Consumption
From Geography
Consumption or usage is a concept elaborated by Michel de Certeau´s work The practice of everyday life, published in 1984. It refers to the way we react on a certain representation of a society (de Certeau, 1984, p. xii). Individuals and groups of individuals use a social phenomena, they make or do something with it. For example, when we see a television broadcast (representation of a social phenomena), we all have a way of responding to it, we all have a different interpretation.
This making or consuming is a hidden form of a production. Systems of production are centralized and spectacular, Consumption is the reverse of this, itis scattered, insinuating and less visible. It manifests itself through ways of using of the products imposed by a dominant system. Think of the culture of the Spanish immigrants that was imposed on the native South Americans. The Spanish had the power to establish a system of production, and the Indians had to accept these cultural change. Nevertheless, they ´consumed´ this cultural imposing by giving their own twist to it. The way the Indians used the Spanish culture was intertwined by their own interpretation.
References
de Certeau, M. (1984). Introduction. In The Practice of Everyday Life. Berkeley: University of California Press, pp. xi-xxiii.
Created by BoudewijnIdema, 15 september 2011
