Consumerism, Conformity, and Uncritical Thinking in America
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Michael Brant Shermer
Curriculum Vitae Michael Brant Shermer 2761 N. Marengo Ave., Altadena, CA 91001 626/794-3119 (P), 626/794-1301 (F), [email protected] Education Ph.D. Claremont Graduate School: 1991 History of Science (Dissertation: Alfred Russel Wallace: Heretic Scientist. Ann Arbor, MI: UMI Dissertation Information Service) M.A. California State University, Fullerton: 1978 Experimental Psychology B.A. Pepperdine University: 1976 Psychology/Biology Professional Positions 2010 – Present: Presidential Fellow, Chapman University 2007 - 2011: Adjunct Professor, Claremont Graduate University 1992 - Present: Founding Publisher/Editor-in-Chief, Skeptic magazine 1992 - Present: Executive Director, Skeptics Society 2015 - Present: Host, Science Salon Podcast 2001 - 2019: Contributing Editor and Monthly Columnist, Scientific American 1992 - 2015: Host, Skeptics Lecture Series at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) 1998 - 2010: Science Correspondent, KPCC, 89.3 FM, NPR affiliate for L.A. 1999 - 2000 Consulting Producer/Host, Exploring the Unknown 13-hour TV series, Fox Family 1989 - 1998 Adjunct Professor, Cultural Studies Program, Occidental College 1991 - 1993 Adjunct Professor, History of Science, California State University, Los Angeles 1986 - 1991 Assistant Professor of Psychology, Glendale College 1980 - 1986 Instructor of Psychology, Glendale College Courses Taught Chapman University (2010-Present): Skepticism 101: How to Think Like a Scientist Honors Seminar: The Moral Arc of Science Honors Seminar: Evolution, Ethics, and Morality Claremont Graduate University (2007-2011): Evolution, Economics, and the Brain Science and Morality Occidental College (1989-1998): 1. Science: Its History and Impact from Copernicus to Einstein 2. Evolution: The History and Science of the Theory 3. European Intellectual and Cultural History 4. Science, Technology, and Culture (Core program team-taught course) 5. -
Meet the 2020 Chinese Consumer
McKinsey Consumer & Shopper Insights Meet the 2020 Chinese Consumer McKinsey Insights China McKinsey Consumer & Shopper Insights March 2012 Meet the 2020 Chinese Consumer Yuval Atsmon Max Magni Lihua Li Wenkan Liao The authors gratefully acknowledge the assistance of their colleagues: Molly Liu, Cherie Zhang, Barry Liu, Rachel Zheng, Justin Peng, William Cheng, Glenn Leibowitz, Joanne Mason. 5 Contents Introduction 6 1. China at a turning point 8 2. Getting the basics right: changing demographics 12 Mainstream consumers driving income growth 13 Aging population 17 Postponed life stages 18 Increasingly independent women 18 3. Understanding the mainstream consumer: new spending patterns 20 Growing discretionary spending 21 Aspirations-driven trading up 22 Emerging senior market 23 Evolving geographic differences 24 4. Understanding the mainstream consumer: behavioral patterns 26 The still-pragmatic consumer 27 The individual consumer 27 The increasingly loyal consumer 28 The modern shopper 29 5. Preparing for the 2020 consumer: implications for companies 34 Strategic imperatives 35 Growth enablers 37 Conclusion 37 Introduction Meet the 2020 Chinese consumer 7 Most large, consumer-facing companies have long realized that they will need China’s growth to power their own in the next decade. But to keep pace, they will also need to understand the economic, societal, and demographic changes that are shaping consumers’ profiles and the way they spend. This is no easy task, not only because of the fast pace of growth and subsequent changes being wrought on the Chinese way of life, but also because there are vast economic and demographic differences across China. These are set to become more marked, with significant implications for companies that fail to grasp them. -
Consumerism and Environmental Policy: Moving Past Consumer Culture
