Postmodernist Identity Construction and Consumption

Irfan Caglar (), Reyhan Karababa () and William J. Hagood ()
Additional contact information
Irfan Caglar: Hitit University, Postal: Iktisadi Idari Bilimler Fakultesi Akkent 3. Cad. No 3, Corum, 19040, Turkey
Reyhan Karababa: Hitit University
William J. Hagood: Hitit University

International Conference on Economic Sciences and Business Administration, 2014, vol. 1, issue 1, 73-76

Abstract: With the transition from modernism to post-modernism, identity as a concept has started to become redefined in sociology literature. The aim of this study is to show that post-modernism and symbolic interactionism are fused together to determine both the scene as well as an actor's identity. In that way, the interaction of a social structure with a culture won't be completely ignored, and, with the opinion that the categorized roles can skilfully be shaped and diversified by actors, they are then able to move away from a pure determinism. However, individuals pay more attention to their appearance more than who they are in order to be accepted by each group. In this manner, a metaphysical shell game begins. In the following study, the 'Social Appearance Anxiety' is used as an indicator of this game. This study was based on the analysis of the data collected through a questionnaire given to 181 students studying at Hitit University. The INDCOL [Singelis et al., 1995] was used to determine the cultural values of students in four dimensions; namely, vertical individualism-collectivism, and, horizontal individualism-collectivism. To measure the 'Social Appearance Anxiety', the validity of the Turkish version of the scale developed by Hart et al. in 2008 [Dogan, 2010] was used. The findings show that individuals having greater vertical individualistic value are more malleable to have social appearance anxiety. The findings also indicate that individuals having more collectivist value are not affected by this kind of anxiety. Also, the new generation of advertisements especially emphasizes the importance of appearance. Due to this trend, a person's Social Appearance Anxiety can result in excessive consumption for the more individualistic individual

Keywords: Post Modernism; Identity; Cultural Values; Social Appearance Anxiety; Consumption. (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: M19 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2014
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://icesba.eu/RePEc/icb/wpaper/ICESBA2014_10CAGLAR_P73-76.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:icb:wpaper:v:1:y:2014:i:1:73-76

Access Statistics for this article

International Conference on Economic Sciences and Business Administration is currently edited by Manuela Epure

More articles in International Conference on Economic Sciences and Business Administration from Spiru Haret University
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Rocsana Bucea-Manea-Tonis ().