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We have all been commercialized by the news, advertisements, and businesses, for which we are sacrificing our beliefs, traditions, and everyday things that classifies us as humans. What is stopping future generations from becoming overweight, non-constructive, violence-promoting couch potatoes, who only move to grab something to eat or to procreate? Our society is training us to become such objects, and something must be done. If lack of culture is not enough, think economics, nearly all products are focused towards the average consumer, or "all individuals or households that want goods and services for personal consumption or use and have the resources to buy them" (Swartz, p. 89). This means that no matter how poor or how rich a consumer is, as long as they have the money to buy a product, there is potential to market the product to them.
Such means causes anyone who can afford a product to intimidate them to purchase the product, thus keeping the consumer within their social class by causing them to buy things that they do not need, and not investing or saving their money for something important. Consider when a consumer purchases clothing, they can either buy inexpensive clothing, or the exact same outfit with an additional brand name logo which raises the price. This occurs among all social strata. One who purchases generic clothing or makes their own clothing is sometimes looked at with less reverence than one who is wearing an Abercrombie sweater or a Gucci jacket. Although the consumer believes they are receiving more than just an ordinary garment, generally after a few months the consumer realizes their flaw, especially if the garment is tattered or worn own due to poor quality (Lamont, p. 166). The popularity of these purchases reflects how commercialism has infiltrated our everyday life.
Although we may not have a functional personality, we may purchase things to make it seem as if we have personality but in turn are just better reflecting our shallowness of personality and culture through such purchases. Another example is how we easily criticize people who dress outside the norm because of their traditions and culture. More often than not, Americans avoid those dressed in kilts, or shawls that drape over ones face, or any other garment that displays ones diversity from the status quo. In some instances, people may shun them as dirty or different. What message are we displaying to the rest of world? Our true lack of acceptance for another culture only further demonstrates how commercialism has turned us into a society without a true culture, or as I like to think of it as land of the free unless you different from the rest of us.
Not only are we losing our traditions and diversity to commercialism, but also our values. This is most easily depicted in the violence and deviance shown as socially acceptable in American media (Fox, p. 67). This is better demonstrated in television programs than anywhere else; this partly because Americans absorb more television every day than any other source of media. Television is the cesspool for violence and deviance and the home of the commercialization of culture. Why is television such an important role in everyday life? Because television is generally an escape from reality, it also provides as a babysitting resource while the parents are busy with household chores.
We are driven early to televisions by our parents, and the habit of using television as an escape stays with most of us for the rest of our lives. But why are there so many more violent and deviant acts being portrayed on television than anywhere else? People like deviance, and the key function of television is marketing, so it is only appropriate for television to display what makes money; just as any other business tries to make money, the television industry is only fulfilling the goals set by commercialism. (Lamont, p. 240)
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Research essay sample on Violence And Deviance Lamont P Television
