The massifying consumption of embodied goods in an advanced capitalist state: Capital, economic anxieties and social networks

Abstract

Embodied goods like cosmetic surgery comprise a unique and growing consumer industry, most of all in the Asia‐Pacific, yet the rationalisation processes motivating their purchase are less understood. Addressing this lacuna, this article builds upon open‐ended surveys and semi‐structured interviews of consumers in Seoul, South Korea to articulate a relational approach to examine the rationalisation of purchases of cosmetic surgery as an embodied good. Theorised through the conceptual lens of Bourdieusian capital, participant accounts point to macro‐level economic anxieties that inform a micro‐level cognitive logic of competition through which consumers rationalise the purchase of embodied goods as a form of aesthetic capital. When performed, this capital is believed to offer actors social distinction that provides workplace and social networking advantages by impressing gatekeepers and alters. Participants are shown to reconceptualise their bodies in a means‐end orientation for upward mobility but stress their resignation and powerlessness in being forced to adopt this instrumental reconceptualisation as a response to intensifying economic hardships in contemporary capitalist South Korea.

Design and Evaluation of Packaging Art Based on Sentimental Value Calculation and Clustering

“…The assembly of commodities recognized by consumers within the aesthetic space is termed the aesthetic cognitive space, a dynamic entity that undergoes changes over time. It consistently remains a subset of the overall aesthetic space of commodities (Chen, 2021;Au, 2023). When consumers assess commodities within the aesthetic cognitive space, various aesthetic values, such as shapes and colors, can be compared, establishing a quasi-order relationship among commodities.…”

The Jakarta Male Gaze: Masculinity and Skincare Preferences Unveiled

“…These findings align with the findings of previous studies (Chiu et al, 2019;Khan et al, 2017;Souiden & Diagne, 2009) that social expectation has a positive and significant influence on males' intention to use skincare products. Au (2023) found that metrosexuals use skincare products to coordinate with social friends. The social expectation is highly considered in the consumption of male skincare products.…”