Sociology
Exploring Sociology: A Quiz on Consumption and Culture
Test your knowledge on the intricate relationship between sociology, consumption, and culture through a challenging set of 55 questions. This quiz delves into the theories and concepts that shape our understanding of how individuals and societies interact with goods and spaces of consumption.
Join now to discover:
- Subcultures and their role in identity
- The impact of consumption on social dynamics
- Theoretical perspectives from influential sociologists
Subcultures
Involve a negotiation between mass produced goods and a creative appropriation or misuse of them in order to assert their identity.
Reinterpret mass produced goods according to ideologies of the past, especially pre-industrial one.
Rejects mass produced goods and create new goods through creativity
Subcultures
Are social groups based on affinities and interests to whom consumption is central in order to establish their identity?
Are new form of creativity expressed by literary clubs
Are groups categorized in terms of age, school and geographical origin as these characteristics build their consumption tastes?
The term “Flaneur” to typify a new kind of man, was borrowed from Baudelaire by:
Walter Benjamin
Colin Campbell
Georg Simmel
According to Werner Sombart, what occupied an important position among the origins of capitalism.
The desire for inexpensive imported goods
The desire for status symbols
- The desire for luxury goods
According to Michael De Certau:
The majority of consumer choices are the result of homogenization planned by industrial systems.
Consumers can alter commodities but only in the way already planned by industrial systems.
Consumption can be creative, a way of assessing freedom or challenging the dominant systems of power.
Post- Fordism was originated in:
40s
50s
70s
Fordism and post-Fordism
Don’t have anything in common
Share a common drive towards standardization
Share a common drive towards rationalization and efficiency
Malls
Were first erected in the USA in the early twentieth century
Were first erected in the USA in the early eighteen century
Were first erected in Europe in the eighteen centuries.
We talk about cultural production of economic value to mean that:
By attributing new meanings to the new objects brought from colonies. During the XVI and XVII centuries, these objects could become commodities with economic value.
Consumers and producers, during the XVIII century, gave new meaning only to those goods that had high economic value.
During the Middle Ages, the nobility gave specific meanings to objects characterized by the so called “patina” making them status symbol understood only by the nobles themselves.
George Ritzer uses the term “Cathedral of consumption”
To highlight the magical and religious atmosphere that characterize spaces dedicated to consumption that become “pilgrimage destinations”.
To point out how big new stores celebrate consumption with the splendour of ancient times
To underline the increasingly greater dimension of the buildings dedicated to consumption
The arrival of the nobles at the court of Elizabeth and their involvement in what McCracken calls “riot of consumption” in order to catch Elizabeth’s eye, marked the birth of which important phenomenon:
The romantic ethic
- Fashion
According to Featherstone, lifestyle
Is bound to class structure; it depends on one’s social position.
Is bound to class structure and cultural capital.
Is no fixed to certain classes or social groups; it connotes individuality and self-expression.
According to Grant McCracken, what is the so called “Diderot-Effect”.
This expression is inspired by a story in which the French philosopher Diderot spoke of a luxurious dressing-gown given to him by a friend and he used this as an example of the positive aesthetics of ostentation
McCracken uses this term (inspired by the story by French philosopher Diderot) to indicate the trend of associating goods to create coherent cultural and aesthetic units.
This so called “Diderot Effect” refers to the trend created by French philosopher Diderot to combine cheap and expensive fashion items, creating and effect of novelty.
A flaneur is
A privileged man who has enough free time to walk leisurely through the streets exploring every corner of the city, losing himself in the passages and department stores in search of many pleasures offered by modern life
A new kind of individual who emerged in cities during the nineteenth century characterized by a narcissistic attitude that led him to spend a lot of money in conspicuous consumption
A modern man who adopts a rational attitude in order to protect himself from the hustle and bustle of big cities.
In Sombart’s view, the development of the capitalist way of life is due to:
The combination of politics and economics
Economics
The combination of economics, politics, and culture
According to Colin Campbell:
The pre-romantic consumer was supposed to find religious symbols in artistic works, the romantic one was supposed to find symbols of consumption disguised in literature.
The pre-romantic consumer was supposed to draw moral lessons from works of art, the romantic one was supposed to recreate the experiences and feelings as expressed through the works.
The pre-romantic consumer was trained to use tools to create artistic works, the romantic one preferred mass-produced works.
Spaces of consumption become places:
Because they are transformed through the uses and activities of the people within them
Because they are the same all around the world, so people can be sure to find the same experience everywhere
Because shop-owners organize non-commercial activities in them
What does Alan Bryman mean by the term “emotional labour” when he identifies the four key features of Disneyization
Employees at Disney theme park are emotionally engaged in Disney’s brand, they are linked to it through a deep relationship.
Employees at Disney theme parks work with their emotions and those of the visitors in an authentic way in order to build stronger relationships.
Employees at Disney theme parks interact with visitors in a staged, inauthentic way that requires expression of suitable emotions.