Consumerism and Environmental Policy: Moving Past Consumer Culture Bradley A. Harsch* CONTENTS Introduction ......................................................................... 544 I. Environmental Problems and Ways of Dealing With Th em ............................................................................ 548 A. Industrial Economy and the Environment ............... 548 B. Conventional Approaches to Addressing Environmental Problems ......................................... 550 C. Proposed Approaches to Addressing Environmental Problem s ................................................................ 552 1. Market-Based Approaches: Internalizing Externalities ...................................................... 553 2. Reducing Energy and Raw Material Input .......... 554 3. Proposed Approaches that Address Consum ption ..................................................... 554 II. Consum er Culture ........................................................ 555 A. The Historical Development and Critique of the Consum er Culture .................................................. 557 B. Definitive Aspects of Consumer Culture .................. 559 1. The Reification of Images .................................. 559 2. The Market as the Primary Means of Satisfying D esires .............................................................. 562 C. Advertising and Consumer Culture ......................... 566 1. Advertising and its Place in Society .................... 566 2. Our Incredulity ................................................. -
Women's Experimental Autobiography from Counterculture Comics to Transmedia Storytelling: Staging Encounters Across Time, Space, and Medium
Women's Experimental Autobiography from Counterculture Comics to Transmedia Storytelling: Staging Encounters Across Time, Space, and Medium Dissertation Presented in partial fulfillment of the requirement for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of Ohio State University Alexandra Mary Jenkins, M.A. Graduate Program in English The Ohio State University 2014 Dissertation Committee: Jared Gardner, Advisor Sean O’Sullivan Robyn Warhol Copyright by Alexandra Mary Jenkins 2014 Abstract Feminist activism in the United States and Europe during the 1960s and 1970s harnessed radical social thought and used innovative expressive forms in order to disrupt the “grand perspective” espoused by men in every field (Adorno 206). Feminist student activists often put their own female bodies on display to disrupt the disembodied “objective” thinking that still seemed to dominate the academy. The philosopher Theodor Adorno responded to one such action, the “bared breasts incident,” carried out by his radical students in Germany in 1969, in an essay, “Marginalia to Theory and Praxis.” In that essay, he defends himself against the students’ claim that he proved his lack of relevance to contemporary students when he failed to respond to the spectacle of their liberated bodies. He acknowledged that the protest movements seemed to offer thoughtful people a way “out of their self-isolation,” but ultimately, to replace philosophy with bodily spectacle would mean to miss the “infinitely progressive aspect of the separation of theory and praxis” (259, 266). Lisa Yun Lee argues that this separation continues to animate contemporary feminist debates, and that it is worth returning to Adorno’s reasoning, if we wish to understand women’s particular modes of theoretical ii insight in conversation with “grand perspectives” on cultural theory in the twenty-first century. -
G138 19.08.31 Gn Binvshfd
2019 GAME NOTES Binghamton Rumble Ponies Media Relations NYSEG Stadium • Binghamton, NY 13901 • (607) 722-FUNN BINGHAMTON RUMBLE PONIES HARTFORD YARD GOATS (30-42, 65-72), 6th Eastern Division (35-34, 72-64), 3rd Eastern Division (New York Mets) (Colorado Rockies) Saturday, August 31, 2019 • 6:35 PM NYSEG Stadium • Binghamton, NY RHP Zach Lee (4-1, 2.45 ERA) vs. RHP Matt Dennis (5-3, 3.55 ERA) Broadcast: NewsRadio 1290 AM WNBF, MiLB.TV Ponies at a Glance TONIGHT: The Binghamton Rumble Ponies and UCETA EXTENDS SHUTOUT STREAK: Adonis Uceta Yard Goats continue the final series of the season. earned his seventh save of the year with a perfect Overall Record: 65-72 ninth inning Friday. It was his 12th straight score- 2nd Half Record: 30-42 LAST TIME OUT: The Rumble Ponies won the series less appearance. He has not allowed a run since Home Record: 23-42 opener against the Yard Goats 4-2 Friday night. July 15. Since then he has pitched 17.2 scoreless Road Record: 42-30 Dustin Houle tied the game at one in the fourth frames with 16 strikeouts, eight hits, and no walks. Day Games: 12-17 with an RBI double. The Ponies took the lead in Night Games: 53-55 the seventh on an Andres Gimenez two-out RBI BINGHAMTON BASEBALL SHRINE INDUCTION: To single. Edgardo Fermin stole home as part of a commemorate the 25th anniversary of the Bing- Vs. Eastern Division: 29-40 double steal to make it 3-1. Scott Burcham pulled hamton Mets’ 1994 Eastern League championship, Vs. -
