid change in technology. Most of the consumers have changed their ways of making...
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...htm JFMM 8,4 ACADEMIC PAPER 362 Fashion change and fashion consumption: the chaotic perspective Ka Ming Law, Zhi-Ming Zhang and Chung-Sun Leung Institute of Textiles and Clothing, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hunghom, Hong Kong Keywords Fashion, Consumers, Young adults, Social change Abstract Previous researches have considered that the impact of fashion change and fashion consumption is linear. Therefore, one reason was found as the ultimate source to explain why a fashion style/ trend was spread to the mass market. However, the existing market is complex and difficult to find out the holistic reason to explain fashion consumption. In this study, the chaotic perspective is taken into account to investigate the relationship between fashion change and fashion consumption. By using the grounded theory method, 33 in-depth interviews were conducted. A chaotic fashion consumption model is developed from the findings to explain how different fashions are consumed and rejected while fashion changes. It is found that the interaction of being fashionable, perceived fashionability and system participation affects the ultimate decision on fashion consumption. It is also found that a pattern can be traced to forecast the degree of fashion consumption even when the fashion change phenomenon is chaotic. Thus, it is similar to the principle of chaos theory that short-term prediction is possible in relation to the degree of fashion acceptance among consumers. Marketing implications...
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...Media Effects of Women’s Body Image This paper aimed at to help 15-30 years old women to build a healthy and positive attitude toward their body image. The research question that I raised is how do TV advertisements and fashion magazine affect 15-30 years old women to build their self-esteem and body image view in the U.S.? More specifically, I will examine the various aspects of negative effects that the television and fashion magazines bring to the 15-30 years old women. I proposed that the negative effects that television and fashion magazines bring to young women is more serious than people expected. I do intend to cite the relatively few statistic data and clinical studies that have been conducted on media’s negative effects on women’s body image. My audience will be the 15-30 years old women who do not aware enough of the problem that I describe or who was struggled by the problem that I describe for a long time. Nowadays, a woman’s identity is linked strongly to her physical appearance. In this situation, coverage of women in media mostly concerns women’s appearance and set them as sexual objects. Most social commentators agree that the media reflects current social norms (Grogan, 1999). Body image is the picture of the size, shape, and form of people’s bodies that people see in their mind’s eye (Honigman & Castle, 2007). It is also central to the self-concept and to self-esteem, influencing psychological functions and diverse behaviors (Cash & Pruzinsky...
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...Object of Study : Rajasthani Silver Kada DESIGN HISTORY | EMPIRICAL RESEARCH | RAJASTHANI SILVER KADA Object of Study: Rajasthani silver kada Shape: Round and inflexible Metal: Silver Weight: 360 Gms INDEX | S.NO | PARTICULARS | PAGE NO. | 1 | Introduction | 1 | 2 | About the Rajasthani kada | 3 | 3 | Silver anklets as investments | 4 | 4 | Anklets around the World | 5 | 5 | Benefits of wearing an anklet | 6 | 6 | Anklets in present times | 7 | 7 | Conclusion | 8 | 8 | Gallery | 9 | 9 | Bibiliography | 13 | INTRODUCTION In India, for women being decked up with ornaments from head to toe was that it is considered a woman’s duty to forever be at her best with pleasant appearance in front of her husband and relatives. Hence the elaborate regimen for various ornaments and equal importance is given to wearing anklets. An anklet, also called ankle chain or ankle bracelet, is an ornament worn around the anklet. It may be worn tight like a leather strap or may dangle an inch or two. Anklets have been worn for thousands of years within different cultures. Sometimes the ankle bracelet has a significant meaning, while other anklets are worn just for beauty. Even today, people enjoy the sparkle of a dainty ankle bracelet and wear all types, from a slim silver one to a more chunky costume jewellery anklet. Anklets have always enhanced the dainty and feminine side of elegance. They are an important part of women’s adornment in the Indian culture though...
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...Discuss the Psychology of Fashion with a special focus on its Dynamics. Ever wondered why it is so important for the most of us to have a closet full of clothes? Or why when you meet someone, your mind develops a perceived personality of the person based on how he looks and then our behavior towards them changes accordingly? A study conducted by Karen Pine in 2011 revealed that minor clothing manipulations gave rise to significantly different first impressions of the man. The study by Christman & Branson (1990) further supported this theory as they studied the perceptions formed by recruiters during job interviews. These revelations further trigger a number of questions in mind such as, how dress is used by humans to shape their behavior with others on a daily basis. How the dress one wears changes with a change in social positions, a fashion model might be a mother and the style she adopts in these two areas of her life, (at work and at home) may be different. This article tries to answer these questions. In 1992 Mary Ellen Roach-Higgins and Joanne Eicher noted two basic reasons behind wearing a dress. They said that a dress acted as a body modifier which acts as an interface between the body and the social and the environmental changes in the surroundings. Examples of using dress for the purposes of physical protection include wearing gloves to protect hands from the cold, applying lotion to protect skin from the damaging effects of the sun, or wearing polish to...
