Abstract

MENDEZ HERNANDEZ, Claudia Constanza. Communication and Identity: An Approximation to the Study of Consumption. univ.humanist. [online]. 2007, n.64, pp.291-305. ISSN 0120-4807.

To talk about consumer culture is to question the role that capitalist exchange, objects and their dynamics play in today's world. To understand consumption as an action of meaning and as a problem of anthropological concern brings about valuable data upon the ways in which objects circulate, what they mean, and their origin. The purpose of this article is to approach consumption as a social communication process that establishes realities and identities that are formed in, and at the same time shape new patterns of behavior and thought in our society. Consumption then is the bridge between the inanimate subject and its function in the real world; a realm where meanings are established and reproduced. We communicate through the objects we acquire, based on the ideas we consume.

Keywords : Consumption; material culture; identity; communication; imaginary; advertising; communication and culture; consumer behavior; cultural identity; advertising.

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