TY - JOUR AU - Alexander, Susan PY - 2010/04/26 Y2 - 2024/03/28 TI - ARTICLE APPLICATION PAPER JF - TRAILS: Teaching Resources and Innovations Library for Sociology JA - TRAILS VL - IS - SE - DO - UR - https://trails.asanet.org/article/view/article-application-paper SP - AB - The first sets of readings centers around the questions, "What drives consumer culture?" and "What "needs" do products fills?" Each of the readings in this section provides insight. Adorno and Horkheimer discuss the "cultural industries" role in manufacturing a homogenous culture in which objects that sell have "style." Cultural Industries guarantee satisfaction through consumption of the "right" product, but consumers find they can never achieve this satisfaction for there is always more to buy. As a result, culture becomes so homogenized (so simplified) that even "entertainment" is intellectualized as knowledge. Galbraith distinguished between 1st order and 2nd order "needs." 2nd order needs are "contrived"/constructed through advertising. This process exemplifies the "Dependency Effect." Friedan examines data from housewives that was used by businesses to manipulate women into believing their central function in life was to buy stuff. Finally, Ewen claims that media created "style" has multiple and even conflicting forms that change frequently, thus creating an increased consumption. This notion of style is now becoming a global phenomenon.Select one of the options below for your paper topic: ER -