According to Karl Marx what is the “use value”?
Use value” is tied to the physical qualities of a product, the material use to which an object can actually be put and the human needs it fulfils.
Use Value” refers to the way in which human beings transform the meanings of products through their use.
T refers to the actual monetary value of a product
According to Karl Marx what is the “surplus value”?
It refers to the value of things that are superfluous but necessary for market exchange.
It is a form of profit based on the undervaluation of human labour: workers are paid less than the value their labour has added to the goods.
It refers to the fact that the true value of objects is often overestimated.
Regarding the feminist interpretation of the relationship between women and spaces of consumption we can say:
It accuses these spaces of exploiting female weaknesses
It highlights how these spaces are available only to wealthy women, so they are not truly democratic spaces
It considers these spaces and the related shopping as a way for women to escape domestic routines, a way that provides them with a sense of freedom
Fixed prices, according to Richard Sennet, are a tool for the democratization of public spaces and for the empowerment of consumers. This statement is:
Partially true. He said that the spaces were designed for the bourgeoisie so the lower classes became passive because they couldn’t count on large amounts of economic capital.
False. He claimed that shopping became a passive experience after consumers were no longer expected to haggle over prices
True.
According to McKendrick, the origin of consumption takes place:
In the fifteenth century
In the late eighteenth century
At the beginning of the nineteenth century
According to George Ritzer, spaces of consumption are characterized by two seemingly contradictory elements: rationalization and enchantment. This statement is:
True
Partially true, only by rationalization
False
According to McCracken where are the origin of consumption found?
In politics
In fashion
According to Pierre Bourdieu, taste is :
The results of the three forms of capital he identified
A natural disposition
The ability to distinguish the real value of goods
Taylorism
Refers to the process that foster flexible accumulation
Refers to the so-called time and motion studies based on the measurement of human movements in order to increase the speed of production
Refers to studies on the so called “just in time” manufacturing in order to produce products tailored to consumers’ preferences.
According to Colin Campbell, consumption is the expression of which kind of hedonism?
Of the soul
Of the mind
Of the body
Why can we say that the “principle of free entry” in spaces of consumption makes the consumers passive?
Because consumers entered these spaces only to establish relationship base on the glances, they exchanged with each other.
Because it meant the democratization of these spaces but at the same time those who entered them were controlled and had to behave according to certain invisible rules.
Because consumers were caught in a riot of consumption as if they were under a sort of spell that made them irrational and at the mercy of consumption’s sirens.
Werner Sombart argues that from the end of the 17th century onwards, we can see not only the rationalization of the organization of work but also of consumption. What does he mean?
People could devote more of their time to consumption of things whose value was rationally recognized
Luxuries, produced in series for larger groups of people, were subjected to dynamics of fashion and became responsive to planned large-scale production
That consumption was rationalized because people were seeking amusement
What did Richard Sennet mean by the term “tyranny of intimacy” in the book entitled “The fall of public man”?
He meant that citizens were encouraged to show their emotions in order to catch the attention of distracted people.
He meant that citizens preferred to show their true selves at home in order to avoid being censured or punished by the controlling political powers.
He meant that the streets and public spaces were places for illusion where one’s personality was not displayed, whereas the home and the family became place for one’s true self.
Fordism
Refers to development on the factories owned by Henry Ford all over the world
Refers to the model T car produced by Henry Ford
Refers to mass production and standardization
Why rituals were important for the existence of postmodern tribes
To establish their existence ad sustain their membership
To the contrary, they can become dangerous because they are routinely performed and so they risk annoying their members, causing them to escape from their control
To develop a form of invisible control
One of the four principles of Disneyization identified by Bryman, also characterizes malls. Which one is it?
Efficiency because malls work in an effective and perfect way.
Theming because it provides malls with a sense of place by importing the signs and symbols, the expected markers of well-known international location which might include streets signs or replicas of landmarks such as the Eiffel Tower.
Rationalization because when consumers are inside malls, they are always controlled by surveillance systems
Arcades were built from
1822 onwards
1910 onwards
1750 onwards
According to Karl Marx, what is the “exchange value”?
Exchange value” is defined by the physical qualities of a product that make it suitable to be exchanged on the market
Exchange value” is the market value given to a product as it is exchanged on international markets
Exchange value” refers to the price that a product acquires in the marketplace.
Post Fordism
Refers to a mode of production based on extreme standardization in order to sell cheaper and therefore more competitive goods on international markets
Refers to a mode od production based on diversification, characterized by the rise of niche products tailored to consumers’ preferences along with new logistical arrangements of “just in time” manufacturing.
Refers to the further evolution/development of a production system based on the principles first discovered by Henry Ford
McDonaldization features are:
Efficiency, transparency, merchandising and control
Calculability, theming, control, and predictability
Calculability, efficiency, predictability and control
Malls are spaces of subversion
Because consumers find ways of appropriating mall space for their own purposes, thereby creating new meanings.
