l2_postmodern_consumption[1][1].pdf

7/28/2019 L2_Postmodern_Consumption[1][1].pdf

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Postmodern Consumption

CONSUMER BEHAVIOURNKS/IME/IITK

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Referencevan Raaij, W. F. (1993).Postmodern consumption.Journal of Economic Psychology,

14, 541-563.


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What is postmodernization?

Different perspectives

Sociological theory

Postmodern era

Philosophers: A rejection of logical positivismmakes one a postmodern thinker

Characterized by eclecticism and pragmatism Three waves (Alvin Toffler)


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What is postmodernization?

Different perspectives

Ihab Hassan

Applied the label postmodernism toexperimentation in arts, architecture and

technology

Postmodernism is discontinuity, indeterminacy,

immanence

Consumer researchers

Nonconventional research approaches andalternative ways of knowing

Postmodern era Passing from industrial era to information

era

No dominant ideology of the modern era

Liberalism, anarchism, socialism andfeminism have either achieved their goals orhave vanished

A pluralism of style


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Sociological theory: Three independent

trends of the postmodern era

Societal differentiation

Secularization

Individualization

These trends lead to

Societal fragmentation

Loss of identities and social structures


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Three waves

The premodern period (1000 BCcirca1450)

The modern period (circa 14501960)

The postmodern period (circa 1960present)

The three waves can be distinguished onthe following characteristics: production,society, time, orientation (geographical),culture.


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The main characteristics of postmodernconsumption

Toffler Demassification

Fragmentation

Individualization

Increasing speed of change

Firat Hyperreality

Fragmentation Reversal of production and consumption

Decentering of the subject

Paradoxical juxtaposition


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The major causes of postmodern change

Social change

Technological change


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Social change Individualization: a major trend

Fragmentation Market segmentation based on lifestyles over

many products no more valid

Disjointed experiences with products,television programmes, commercials and

shopping malls


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Technological change

Hyperreality Media related

Simulation of reality (IMAX theater)

Product complexity Decentering of the subject (following the instructions)

Value realization Reversal of production and consumption

Value realized in consumption and not in production

Value is produced when consumers add effort and appropriate meaning inthe products they buy

Packaged meaning and hyperreality

Prosumption (Toffler) Production and consumption coincide


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Fragmentation (of the informationsupply)

Ideologies of the modern era have givenway to decentralized pluralism Loss of single lifestyle

Consumers live by the moment Market segmentation or market

sentimentation? Hard time for fashion specialists

Acceptance of multiculturalism Scepticism is replacing dogmatism Freedom of choice


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Disjointed experience Products, services and brands represent

disconnected experiences without linkages, contextsand historical roots (decontextualization)

Image switching Is there a real self? Not one self-image but several self-images

Hyperrealistic collage Disjointed experiences and moments of excitement No central meaning, context or history

Freedom from constraints and conventions Interest, attention and retention cannot be expected on the

basis of relevance, context, linkages or connectedrepresentations

What will happen to brand loyalty? Will people attend to stimulus?


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Segmented production

Changed meaning of mass production

Not more quantity of the same but more of different

variety

Economies of scale?

Products become isolated from their context andeven from their original functions

Postmodern values are less or non-principled The new values are: irreverence, nonconformity, non-

commitment, detachment, anti-elitism, pragmatism,eclecticism, and tolerance


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Segmented media Newspapers, magazines and television

channels are losing their large audiences

Growth of special interest magazines andtelevision channels Broadcasting has changed to narrowcasting

Media are not perfectly segmented Video clips, shattered and fragmented

information, attraction through exciting andsensational stimulation


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Hyperreality Simulation of the reality or hypes

Beyond the utilitarian and economic reality of moderntimes

Documentary movie (refers to the objective reality) Fiction (because there is no objec tive reality)

Signifiers become detached from their dignifiedreality and may become free floating Tooth paste (clean your teeth) to consequences (white

teeth) to values (attractiveness)

Advertising as a tool to add hyperreality to mundaneproducts and brands Advertorials, infotainment Difficult to define the concept of misleading advertising

A virtual reality is created or enhanced with the helpof media or theatre


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Value realization Early economic view

Value created in production and destroyed in

consumption

Postmodern view

Consumption is the end of production

Value is created in consumption

Value is no longer the property of the product,but a property of the image

Confusion of subject and object

Prosumer (Toffler)


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Confusion of subject and object

Active input and participation of the subject

Do-it-yourself home maintenance, medical self-care,distance education

Consumers produce benefits and valuerealization (traditional view) or commodities theyuse produce benefits (postmodern view) Latter if consumers follow instructions correctly

Consumers are there to allow products to achievetheir functions

Being in control Consumers use only limited functions (mastery of a

limited functions!) on their hi-fi equipment


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Paradoxical juxtaposition

Anything can be combined and juxtaposedwith anything

Postmodern era requires a kaleidoscopicsensibility and tolerance

Due to absence of a dominant ideology or

lifestyle, there is a demand in the publicsphere for lifestyle and identity information

Postmodern era is characterized by itsopenness


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In closing

Postmodernism is not an ism but an increasingpluralism

Postmodern conditions in consumption are

Fragmentation, hyperreality, value realization later in

consumption cycle, and paradoxical juxtaposition

Research methodology has to adapt to thechanged conditions

Naturalistic observation, contextualization, maximizedcomparisons, sensitized concepts

Marketing may play a key role in giving meaningto life through consumption


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