Retail therapy

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Retail therapy

• The meaning of shopping

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Maslows Hierarchy of Needs

• 1. Physiological- the basics
• Health, food,sleep (we cannot function at all
  without these three)
• 2. Safety ( shelter, removal from danger)
• With nowhere to live,or being shot at, you cannot
  think about anything else.
• 3. Belonging (love, affection, being in a group)

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Maslow cont.

• 4. Esteem (how we value ourselves and how others
  value us)
• 5. Self-actualisation (achieving our full
  potential)
• In Maslows theory, you have to meet the needs of
  the lower steps, before you achieve the higher
  ones.

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False consciousness

• 1. Marxist idea, shopping gives us false needs.
  We are seduced by the goods and made to think we
  want them.
• 2. Kellys story She saw a dress she liked in
  Burton and didnt buy it. She saw the same dress
  in Selfridges, displayed with a spotlight, and
  she bought it.

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Cathedrals of consumption

• 1. Is shopping our new religion?
• 2. Shopping malls are a whole world, out of the
  weather, with shiny interiors, where you forget
  the rest of the grey world.
• 3. Buy this dress, this mobile phone, this flat
  screen TV and your life will be complete.

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Baudrillard

• 1. The old hierarchy has collapsed, culture has
  imploded.
• 2. You can mix and match to create your own
  identity. He used the word bricolage to mean
  taking things from different contexts to make our
  own identity, e.g. The punks ear-rings were
  safety pins. Madonna wore long black gloves, used
  for Palace tea-parties, just for fun.

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Baudrillard 2

• 1. B. Used the word hyperreality to explain
  what was happening today. This is almost better
  than reality, or reality plus.
• 2. This is like seeing HD TV,instead of black and
  white.
• 3. Shopping for him is hyperreal.
• 4. 3 key elements entertainment, spectacle,
  consumption.

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Baudrillard 3

• 1. Simulation- our lives are dominated by media
  experiences, the internet, video games, TV,
  magazines, films. Distinction between reality and
  simulation disappears.
• 2. Implosion- tradition collapses, we are in
  confusion.
• 3. Hyperreality- the image dominates, HD is our
  new reality. Signifiers have lost touch with
  signifieds.