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...3. What do you think are the major social problems faced by nations in the present era of globalization? When historians write of the world’s recent history, they are likely to reflect on two trends: the advance of globalization and the spread of democracy. Globalization has been the more contentious, because it has effects both good and bad, and democracy has opened space for people to protest the bad effects. So, controversies rage over the environmental, economic and social consequences of globalization. But there is another domain of globalization, that of culture and identity, which is just as controversial and even more divisive because it engages ordinary people, not just economists, government officials and political activists. Globalization has increased contacts between people and their values, ideas and ways of life in unprecedented ways. People are travelling more frequently and more widely. Television now reaches families in the deepest rural areas of China. From Brazilian music in Tokyo to African films in Bangkok, to Shakespeare in Croatia, to books on the history of the Arab world in Moscow, to the CNN world news in Amman, people revel in the diversity of the age of globalization. American coffeehouse chain Starbucks has begun selling its espresso and food items to ever-increasing number of countries and this way spreading American food habits. It is the first time in human history that virtually every individual at every level of society consciously or unconsciously...
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...Material Social Structure Matrix Complete both parts of this worksheet. Part 1 – Social Roles and Status Complete the following matrix by answering each in one or two sentences. Question | Answer | StatusIdentify the different statuses you hold in society, both ascribed and achieved. | Some ascribed rolls I carry are the roll of: Son, male, and latino.An achieved roll would be: Manager, High School Graduate, and traveler. | Master StatusIdentify your master status in society. | My master status is that I am the son of immigrant parents, achived career success at a young age, and the eldest of my siblings. | Social RolesDescribe the roles associated with the various statuses identified above. | I would say I am a manager as a profession, a college student, a son, a brother, a friend, boyfriend, grandson, nephew, an collegue. | Role conflict, strain, exitDiscuss a time when you experienced either role conflict, role strain, or role exit. | I experienced roll strain when I was promoted and my requirements skyrocketed soon-after, I was instantly placed in a category where I was suppose to know all the answers and say the right things. It was a big challenge to overcome. | GroupsIdentify one primary group and one secondary group to which you belong. | My romantic relationship would serve as a primary and my workplace as a second. | Norms, sanctions, and valuesDescribe the norms, sanctions, and values of the social groups you identified above. How is social...
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...something that is going to benefit [her] down the line with what [she] is going into”. However, she later explains how it felt liberating to be able to remain where she is currently without someone pushing her decisions. Melissa realizes that there are benefits to switching her career, such as insurance benefits, but it appears that she is purposely choosing not to change. Many of the reasons for not switching she provided earlier in the session seems to be secondary reasons for not pursuing work more related to psychology, while the main reasons seems that she enjoys the degree of freedom and independence her new lifestyle is giving her. There may be shame and anxiety associated with the relief she experienced when she became independent once again. Melissa is rationalizing her decision to remain as a waitress because coming to terms with the...
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...TEACHING MODULE THE FUTURE OF FASHION DECEMBER 2010 This teaching module was independently written by the Aspen Institute Business and Society Program with the generous support of THE FUTURE OF FASHION: SUSTAINABILITY THROUGH THE LENS OF THE FASHION INDUSTRY* By: Jennifer Johnson & Gina Wu Companies across all industries are facing the challenges of business sustainability, debating how best to address these risky issues while also embracing their opportunities for competitive advantage. This Teaching Module uses the context of the fashion industry to discuss topics that are shaping the future of all industries. These topics include sustainable resource management, the challenges and opportunities of global growth, workforce management, and the role of ethical consumption in business. The fashion industry offers a compelling case study for exploring business sustainability issues. In the fashion industry, as in many industries, success requires highly developed sourcing, design, manufacturing, and marketing chains. Increasingly, success also means incorporating sustainability in resource and labor management, as firms realize that long-term corporate survival will depend on new ways of doing business. Climate change, resource challenges, new technologies and dramatic shifts in the global economy are already impacting the industry. The nexus of these concerns allows students to explore sustainability challenges while providing a framework for discussing new business...
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