Consumption As Ideological Discourse

Abstract

Consumption so far has been understood in the relatively narrow sense of purchasing goods in the market. However, the event of buying actually forms only a small part of the wider process of consumption, as was discussed earlier in connection with the various dimensions of commodity. Consumption is first and foremost about moving goods into the category of commodity, about their actual use. When consumption is approached from this vantage point the mechanisms mediating consumption choices and advertising also appear in a different light. They serve as messages to others and as ways of steering the use of consumption items. How else could we know what is in fashion, for instance, if not by observing consumers’ everyday life and the media?