Consumer Culture Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Consumer Culture - Essay Example This is seen through the way they dress, their behavior, voice, hairstyle, or body characteristics (Edwards & Alexander, 2008). An individual’s identity should not be considered from ones behavior but from the way, others react towards you and the ability to keep on going narrative. This essay will focus on how self-identity has contributed to identity construction in the modern consumer society, and how gender identity is constructed, negotiated and presented within a market place. There will be a discussion on issues of masculinity and how they have contributed to gender identity. The existence of a body as a conduit for intentionality and the role of body image body image self-identity. Body The modern consumer society, which is marked with high reflectivity, is conscious of the heightened need for the construction of individual identity. In the modern consumer, society individuals have learnt how to construct, negotiate and represent their gender identity in a market place (Edwards & Alexander, 2008). The centrality in the reflexivity within the modern consumer society has resulted to individuals’ ability to confront and conceptualize their identities. In their quest for self-identity, they always want to know how they should act, what they should be, and what they need to do regarding their gender roles. These questions about what an individual should do and how to behave are always answered from the day-to-day social interaction. Self-identity is not made up of set characteristics but understanding of self-identity is through reflexivity, which creates an understanding of a person’s biography hence representing him as a social actor who has a consistent sense within self (Edwards & Alexander, 2008). This is evident from the way a person interacts with people and the way in which he represents himself in a social setting for example in a market place. Existence of a body as conduit of intentionality The behavioral theorists have publis hed a lot of work that theorizes the relationship between self and the body. Together with other phenomenologist’s course satire and Merleau Ponty recognizes that, a person’s presence in the world means that there is existence of a body, which is a material thing. For the body to exist the process should be dynamic. Existence means that you should always be in action. A person attains correctness and the fullness of existence if he is always active (Edwards & Alexander, 2008). To exist means to perform, Heidegger and Merleau in their ideas about the body as a conduit for intentionality have reversed Descartes’ claims that the certainty of existence is through relocating the locus from† I think† to â€Å"I can†. Death therefore is a transformation from† I can â€Å"to â€Å"I can no longer do†. This issue of death therefore says that there is no activity because there is no life. The account of bodily existence that was highly art iculated in the theories of feminism meant that although there was that essence of the body, the point of view lived in a different manner for both men and women. There was an assertion that there is lack of significance in the biological facts that bring the difference between men and women (Edwards & Alexander, 2008). The image of the body The image of the body is understood with others depending on the image that they create about a person and this plays a great role in the modern consumer society. Several definitions define the body image. It is