When we say, “you are what you consume,” are we mistaking possession with consumption? Using archival research, students can investigate how consumption has emerged to be a more visible and vital factor in ‘post-industrial’ societies, in which we identify more as consumers than producers. Employing qualitative research methods, students can explore the constant reshaping and communication of the self through consumption. Entailing identity shift from ascribed to achieved status roots in urbanization and industrialization, individuals take on the opportunity and challenge to self-realization. The price of this freedom in constructing a neoliberal self is the loss of security, a ramification of which is what we now call the ‘Fear of Missing Out’. Beyond individual identity, consumption can also be studied from the perspective of collective identity, ethnicity, geographical location, a sexual orientation, or citizenry, hence, given the circumstances, consumption can be politicalized.
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