Week 2 - Response 2 - POL Chapter 7

From what I could gather, Chapter 7 discusses mostly about how modern society has become a consumer culture, a culture in which the economy is focused on the selling of consumer goods and the spending of consumer money. This is due to the influx of transportation and the mass production of products. The emphasis of a consumer culture is to use material goods in order to attain happiness and satisfaction, making it a lifestyle instead of a choice. The most interesting portion of the chapter to me is the mention of the phrase, shopping arcade. It is defined by Sturken and Cartwright to be when shopping was just a mundane task that was transformed to an activity of leisure and entertainment. I wholeheartedly agree with this because of how people do shop in the society we live in today. People go out to shop for new clothes, accessories, playthings and etc, most of which is not a necessity, but a want. The phrase, shopping arcade, was what caught my attention because I myself am an avid gamer who loved going to arcades as a child. When you think about how they used the term loosely, it does fit since playing in an arcade was all about leisure and entertainment.