Consumer Culture and Television Home Shopping Programming

An Examination of the Sales Discourse

Bibliographic Data

ID12749208
AuthorsJudi Puritz Cook (corresponding author)
Year2000
Volume3
Issue4
Pages373-391
Publication date2000-11-01
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueMass Communication & Society (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1520-5436 • E-ISSN: 1532-7825
PublisherTaylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1207/s15327825mcs0304_03
OpenAlexW2078215772
LanguageEN
Citations received3
References cited13

In this article, I examine television home shopping programs to explore how social class issues are incorporated into the discourse of selling products. More specifically, a content analysis of the 3 major home shopping cable channels-Home Shopping Network, Quality-Value-Convenience, and Q2-is conducted. I argue that home shopping programming, in general, addresses social class issues through the identification of financial limitations, the promise of status mobility through consumption, and the fostering of anxiety with regard to one's social standing. This research contributes to the larger theory pertaining to social-order maintenance. In this article, I suggest that consumption on home shopping is offered as one means of resolving class tensions among the haves and have nots. More specifically, I argue not only that material consumption may be sold as a means to dispel class antagonism and anxiety but that home shopping programming addresses class-appropriate ideological discourse

Advertising · Business · Class (philosophy · Consumption (sociology · Ideology · Order (exchange · Political science · Public relations · Social class · Social science · Sociology · Computer Science · Gender, Feminism, and Media · Media Studies and Communication · Media, Gender, and Advertising · Marketing

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