Lecture 1 a Flashcards Preview

Geography Politics of nature-culture and consumption > Lecture 1 a > Flashcards

Flashcards in Lecture 1 a Deck (10)
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1
Q

What is consumption?

A

Hasn’t always been that way- consumer mentality- people used to think collectively

Construction of capitalists

Consumption shapes all our lives

Globalisation of capitalism throughout the world- everyday effects our lives- our identity of everyday
environment- to consume- to indirectly - direct use the environment
interconnectedness of the world- linked to consumption

Singapore- consumption parking lot- huge ships

2
Q

Key thinkers- Karl marx

A
  • commodity fetishism- curtain separates us the consumers from the production process
3
Q

Two implications - consumption

A

simultaneously exploitation of poorly paid workers and the environment
socio nature- linked inevitable- cant be separated- what kind of social natures do we want- we are making a toxic one now

4
Q

Walter Benjamin

A

kind of different to marx - cultural process- multiple meanings

how we understand the shopping experiences

Implications- consumption- shapes how we experience the world

research implications- assumption

5
Q

Is consumption a political process?

A

neoliberalism - thatcher and reagan - has an agenda- stress on the individual on the market- individual choice in the capitalist market

Fair trade- raise the prices- how fair is fair trade- how do you operationalise the word fair?- is it the lowest coffee growers on the intermediate ones?

What is anti- consumption?- Soviet union

Britain- neoliberalism heart of capitalism???

6
Q

What is consumer choice?

A

advertising- tricks of it- we perceive it as natural- idea of sales

Agency- what is helping with agency of choice- celebrities now?- bottled water- to pay for water- construction of identity- what next bottled air? rainforest air
part of our lives in our consciousness- scientists are higher hands?
links to business- business agendas affecting the consumer agenda

7
Q

How fair is consumption about geography?

A

space issues
Place- emotive sense of home- affected perception of place
human- environmental
all point to consumption as theme

8
Q

Brands and Branding

A

Brand- from the norse brandr-to burn
used to confirm ownership - often based on violence- not just slavery- violence to areas- land is privatised and exploited
development of commerce- capitalism

9
Q

Government- after Foucault

A

government- not the normal one- our discipline- what happens in the heads- ‘natural’ that we pay taxes- take it as a given
there is a right way to behave- can be also communism- power is weakest at the barrel of the gun- more power into letting people surrender- i.e. self discipline ourselves

10
Q

Modern Branding

A

distances us from nature- the marx curtain
is it ‘modern’ branding? - consumer mind- colonialising your mind is that what branding is?
selling a lifestyle a normalised way- an abstraction