Commercialism and Consumerism

2020 ◽  
pp. 548-559
Author(s):  
John Schmalzbauer
Keyword(s):  
Popular Culture ◽  
Mass Media ◽  
Max Weber ◽  
Department Store ◽  
Charles Taylor ◽  
Theoretical Discussion ◽  
The Mass Media ◽  
Holiday Celebrations

This chapter explores the role of commercialization and consumerism in creating the modern American Christmas. It begins with a theoretical discussion of the capitalist disenchantment narrative advanced by Max Weber and Charles Taylor, as well as the critiques of that storyline by scholars such as Leigh Schmidt. Arguing that the sacred and the commercial are intermingled in holiday celebrations, it traces the evolution of America’s Christmas from the 1600s to the present, beginning with pre-commercial folk celebrations (and non-celebrations), early forms of commercialization and consumerism, the emergence of mass-produced Christmas decorations, the modern department store, and the role of the mass media and popular culture. It concludes by discussing contemporary debates about holiday retailing and the ways that commercial Christmas celebrations sacralizes secular spaces.

scholarly journals Understanding Tourist Behavioural Intention When Faced with Smog Pollution: Focus on International Tourists to Beijing

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (14) ◽  
pp. 7262
Author(s):  
Wenjia-Jasmine Ruan ◽  
Junjae Lee ◽  
Hakjun Song
Keyword(s):  
Mass Media ◽  
Structural Equation ◽  
Negative Impact ◽  
Behavioural Intention ◽  
Chinese Government ◽  
Media Effect ◽  
Structural Relationships ◽  
The Mass Media ◽  
New Variables

This study examines the behavioural intentions of international tourists travelling to Beijing when faced with smog pollution. An extended MGB (model of goal-directed behaviour) was employed as the theoretical framework by integrating mass-media effect and perception of smog. The role of mass-media effect and perception of smog were considered as new variables in the international tourist’s decision-making process for travel to Beijing. Structural equation modelling (SEM) was employed to identify the structural relationships among research variables. Our research results showed a strong correlation between positive anticipated emotion and desire. The mass-media effect is a significant (direct) predictor of both the perception of smog and behavioural intention. The Chinese government could attach great importance to the mass-media effect to reduce the negative impact caused by smog pollution on inbound tourism.

scholarly journals Anti-migrant Islamophobia in Europe. Social roots, mechanisms and actors

2018 ◽  
Vol 26 (53) ◽  
pp. 25-40
Author(s):  
Fabio Perocco
Keyword(s):  
Mass Media ◽  
Internal Structure ◽  
Social Inequalities ◽  
Social Origins ◽  
Far Right ◽  
Social Actors ◽  
Muslim Immigrants ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Mass Media

Abstract During the last two decades of rising anti-migrant racism in Europe, Islamophobia has proven to be the highest, most acute, and widely spread form of racism. The article shows how anti-migrant Islamophobia is a structural phenomenon in European societies and how its internal structure has specific social roots and mechanisms of functioning. Such an articulate and interdependent set of key themes, policies, practices, discourses, and social actors it is intended to inferiorise and marginalise Muslim immigrants while legitimising and reproducing social inequalities affecting the majority of them. The article examines the social origins of anti-migrant Islamophobia and the modes and mechanisms through which it naturalises inequalities; it focuses on the main social actors involved in its production, specifically on the role of some collective subjects as anti-Muslim organizations and movements, far-right parties, best-selling authors, and the mass-media.

scholarly journals Urgensi Literasi Media di Tengah Sinisme Antarsuku, Agama, Ras, dan Golongan

2018 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 111
Author(s):  
Advan Navis Zubaidi
Keyword(s):  
Mass Media ◽  
Media Literacy ◽  
Religious Belief ◽  
Public Awareness ◽  
Human Relations ◽  
The Mass Media

This article discusses the urgency of media literacy in addressing the framing of cynicism and conflict issues between tribes, religions, races and groups carried out by the mass media in Indonesia. Specifically, this study at­tempts to contribute the role of media literacy in minimizing cynicism between tribes, religions, races and groups. Through text studies, this article argues that literacy is considered as science. The more educated people, the more acquired knowledge will be. It means that when people re­ceive more information from the mass media, they will cer­tain­ly be wiser. Further, to raise public awareness, a systema­tic way through education, both formal and non-formal, is needed. Hence, harmonious human relations could be rea­li­zed, regardless of ethnic status, race, and religious belief.

Revisiting the synopticon: Reconsidering Mathiesen’s ‘The Viewer Society’ in the age of Web 2.0

2011 ◽  
Vol 15 (3) ◽  
pp. 283-299 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aaron Doyle
Keyword(s):  
Mass Media ◽  
Web 2.0 ◽  
Reciprocal System ◽  
The Internet ◽  
Media Production ◽  
Top Down ◽  
The Media ◽  
The Mass Media ◽  
The Many

Thomas Mathiesen’s ‘The Viewer Society’ has been widely influential. Mathiesen posited, alongside the panopticon, a reciprocal system of control, the synopticon, in which ‘the many’ watch ‘the few’. I point to the value of Mathiesen’s arguments but also suggest a reconsideration. I consider where recent challenges to theorizing surveillance as panoptic leave the synopticon. The synopticon is tied to a top—down, instrumental way of theorizing the media. It neglects resistance, alternative currents in media production and reception, the role of culture and the increasing centrality of the internet. Mathiesen’s piece is most useful in a narrower way, in highlighting how surveillance and the mass media interact, rather than in thinking about the role of the media in control more generally.

The role of the mass media in promoting a thin standard of bodily attractiveness for women

Sex Roles ◽  
1986 ◽  
Vol 14 (9-10) ◽  
pp. 519-532 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brett Silverstein ◽  
Lauren Perdue ◽  
Barbara Peterson ◽  
Eileen Kelly
Keyword(s):  
Mass Media ◽  
The Mass Media

Od kultury popularnej do geopolityki popularnej

1970 ◽  
Vol 22 (297) ◽  
pp. 53-66
Author(s):  
Jarosław Macała
Keyword(s):  
Popular Culture ◽  
Mass Media ◽  
Research Methods ◽  
Research Area ◽  
Stages Of Development ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
The World ◽  
Cultural Order ◽  
Popular Geopolitics

A large portion of geopolitical research of the last decades, especially geopolitical criticism, undertakes the concept of the importance of culture, value and identity in explaining the relation between the space and politics, which was an aspect underappreciated by classical and neoclassical geopolitics. It might be assumed that the currently growing role of popculture and mass-media in our lives lead to the establishment of a kind of a “cultural order”, a particular filter that decides on the perception of the world and, consequently, geopolitics. This article relates to this issue as it deals with the meaning of popular culture in contemporary geopolitical research, mostly accentuated by popular geopolitics. This review briefly analyses what popular geopolitics is, how to sketch its research area, stages of development, applied definitions and research methods. The starting point is the assumption that the hegemonic structure of geographical/geopolitical thinking that the elites are trying to impose on the society by using popcultural artifacts may, in fact, be reconstructed thanks to popular geopolitics studies. It shows the scale and reach of resistance towards such imaginations as displayed by the non-elites, who also reach for symbols, texts and images from popular culture. Such circumstances allow to observe either legitimizing or debunking a particular view of the world and geopolitics.

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