Do We Have Freedom of Choice as Consumers in Today's Society?

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Do we have freedom of choice as consumer in today’s society? As a social scientist I will endeavour to answer the question “Do we have freedom of choice as consumers in today’s society?” The studies for this essay were carried out in the UK and I will be looking at both sides of the argument for and against. I will show the UK as a whole has changed from being an industrious society to consumer, and also explore the many factors that define our identities and shape us as a consumer society today When we think of the past say the 1950’s and 1960’s we see that families used to relocate to the UK because society was then defined as an Industrious society. This was because of all the various factories offering better job prospects and a more secure financial future and in turn acquiring a good status within the community. In the past years people would live their lives revolving around their work and they would be defined as an individual by what they did as a profession. Employment such as being a doctor, lawyer or banker were seen as very prestigious in society and would in turn determine where they would go for recreation and how they would behave in social circles. In comparison to today as Kevin Hethington mentions in the Making social lives book introduction to chapter 1 page 4 “We are defined by what we are into.” This phrase means that we are defined not by our professions like we discussed in the previous paragraph but that we are defined by what we like therefore what music we listen to or what books we read, or where we go out to socialize for the evening say a pub or club, even as far as what brand of clothes we wear also our recreational hobbies to what car we drive. All these mentioned are important factors that shape and define us as an individual and show we are defined by a consumer society. Divisions are created throughout society due to the
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