Shopping

Shopping, sometimes humorously referred to as “retail therapy,” is an important aspect of our economic and social life; this explains why it is of such interest to social scientists. For shopping is connected to producing goods and services, and thus plays an integral part in our economy and the economy of every society. If people don't buy food, automobiles, clothes, houses, and other things that are grown or manufactured, economies spiral into recessions, and in some cases, depressions. So, it is imperative that people consume food that is grown, products that are manufactured, and services that are offered, and shopping is the way we do that. It is an integral part of our everyday lives. A powerful industry, advertising, exists to convince us to shop in certain ways—that is, to buy a particular brand of soap or watch or toothpaste or automobile.

Critics of consumer cultures, where shopping plays a major role in people's lives, argue too much emphasis is placed on personal spending and private consumption and not enough on investments in the public sector, which we can consider a form of governmental shopping. Governmental expenditures are, in essence, shopping done—in principle—for the public good.

Sociologists such as Max Weber argued that there is a religious aspect to our desire for goods. In his book, The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, Weber argued that John Calvin's thought justified our desire for goods. God, Calvin maintained, provided us with necessities but also with [Page 1284]things for our pleasure and delight. Weber explained that for Calvin the unequal distribution of goods was “a special dispensation of Divine Providence” that justified the position of wealthy persons. It was God's grace that they were wealthy. Weber also wrote that in America the pursuit of wealth reached its highest development and had the character of a sport. Although we may not be conscious of the mythic or religious roots of our consumer culture, it is possible to argue that there is an unconscious sacred dimension to shopping.

Social scientists are interested in shopping because it plays such an important role in our everyday lives. For example, the things we buy are what social scientists call material culture, and anthropologists and sociologists study these objects to gain insights into a country's technological development. There are also ritualistic aspects to shopping. People's behavior in supermarkets has been studied extensively and supermarkets are designed to lure people from the periphery, where basic foodstuffs such as dairy products, meat, fruits, and vegetables are sold, into the interior aisles, where discretionary products, such as dog food, detergents, soft drinks, and canned foods, often with higher margins, are sold.

In the United States, where most people have large refrigerators, it is not necessary to shop for groceries more than once a week. In countries where people don't have refrigerators or don't have large ones, people have to shop more often. In some societies, cultural codes play an important role and people shop daily because of their desire for fresh vegetables, bakery products, and other foods, even though they have large refrigerators.

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