Social Psychology, Consumer Culture and Neoliberal Political Economy

Abstract

Consumer culture and neoliberal political economy are often viewed by social psychologists as topics reserved for anthropologists, economists, political scientists and sociologists. This paper takes an alternative view arguing that social psychology needs to better understand these two intertwined institutions as they can both challenge and provide a number of important insights into social psychological theories of self-identity and their related concepts. These include personality traits, self-esteem, social comparisons, self-enhancement, impression management, self-regulation and social identity. To illustrate, we examine how elements of consumer culture and neoliberal political economy intersect with social psychological concepts of self-identity through three main topics: 'the commodification of self-identity', 'social categories, culture and power relations' and the 'governing of selfregulating consumers'. In conclusion, we recommend a decommodified approach to research with the aim of producing social psychological knowledge that avoids becoming enmeshed with consumer culture and neoliberalism.Key Words: consumer culture, decommodification, neoliberalism, political economy, selfidentity. 1 The following analysis draws on material from the authors' book on social psychology and consumer culture (McDonald & Wearing, 2013). Consumer Culture & Neoliberal Political Economy 2 IntroductionConsumer culture has become a significant phenomenon in Western societies. Consumer items are viewed as "important and valuable in their own right" so that many people's lives revolve around the consumption of products, services and experiences that are mediated by the market (Ritzer, 2007, p. 164). As societal institutions, consumer culture and neoliberalism set many of the rules that both constrain and empower social behaviour (Binkley, 2014; Campbell, 2001; King & Pearce, 2010;Rose, 1996;1999), they provide society with "patterned, organised, and symbolically-templated 'ways of doing things'" (Jenkins, 2000, p. 10).Given the important role that consumer culture and neoliberalism play in people's lives, it stands to reason that these two institutions be analysed in relation to self-identity as 'social influence', broadly defined, is one of social psychology's main areas of research. Social psychology's reluctance to engage with societal institutions like consumer culture and neoliberalism is likely due to a perception that these are topics reserved for anthropologists, economists, political scientists and sociologists. In line with Parker (2015), we argue that engaging with insights across the broader social sciences can provide social psychology with a theoretical understanding of contemporary cultural, political and economic trends effecting society.Research on consumer culture in social psychology has typically taken a microsocial perspective, examining consumer behaviours such as product choice and decision making by focusing on individual social cognitions (e.g. Bagozzi, Gurhan-Canli & Priester, 2002; Kardes...

Social psychology, consumer culture and neoliberalism: A response to Phelps and White (2018)

“…Secondly, despite our criticisms of mainstream social psychological research, we believe that it makes a number of valuable contributions to the topic area. For example, in our article we cite mainstream studies of consumer culture, noting that some of them provide useful insights into how individuals and groups use consumer products to create distinctions between themselves and others, as well as providing an understanding of the role it plays in some forms of psychopathology (McDonald et al, , pp. 369–370).…”

“…In our article we argued that “research on consumer culture in social psychology has typically taken a microsocial perspective” (McDonald et al, , p. 364). Phelps and White (, p. 394) counter this by identifying some “notable exceptions” in the mainstream social psychology literature that engage with macrosocial political and economic issues.…”

“…Our monograph Social Psychology and Theories of Consumer Culture: A Political Economy Perspective (McDonald & Wearing, , p. 12–18) provides an extended analysis of this.…”

Social psychology and neoliberalism: A critical commentary on McDonald, Gough, Wearing, and Deville (2017)

“…As a way forward for social psychologists, McDonald et al () propose a “decommodified” research program, explained broadly as “social psychological knowledge that avoids becoming enmeshed with consumer culture and neoliberalism (p. 363)” or “consumerism and pro‐market values (p.372).” This direction can involve both negative and positive projects. The negative side outlines “the costs and consequences of market values (p. 372)” on self‐identity, while the positive should be “more concerned with social harmony and cohesion (p.373)”.…”

“…We nonetheless share Flew's () concern that to the extent that neoliberalism “functions as an all‐purpose denunciatory category or where it is simply evoked as ‘the way things are’ (p. 3)” then it is intellectually unsustainable. Unfortunately, McDonald et al's () usage of “neoliberalism” displays these very shortcomings. To highlight several, but not all instances, they describe “neoliberalism” variously as a societal institution , institutional driver , and philosophy , while the “neoliberal” adjective is attached to political economy , governmentality , consumer cultures , consumer discourses , economic policies , policy makers , and ethos .…”