Sociology

Sociologists studying consumer culture have asked (1) how collective ideas influence the consumption patterns of groups, (2) how social ties shape the consumption patterns of individuals and small groups, (3) how ritual-like interactions bolster consumption habits, (4) how the solidarity (consciousness of kind) of groups is maintained through consumption, (5) how consumers are manipulated through marketing and the spatial layout of stores, and (6) how consumer culture corrupts cultural and economic lives (or not). These questions conform to the paradigm of sociology as an interpretive social science concerned with intergroup relations and meaningful encounters.