Extended Self and Consumerism Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Extended Self and Consumerism - Essay Example For example, some of us are focused on personal comfort and buy cars; some other people want to collect money or some trifles to satisfy their aesthetic desires, needs and wants. It is possible to claim that Oscar Wilde's main characters were often considered about their appearance to the greatest extent. These ideas are relevant to the modern context, because they underline that people appreciate their appearance and buy the objects of art, luxury or jewelry just to look good. In other words, people create their own images by means of different products and objects. To correlate the principles of consumerism with our daily behaviors in the market, it is necessary to have a strong theoretical background and up-to-date empirical material. The works by Belk (1988) and Goffman (1990) are illustrated by blogs of the consumers in the Internet. Consumerism and Blogs Belk claims that "if involuntary loss of possessions causes a loss of self, one of the primary reactions following such loss should be an attempt at self-restoration. This phenomenon has been observed in psychoanalysis and has led to the hypothesis that, along with body loss, object loss is the fountainhead of creativity" (Belk, 1988). Therefore, we can claim that the things we own reflect our inner stability. We are well-balanced personalities in case we feel all right and feel our ability to buy a thing or object we want. It sounds like individuals are not complicated individuals. We do not need much, but we want much. Now, when there is a perfect opportunity to share your aspirations with the global community, we are pleasantly sharing this opportunity and use this chance perfectly. When we buy pets, very often we subconsciously chose those breeds, which will look like us. We extend our selves in our dogs; we want to become their masters and parents at the same time. In one blog post there was a commentary about a similar nature of a dog and a master of a dog: "We spend money on our dogs,  pampering them with fancy collars and toys.   Investing in our pets has become a part of being a pet owner, and it speaks of our morals as pet owners.   If someone refuses to take their sick pet to the vet it’s similar to declining to take a child to the doctor" (The Extended Self). From this perspective pets are associated with our desire to nourish ourselves, or extended part of us as much as we want.    On the basis of several blog posts by Chinese consumers we will talk about correlation between the extended self and intentions of buyers to get some products or goods. A purpose of modern blogs can be considered as a means for consumer culture promotion. Cyberspace is a modern plane for promotion of desires and interests of the customers in some goods. Blog is a unique means for self-expression online. It is a kind of a modern diary, which can include up-to-date photos and music. Incomes and urban consumer culture is being developed at a full pace in China. Of course, it is mo re natural of women to update their information about blogs if they talk about their purchases. Thus, "Jessie† updates the world on her blog about new additions to her private closet, and discusses her favorite possessions ranging from a pair of Converse shoes to Abercrombie shirts. She writes about what she already has and laments what she could not afford to have" (Xin Zhao, Belk 2007). On the one hand, this girl does not have any problems and she can