An American Icon

"To put it another way, consumption is a quest for identity through sensual means.  We buy what we think we see in an object, to obtain the unsaleable quality.  The catch, however, is that the longing for identity is diffuse, unfocused, and not described by any specific missing quality, so no particular commodity can satisfy it.  We desire, we buy, we are inevitably disappointed, and we buy again, and again." -Upton's "An American Icon"
     This is such a great explanation of consumption and the idea of materialism.  I haven't really put much thought into why we buy the things we buy, so this made so much sense to me.  I think Upton captures an excellent explanation for the psychology that goes into materialism.  I can totally picture myself considering buying an object and thinking about what life would be like with that object, what kind of image that would give me, and the view of other people if I had that object.  It sounds so stupid now that I think about it, but it's exactly what we do when we shop!  We see things and imagine how great our lives would be if we just had that one thing, so great in fact that we can't even glimpse the reality of the situation and the fact that one object will not change your life so much so that you're perfectly happy and content.  It's interesting to ponder this process of consumption and the individual quest for identity as the holiday season begins to unravel (although at Target, the unraveling began as soon as Halloween was over) and Black Friday is upon us.  I'll definitely be keeping Upton's words in mind when I'm joining the hordes of people around Ridgedale in Minnetonka on Friday next week. Yikes.