Blog Title Blog URL Blog Owner Blog Category Technorati Rank
Technorati Bloglines BlogPulse Wikio SEOmoz’s Blog Title Blog URL Blog Owner Blog Category Rank Rank Rank Rank Trifecta Blog Score Engadget http://www.engadget.com Time Warner Inc. Technology/Gadgets 4 3 6 2 78 19.23 Boing Boing http://www.boingboing.net Happy Mutants LLC Technology/Marketing 5 6 15 4 89 33.71 TechCrunch http://www.techcrunch.com TechCrunch Inc. Technology/News 2 27 2 1 76 42.11 Lifehacker http://lifehacker.com Gawker Media Technology/Gadgets 6 21 9 7 78 55.13 Official Google Blog http://googleblog.blogspot.com Google Inc. Technology/Corporate 14 10 3 38 94 69.15 Gizmodo http://www.gizmodo.com/ Gawker Media Technology/News 3 79 4 3 65 136.92 ReadWriteWeb http://www.readwriteweb.com RWW Network Technology/Marketing 9 56 21 5 64 142.19 Mashable http://mashable.com Mashable Inc. Technology/Marketing 10 65 36 6 73 160.27 Daily Kos http://dailykos.com/ Kos Media, LLC Politics 12 59 8 24 63 163.49 NYTimes: The Caucus http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com The New York Times Company Politics 27 >100 31 8 93 179.57 Kotaku http://kotaku.com Gawker Media Technology/Video Games 19 >100 19 28 77 216.88 Smashing Magazine http://www.smashingmagazine.com Smashing Magazine Technology/Web Production 11 >100 40 18 60 283.33 Seth Godin's Blog http://sethgodin.typepad.com Seth Godin Technology/Marketing 15 68 >100 29 75 284 Gawker http://www.gawker.com/ Gawker Media Entertainment News 16 >100 >100 15 81 287.65 Crooks and Liars http://www.crooksandliars.com John Amato Politics 49 >100 33 22 67 305.97 TMZ http://www.tmz.com Time Warner Inc. -
Baseball Autographs Signed 1950-55 Callahans 297 Honus Wagner 9
January 31 Auction: Baseball Autographs Signed 1950-55 Callahans 297 Honus Wagner 9 ............................ 500 Such a neat item, offered is a true high grade hand-signed 290 Fred Clarke 9.5 ......................... 100 Honus Wagner baseball card. So hard to find, we hardly ever Sharp card, this looks to be a fine Near Mint. Signed in par- see any kind of card signed by the legendary and beloved ticularly bold blue ink, this is a terrific autograph. Desirable Wagner. The offered card, slabbed by PSA/DNA, is well signed card, deadball era HOFer Fred Clarke died in 1960. centered with four sharp corners. Signed right in the center PSA/DNA slabbed. in blue fountain pen, this is a very nice signature. Key piece, this is another item that might appreciate rapidly in the 291 Clark Griffith 9 ............................ 150 future given current market conditions. Very scarce signed card, Clark Griffith died in 1955, giving him only a fairly short window to sign one of these. Sharp 298 Ed Walsh 9 ............................ 100 card is well centered and Near Mint or better to our eyes, Desirable signed card, this White Sox HOF pitcher from the this has a fine and clean blue ballpoint ink signature on the deadball era died in 1959. Signed neatly in blue ballpoint left side. PSA/DNA slabbed. ink in a good spot, this is a very nice signature. Slabbed Authentic by PSA/DNA, this is a quality signed card. 292 Rogers Hornsby 9.5 ......................... 300 Remarkable signed card, the card itself is Near Mint and 299 Lot of 3 w/Sisler 9 ..............................70 quite sharp, the autograph is almost stunningly nice. -
“What I'm Not Gonna Buy”: Algorithmic Culture Jamming And
