Review of Lecture six

In lecture six, we looked at the cultural functions of consumption. Cultural studies is interested with the study of consumption for two reasons. First is a theoretical reason which extends beyond the usual ‘semiotics emphasis on the symbolic meanings of products by also considering the way in which products are linked to specific actions and outcomes in a cultural narrative or text’ (John Storey: 2003).The second reason cultural studies is concerned with consumption is political. Adorno used the phrase ‘the cultural industry’ to put forward that culture is now totally linked with political economy.
In the lecture we looked at how the popular culture in 1956 changed the way of life in England. The cultural landscape of England began to change and was been replaced by a ‘affluence’ society like America.
During this time shopping was reinvented, especially among the middle class families and the working class young people in Britain. During 1956 middle class families largely consumed electrical goods while the working class youths were breaking away from traditional working class culture and forming new subcultures like ‘mods’ and ‘rockers’. With the growth of the entertainment industry, increased the market of consumers. Phil Cohen looked at the subcultures and pointed out that young people were taking on paid work and spending large amounts of money on fashion, clothes, music records and magazines. We watched an extract from the movie Quadrophenia which showed the influence of the pop culture and how it affected the young people in Britain. It was important for the Mods to look neat and stylish in Italian suits for example. Consumerism became an obsession during this time and also this was the beginning of Americanization. Hebdige pointed out that youth subcultures are ‘concerned first and foremost with consumption’ (Hebdige 1979). In 1960 popular culture was taken more seriously and started to have impact upon everyday life of the people. Even television and newspapers supported the pop culture.