A short ethnography of twenty-first century consumers: On retail rage and one-dimensionality

2021 ◽  
pp. 146954052110396
Author(s):  
Kevin P. Bingham
Keyword(s):  
Consumer Culture ◽  
Retail Trade ◽  
First Century ◽  
One Dimensional ◽  
Unique Position ◽  
Material Goods ◽  
Twenty First Century ◽  
Selection Of ◽  
Sociological Interpretation ◽  
The Way

This article begins with two central ideas – that feelings of rage appear to be on the increase in present modernity and that one of the main sources of rage is directly linked to consumer culture and the retail experience it fosters. Although retail trade allows twenty-first century individuals to spend their money on material goods and experiences which provide structure and a sense of meaning and belonging, what it also causes is ambivalence, insecurity and anxiety. These are formidable feelings that cause irritation, frustration and anger to gradually fester until it accumulates into something violent that distorts the way an individual thinks, acts and treats other people. With these points in mind, what this article provides is a thorough sociological interpretation of twenty-first century retail rage. Veering away from existing interpretations of rage by drawing on Herbert Marcuse’s analysis and image of a one-dimensional society, what this article explores is the idea that retail experiences turn people into individuals who are bound and controlled by a consumer duty. As I contend, based on my unique position as a researcher turned retail worker, it is this administered, one-dimensional kind of lifestyle that cultivates rage. To support my argument and understand more comprehensively how and why retail breeds frustration and anger, I use a selection of narrative episodes to unpack three key sources of consumer rage in the twenty-first century. These sources have been labelled instantaneity, performativity and unfulfillment.

scholarly journals The “Ready-Made-Writer” in a Selection of Contemporary Francophone Literary Advice Manuals

2020 ◽  
pp. 199-216
Author(s):  
Françoise Grauby
Keyword(s):  
First Century ◽  
Small Enterprise ◽  
Close Reading ◽  
Literary Field ◽  
Twenty First Century ◽  
The Moment ◽  
Official Recognition ◽  
Selection Of ◽  
The Way

AbstractThis chapter explores the concepts of discursive and non-discursive ethos, as well as the notion of authorial stance (posture) as defined by Jerôme Meizoz (2007; 2011) in order to analyze the figure of the “ready-made-writer” in French manuals and writing guides at the beginning of the twenty-first century. “Authorial stance,” “ethos,” and “persona” are all terms that take stock of the way in which authors declare themselves writers in the literary field. For Meizoz, posture begins at the moment of publication, that is, at the moment of the official recognition of the author. A close reading of some recent French writing manuals, however, reveals the outline of an implicit portrait of the author budding into a legitimate artist and credible writer, and contains indications on how to carve out a space of creation for oneself. The identities presented by the manuals are shaped by literary models and invested by a collective imaginary. They conform to culturally accepted archetypes, because “becoming a writer, and doing the work of a writer are part of the same phantasm” (Ducas 2002). Learning the craft of writing thus also entails acquiring a corporeal dramaturgy or an “auctorial scenography” (Diaz 2009) which is a prerequisite for creation. This can be achieved by going through various authorial stances, from “visionary” to “apprentice” and “manager of one’s own small enterprise.”

Introduction

2011 ◽  
pp. 1-11
Author(s):  
Brian Lehaney ◽  
Steve Clarke ◽  
Elayne Coakes ◽  
Gillian Jack
Keyword(s):  
Knowledge Management ◽  
First Century ◽  
Know How ◽  
Twenty First Century ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Easy Solution ◽  
The Way

If you want quick-fix solutions, this book is not for you. If you want to “dare to know” how to look at an organisation differently, harness the power of its knowledge, and create innovative and effective systems, then please read on! Knowledge management has been one of the most hyped phrases over the first years of the twenty-first century, and it has been mooted as the way forward for organisations to be dynamic, flexible, competitive, and successful. Despite the hype, and despite some individual successes, western economies and organisations may not have been greatly affected by this ‘all singing, all dancing’ solution to organisations’ problems. Has the impact of knowledge management been less than expected? If so, why? In order to address these questions, there are a number of others that must also be considered, such as: What is knowledge management? Why did it arise in the first place? Can it be simplified or categorised? Is it a fad? Is it theoretical? Is it practical? Why should I care about it? What can it do for my organisation? Does it provide a quick and easy solution?

