I want that! by Thomas Hine.
Dec. 27th, 2007 12:24 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dancingleafMidway through another of my 'anti-consumerism' books...
I want that! : how we all became shoppers by Thomas Hine
it is an excellent history of shopping, the influences, insecurities, the reasons we shop - the hunt for a bargain, better yet 'a steal', how quickly we become dissatisfied with our purchase, sometimes before we even get it home.
Unfortunately... it is due back at the library today and I can't renew it. :(
so... here are a few quotes that I marked in the text and I'll just have to finish reading it when I can order it back in for myself.
pg 78 "Time, previously defined by a single clock at the center of a town or village became a personal or at least a household possession. ....
In contemporary households, of course, the trend has gone completely haywire: there are clocks everywhere. What was once a great luxury has become a minor nuisance.
pg-90-91 The author is talking about an invitation he had received to a going out of business sale on Wedgewood...
"I had never been particularly interested in the company's wares, but I had certainly heard of them, and so has everyone else. My everyday dishes were beginning to look both dated and immature. I realized I was feeling insecure both because my plates were out of fashion and because they might communicate that I was not making the sort of progress I should be making in life. Buying Wedgewood could assuage this insecurity bothe because it purports to be timeless and because the pottery is inarguably a grown-up possession. Middle age is a serious time that calls for serious dishes."
ha!
102-103 why some people drive SUV's
106 - how ebay fosters our competitive nature in the shopping quest
I want that! : how we all became shoppers by Thomas Hine
it is an excellent history of shopping, the influences, insecurities, the reasons we shop - the hunt for a bargain, better yet 'a steal', how quickly we become dissatisfied with our purchase, sometimes before we even get it home.
Unfortunately... it is due back at the library today and I can't renew it. :(
so... here are a few quotes that I marked in the text and I'll just have to finish reading it when I can order it back in for myself.
pg 78 "Time, previously defined by a single clock at the center of a town or village became a personal or at least a household possession. ....
In contemporary households, of course, the trend has gone completely haywire: there are clocks everywhere. What was once a great luxury has become a minor nuisance.
pg-90-91 The author is talking about an invitation he had received to a going out of business sale on Wedgewood...
"I had never been particularly interested in the company's wares, but I had certainly heard of them, and so has everyone else. My everyday dishes were beginning to look both dated and immature. I realized I was feeling insecure both because my plates were out of fashion and because they might communicate that I was not making the sort of progress I should be making in life. Buying Wedgewood could assuage this insecurity bothe because it purports to be timeless and because the pottery is inarguably a grown-up possession. Middle age is a serious time that calls for serious dishes."
ha!
102-103 why some people drive SUV's
106 - how ebay fosters our competitive nature in the shopping quest
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no subject
Date: 2007-12-28 04:59 am (UTC)When you get old like us though, you stop with all that, at least I think many people do. We only buy what we need. I'm going out clothes shopping because my old ones are finally getting worn out. I guess after this phase will come the giving-things-away phase and then death (ha!) Not too soon though... :)
no subject
Date: 2007-12-30 08:39 pm (UTC)The SUV thing is pretty out of hand. My kids like the movie "Cars". At the end, they have a scene where Sarge (an army jeep) is running a boot camp for off road vehicles that have never been off road. He has to deal with a poser Hummer complaining about getting mud in his rims. I thought it was a great potshot at a lot of this buying a larger car than is needed for the status of it.