Because they subvert the real value of life and its link to nature, in order to impose the power of consumption.
Because malls are controlled spaces, so they are not in line with the concept of freedom and democracy.
Karl Marx had a romanticized idea of the pre-capital era because:
According to Marx romanticism was the period of highest development of human beings as far as their inner life was concerned. The alienation created by industrialized society was the opposite of this
He thought that feudal societies in the Middle Ages were characterized by the absence of alienation because there was no separation of worker from work produced
He pointed out how feudal societies in the Middle Ages were characterized by agriculture and this meant workers could live in contact with nature and nourishes their spirits
According to Pierre Bourdieu “habitus” is
The way in which people behave routinely
An internalized system of dispositions or acquired ways of thinking, perceiving and acting.
Bourdieu never spoke about habitus.
What does Colin Campbell mean for “autonomous control”?
He refers to the ability, due to the Puritan ethic, of expressing emotion in a controlled way.
He refers to the control that factory workers had to practice during their activities
He refers to the control, taught by romantic ethics of feelings typically associated with puritan ethics.
According to tribal marketing
Data is very important in order to understand consumer consumption practices.
Tribes are considered a group of homogeneous people.
The product is relevant for its linking value
The term “Blasé” was used to typify a new kind of man by.
Georg Simmel
Colin Campbell
Walter Benjamin
Which sociologist talks about conspicuous consumption as a way of assert your social position?
Bourdieu
Simmel
Veblen
When did Werner Sombart see traces of the development of a new type of society
In the XIX century
In the XVIII century
- In the XIV century
In our post-modern era, alongside individualism, we see also the emergence of tribalism: a movement that re-roots individuals who have been uprooted by modern times.
Tribalism is another word to define subcultures and their power of altering the meanings associated with commodities.
When we talk about tribalism, we talk about tribes made of people who participate in the re-enchantment of the world through quasi-archaic values.
Tribalism is linked to the notion of tribe, which identifies people with the same age, culture and the same tastes who create a stable group.
What does Pierre Bourdieu mean by saying that “habitus” and taste are “physical”?
That our body is a materialization of class taste with the incorporation of attitudes to caring for and treating the body and attitudes to healthy and unhealthy lifestyles
That sensory input is fundamental in building our habitus and taste.
That our body us a materialization of stereotypes created by the media environment especially as far as healthy or unhealthy lifestyles are concerned
What does Alan Bryman mean when he talks about “dedifferentiation of consumption” related to Disney theme park?
People are exposed to so much commercial stimuli that goods need to stand out in an original way in order to avoid being confused with others.
Different forms of consumption, associated to different spheres , become interlocked and this makes it difficult to distinguish between them.
This phenomenon refers to the simulation that characterizes Disney theme parks where reality and fantasy mingle.
Wolfgang Schivelbush, in his essay on the history of luxury goods:
Argued that coffee was the drink of the nobility that enjoyed it during royal parties and in this way endorsed this product, making it desirable to the lower classes.
Wrote about the role of liberal states in the diffusion of commodities
Chose, among other things, coffee as an example of the way in which the value of goods is linked to cultural, social and economic processes.
According to McCracken, why was consumption an instrument of Queen Elizabeth’s rule?
According to McCracken, consumption was an instrument not just of queen Elizabeth but of the nobility in general and their desire to be fashionable at any cost in order to become inspirational to their subjects.
Consumption was a way to assert Elizabeth’s power through the court’s transformation in a theatre showing the world its splendour, thanks to the involvement of nobles paying part of the costs for it.
Consumption was a way to assert Elizabeth’s power through her fashionable intermediaries who through their journeys showed to the folk the splendour of her court
Emilie Zola
In the novel “the man of the crowd” describes the new condition of the blasé
In the novel “the ladies ‘paradise” describes women as irrational creatures fascinated by new spaces of consumption such as “le Bon Marché” department store in Paris
In the book “the Arcade project” describes the importance of Parisian passages for bourgeoisie success
Paces of consumption changed a lot in the XVII and especially in the XVIII century
Due to the expansion of urban centres which favoured the enlargement of shops
Due to the invention of sheets of glass that enabled commodities to speak directly to passer-by
Due to the great population growth in urban centres and the subsequent creation of new needs and desires
Michel De Certeau says that production happens in consumption:
When consumers use commodities in unpredictable and unintended ways, appropriating them
When consumers collaborate with companies performing a series of activities that in the past were performed by the companies, such as buying online flights tickets, refuelling cars by themselves and so on
Because industries use trickery in order to give consumers the perception of being free to create even if they are not allowed to
Colin Campbell points out that the novel
Was the means through which young middle-class women came in touch with new notion of romantic love
Granted the possibility of living quite sensationalist experiences but in this way, they spread immorality to the society on a whole
Was an important tool by which consumption acquired a different status among society’s values
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