Live Long and Prosper: Rebooting Star Trek and Reimagining Fandom

Film Reboots ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 33-46
Author(s):  
Erin Hanna
Keyword(s):  
Popular Culture ◽  
Time Travel ◽  
Star Trek ◽  
First Century ◽  
Travel Narrative ◽  
Narrative Strategies ◽  
Twenty First Century ◽  
The Way

This chapter looks to Star Trek, a reboot that employed a time travel narrative to simultaneously cast the Star Trek universe as a new continuity and strategically recast iconic characters in a parallel timeline. The chapter asserts that the reinvention of Star Trek property as a twenty-first-century blockbuster required an investment not only in its narrative strategies, but also in a discursively reimagined audience, one that included both pre-existing and future fans. It demonstrates the way in which Star Trek highlights the intersecting logics of the film reboot and the mainstreaming of fandom in popular culture, both of which grow out of serial strategies designed to exploit new and established markets.

The Nature and Legacy of British Imperial Internment

2020 ◽  
pp. 303-314
Author(s):  
Stefan Manz ◽  
Panikos Panayi
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
British Empire ◽  
First Century ◽  
Great War ◽  
Early Twenty ◽  
Twenty First Century ◽  
The Great War ◽  
The Way

This chapter begins by highlighting the main findings of the book, including the globalization of internment by the Empire during the Great War and the consequences for individuals and their families, but also the fact that Britain treated those it had incarcerated in a humane way. The chapter examines the return to Germany, its consequences for individuals, and the way in which the German authorities dealt with the former residents of the British Empire. These people, who may not have seen their homeland for decades, made efforts to preserve the memory of their experiences, along with former civilian and military prisoners who came from other states at war with Germany. While the memory of internment may have survived into the interwar years, it disappeared in the second half of the twentieth century, but came back to life in the early twenty-first century, inspired by the centenary of the Great War.

scholarly journals Der Schutzvertrag von Raqqa und die Verlautbarung von Mosul. Ein Beitrag zur Diskussion über den „Islamischen Staat im Irak und in Syrien“

2015 ◽  
Vol 69 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Henning Sievert
Keyword(s):  
Public Relations ◽  
First Century ◽  
Islamic State ◽  
Islamic Tradition ◽  
The Status ◽  
Twenty First Century ◽  
The Way

AbstractThis contribution examines two documents issued by the terrorist organisation known as the ‘Islamic State in Iraq and Syria’ (IS) regarding the status and treatment of non-Muslims, namely the protection treaty with the Christians of Raqqa and the ultimatum to the Christians of Mosul. As IS’ claim to represent true Islam should be judged by the way in which they relate to Islamic tradition, the documents’ texts are presented with a commentary and translation. Both documents arbitrarily combine elements from authoritative texts with twenty first-century attitudes, disregarding more than a thousand years of Islamic scholarship. The Raqqa treaty, in particular, is part of the organisation’s professional public relations policy.

Rewriting Moby-Dick: Politics, Textual Identity, and the Revision Narrative

PMLA ◽  
2010 ◽  
Vol 125 (4) ◽  
pp. 1043-1060 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Bryant
Keyword(s):  
Digital Humanities ◽  
Cultural Criticism ◽  
First Century ◽  
Revision Process ◽  
Moby Dick ◽  
John Huston ◽  
Twenty First Century ◽  
Revision Sequences ◽  
The Way

The study of textual evolution, or revision as a textual phenomenon, requires a form of fluid-text editing that not only gives readers access to the textual identities that constitute the versions of a work but also makes the revision process witnessable by generating revision sequences and revision narratives for every revision event. Traditional editorial approaches that mix versions in the editing of a work compromise the integrity of textual identities, and the problem of mixing versions is demonstrated in three examples of the way editors and critics (in the context of orientalist and colonialist discourses) have changed the text of, or rewritten, Herman Melville's Moby-Dick: Edward Said's mistaking John Huston and Ray Bradbury's film ending for Melville's, the British expurgations that modulate Queequeg's homosexuality to preclude the idea of homosexual domesticity and marriage, and the British editors' conversion of Queequeg's Christianity (and modern editors' perpetuation of the unwanted conversion). These historical and modern cases show that readers, sometimes despite themselves, revise texts materially in ways that mirror their desire and the ways of power. Editing the rewriting of a text like Moby-Dick in a digital critical archive would preserve all versions and generate revision narratives that textualize the otherwise invisible dynamics of revision in a culture. With its capacity to edit fluid texts, digital humanities scholarship is well situated to expand the discourse on the dynamics of textual evolution into the literary and cultural criticism of the twenty-first century.

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