‘What I’m not gonna buy’: Algorithmic culture jamming and anti-consumer politics on YouTube Item Type Article Authors Wood, Rachel Citation Wood, R. (2020). ‘What I’m not gonna buy’: Algorithmic culture jamming and anti-consumer politics on YouTube. New Media & Society. Publisher Sage Journals Journal New Media and Society Download date 30/09/2021 04:58:05 Item License https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ Link to Item http://hdl.handle.net/10034/623570 “What I’m not gonna buy”: algorithmic culture jamming and anti-consumer politics on YouTube ‘I feel like a lot of YouTubers hyperbolise all the time, they talk about how you need things, how important these products are for your life and all that stuff. So, I’m basically going to be talking about how much you don’t need things, and it’s the exact same thing that everyone else is doing, except I’m being extreme in the other way’. So states Kimberly Clark in her first ‘anti-haul’ video (2015), a YouTube vlog in which she lists beauty products that she is ‘not gonna buy’.i Since widely imitated by other beauty YouTube vloggers, the anti-haul vlog is a deliberate attempt to resist the celebration of beauty consumption in beauty ‘influencer’ social media culture. Anti- haul vloggers have much in common with other ethical or anti-consumer lifestyle experts (Meissner, 2019) and the growing ranks of online ‘environmental influencers’ (Heathman, 2019). These influencers play an important intermediary function, where complex ethical questions are broken down into manageable and rewarding tasks, projects or challenges (Haider, 2016: p.484; Joosse and Brydges, 2018: p.697). -
Facebook, Social Media Privacy, and the Use and Abuse of Data
S. HRG. 115–683 FACEBOOK, SOCIAL MEDIA PRIVACY, AND THE USE AND ABUSE OF DATA JOINT HEARING BEFORE THE COMMITTEE ON COMMERCE, SCIENCE, AND TRANSPORTATION UNITED STATES SENATE AND THE COMMITTEE ON THE JUDICIARY UNITED STATES SENATE ONE HUNDRED FIFTEENTH CONGRESS SECOND SESSION APRIL 10, 2018 Serial No. J–115–40 Printed for the use of the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation ( Available online: http://www.govinfo.gov VerDate Nov 24 2008 09:24 Nov 08, 2019 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6011 Sfmt 6011 S:\GPO\DOCS\37801.TXT JACKIE FACEBOOK, SOCIAL MEDIA PRIVACY, AND THE USE AND ABUSE OF DATA VerDate Nov 24 2008 09:24 Nov 08, 2019 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6019 Sfmt 6019 S:\GPO\DOCS\37801.TXT JACKIE S. HRG. 115–683 FACEBOOK, SOCIAL MEDIA PRIVACY, AND THE USE AND ABUSE OF DATA JOINT HEARING BEFORE THE COMMITTEE ON COMMERCE, SCIENCE, AND TRANSPORTATION UNITED STATES SENATE AND THE COMMITTEE ON THE JUDICIARY UNITED STATES SENATE ONE HUNDRED FIFTEENTH CONGRESS SECOND SESSION APRIL 10, 2018 Serial No. J–115–40 Printed for the use of the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation ( Available online: http://www.govinfo.gov U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE 37–801 PDF WASHINGTON : 2019 VerDate Nov 24 2008 09:24 Nov 08, 2019 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 5011 Sfmt 5011 S:\GPO\DOCS\37801.TXT JACKIE SENATE COMMITTEE ON COMMERCE, SCIENCE, AND TRANSPORTATION ONE HUNDRED FIFTEENTH CONGRESS SECOND SESSION JOHN THUNE, South Dakota, Chairman ROGER WICKER, Mississippi BILL NELSON, Florida, Ranking ROY BLUNT, Missouri MARIA -
Preferences for Bipartisanship in the American Electorate Laurel
Compromise vs. Compromises: Preferences for Bipartisanship in the American Electorate Laurel Harbridge* Assistant Professor, Northwestern University Faculty Fellow, Institute for Policy Research [email protected] Scott Hall 601 University Place Evanston, IL 60208 (847) 467-1147 Neil Malhotra Associate Professor, Stanford Graduate School of Business [email protected] 655 Knight Way Stanford, CA 94035 (408) 772-7969 Brian F. Harrison PhD Candidate, Northwestern University [email protected] Scott Hall 601 University Place Evanston, IL 60208 * Corresponding author. We thank Time-Sharing Experiments in the Social Sciences (TESS) for providing the majority of the financial support of this project. TESS is funded by the National Science Foundation (SES- 0818839). A previous version of this paper was scheduled for presentation at the 2012 Annual Meeting of the American Political Science Association. Abstract Public opinion surveys regularly assert that Americans want political leaders to work together and to engage in bipartisan compromise. If so, why has Congress become increasingly acrimonious even though the American public