Weiye Loh's Library tagged Consumerism → View Popular, Search in Google

Mar

2012

What Isn’t for Sale? - Magazine - The Atlantic

THERE ARE SOME THINGS money can’t buy—but these days, not many. Almost everything is up for sale...

...

A debate about the moral limits of markets would enable us to decide, as a society, where markets serve the public good and where they do not belong. Thinking through the appropriate place of markets requires that we reason together, in public, about the right way to value the social goods we prize. It would be folly to expect that a more morally robust public discourse, even at its best, would lead to agreement on every contested question. But it would make for a healthier public life. And it would make us more aware of the price we pay for living in a society where everything is up for sale.

www.theatlantic.com/...8902

- Preview

Capitalism Consumerism Morality Market

Jul

2011

How 3-D Printing Could Change the World (Video) | The Utopianist - Think Bigger

We’re a few steps closer to the Star Trek-style replicator that could conjure objects upon demand. Of course, that raises a bunch of interesting questions itself, like what a capitalist economy would look like when you can get everything you need with the press of a button.
Regardless, the convenience and ecological benefits of not having to ship goods around the world should prove a major boon to societies everywhere.

utopianist.com/...g-could-change-the-world-video

- Preview

3 Dimension Printing Capitalism Consumerism

Apr

2011

Times Higher Education - Work is exhausting: more student contact 'predicts' burnout

www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp

- Preview

Academia Education Consumerism

Gender seemed to have most impact on the way burnout revealed itself, the study suggests. Male lecturers typically had higher depersonalisation scores, for example, while their female peers tended to suffer more emotional exhaustion.
The researchers also report that "staff exposure to high numbers of students, especially tuition of postgraduates, strongly predicts the experience of burnout".
However, they suggest that lecturers with qualities that might make them particularly suited to the job suffered more than their less engaged colleagues. The quality of "openness" may "make (academics) appealing tutors, encouraging greater interaction with students", but it also appeared to "predispose teachers to burnout", the paper says.
5 more annotation(s)...
- The findings come as staff-to-student ratios and contact hours seem likely to get more burdensome. At the same time, rising tuition fees - set to treble at many universities in England in 2012 - are expected to make students more demanding.
- The first step, said Dr Robertson, was "recognition that stress is an issue, that the demands of certain roles can overwhelm the resources that people have to deal with them".
  "Counselling services, stress-busting activities, alternative therapies, peer support and active mentoring" could all help, she added.
- teaching, which typically came a distant second to research in terms of prestige and promotion criteria, had to be "explicitly valued".
- distance and e-learning might be more stressful than face-to-face teaching, pointing out that "being at the end of an email chain might be less satisfying than reciprocal interaction".
- With students increasingly consumerist, it was important to "set the boundaries of respectful discourse on both sides"

Nov

2010

Epiphenom: You are your brand label

epiphenom.fieldofscience.com/...you-are-your-brand-label.html

- Preview

Religion Brand Capitalism Consumerism

First they showed that US States with a high number of branded stores (Macy's, Gap and Banana Republic) versus discount stores (Costco, K-Mart, Target, Wal-Mart and Sam’s) also have a low number of religious congregations. About half of this is explained by differences in average wealth. They dug around a bit more and found that education explains some more of it (educated States are suckers for branded goods), as did urbanization. But even after taking these into account the link persisted. It wasn't either that people in less religious states consumed less.
students who were primed to think about religion (by writing a short essay) were less likely to choose branded goods in a subsequent exercise.
4 more annotation(s)...
- priming people to think about how religious beliefs and activities ‘provide you with a sense of self‐worth' made them less interested in brands than those primed to think about how religious beliefs ‘provide you with a sense of safety and security.’
- The least religious people were most likely to favour branded goods, and this was was particularly the case for goods that are important for self-expression (e.g. Ralph Lauren versus Target brand sunglasses) rather than more functional (e.g. Pepperidge Farm versus Kroger brand bread
- people use brands as a badge of identity, and we know that, in this regard, religion is a particularly powerful brand. However, I don't agree with the pundits who try to take it further, and argue that brand identity is a kind of surrogate religion.
- elk and Tumbat (2005) found that the Macintosh community is equivalent to a religion in many ways because it can be characterized by a strong faith in “savior” Steve Jobs and enmity towards a common “satanic” enemy. Similarly, Muniz and Schau (2005) found that the Newton community (centered around PDAs discontinued by Apple) reflects five key themes: (1) tales of persecution, (2) tales of faith being rewarded, (3) survival tales, (4) tales of miraculous recovery, and (5) tales of resurrection. The authors argued that these religious themes reflect the human need for community and religious affiliation.