Postmodernism - stratification

POSTMODERNISM – S&D

PARAGRAPH 1:
Bauman suggests UK societies are referred to as consumer societies because people’s identities are based more on what they buy than on their job. The relevance of class has declined, and subcultures have been replaced by lifestyles based around consumption. Consumer societies are still unequal as the minority who are ‘repressed’ – low paid, unemployed, or insecure, casual employment and can’s participate in consumption as much.

PARAGRAPH 2:
Pakulski and Waters: consumerism has become a dominant feature of the past industrial societies. Social inequalities are ‘complex classless inequalities’ because societies are fragmented’ and they claim the death of class has taken place. People no longer feel they belong to classes and people who supposedly belong to the same class have little in common. 'race' ethnicity, gender and age are also all much less important than they used to be. In a consumer society, it is much more important what people consume, what brands they prefer…