wants it to be “bipartisan”? Many scholars claim that this is simply a breakdown of representation. We offer another explanation: although people profess support for “bipartisanship” in an abstract sense, what they desire procedurally out of their party representatives in Congress is to not compromise with the other side. To test this argument, we conduct two experiments in which we alter aspects of the political context to see how people respond to parties (not) coming together to achieve broadly popular public policy goals. We find that citizens’ proclaimed desire for bipartisanship in actuality reflects self-serving partisan desires. -
Ethical Consumption As a Reflection of Self-Identity
Ethical consumption as a reflection of self-identity Hanna Rahikainen Department of Marketing Hanken School of Economics Helsinki 2015 HANKEN SCHOOL OF ECONOMICS Department of Marketing Type of work: Master’s Thesis Author: Hanna Rahikainen Date: 31.7.2015 Title of thesis: Ethical consumption as a reflection of self-identity Abstract: In recent years, people’s increasing awareness of ethical consumption has become increasingly important for the business environment. Although previous research has shown that consumers are influenced by their ethical concerns, ethical consumption from a consumer perspective lacks understanding. As self-identity is an important concept in explaining how consumers relate to different consumption objects, relating it to ethical consumption is a valuable addition to the existing body of research. As the phenomenon of ethical consumption has been widely studied, but the literature is fragmented covering a wide range of topics such as sustainability and environmental concerns, the theoretical framework of the paper portrays the multifaceted and complex nature of the concepts of ethical consumption and self-identity and the complexities existing in the relationship of consumption and self-identity in general. The present study took a qualitative approach to find out how consumers define what ethical consumption is to them in their own consumption and how self-identity was related to ethical consumption. The informants consisted of eight females between the ages of 25 – 29 living in the capital area of Finland. The results of the study showed an even greater complexity connecting to ethical consumption when researched from a consumer perspective, but indicated clearly the presence of a plurality of identities connected to ethical consumption, portraying it as one of the behavioural modes selected or rejected by an active self. -
The Second Economy in Consumer Goods and Services in the USSR
TITLE : THE SECOND ECONOMY IN CONSUMER GOOD S AND SERVICES IN THE USSR AUTHOR : Dennis O'Hearn CONTRACTOR : The University of California, Berkele y PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR : Gregory Grossman COUNCIL CONTRACT NUMBER 620-5 DNA DATE : October, 198 6 The work leading to this report was supported by funds provided by the National Council for Soviet and East European Research ; It is one of several papers originally prepared for a Conferenc e on the Soviet Second Economy held in January 1980 at the Kenna n Institute for Advanced Russian Studies, in Washington, D . C . Dennis O'Hear n The Second Economy in Consumer Goods and Service s Summary Beginning with the premise that the Soviet system of centralized plan - ning is the basic cause of the second economy, this paper proceeds to exa - mine the second economy in consumer goods and services with a view toward s shedding light on its relationship with the first economy . The paper firs t sets forth an official Soviet legal taxonomy of the various forms of secon d economy activity, the most important of which are private enterprise, com - mercial mediation and speculation . A key distinction is made in this clas - sification system between private activity that takes place at the state o r collective enterprise and that which occurs elsewhere . Thus, in the contex t of Soviet law, 'private enterprise' must be carried out under the guise o f a state, cooperative, or other socialist enterprise ; otherwise, it is simply classified as employment in a handicraft without certification or engagin g in a prohibited trade .