Consumer Cultures. Needs and Wants

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Table of Contents

Introduction
Differentiating need from want
Conclusion
Reference

Introduction

A need is something essential for survival. It is a commodity that one must have to live. For example water, food, shelter and clothing, and basic human needs. On the other hand, a want refers to something that you wish to have but does not in any way threaten your existence if you do not have it. Wants are not necessarily luxuries. They are commodities that might be very important to you as a person but not very vital to someone else. Whereas needs are uniform for all of us, on the other hand, wants to differ from person to person. For example, owning a cell phone might be a very crucial want to a businessman if their business is to thrive as compared to a church pastor who might consider owning a car instead.

Differentiating need from want

The question that begs to be answered then is, do we always differentiate our needs from wants? To most people, differentiating the two does not govern their consumption levels. According to Gottdiener (1996, p. 71), the pattern of consumption is controlled by their buying power or budget. Popular conceptions of shopping and theories of consumption portray shoppers as gullible, superficial, loose, emotionally over-stimulated, hyperactive, and ordinary (Gottdiener 1996, p.71). With this kind of description, it is quite clear that human beings though fully knowledgeable on the difference between needs and wants, nonetheless do not actualize this.

Apart from their shopping preferences being determined by their purchasing power, their tastes and preferences play a role too. We always purchase commodities with the hope of satisfying our needs or wants and when these are not satisfied with our expectations a point of disappointment is experienced.

In modern culture, there is more than controls our consumption patterns besides the commonsensical differentiation between needs and wants. For example, a woman can forego meals for three days in order to buy a shoe that is in fashion. The reality is she understands that food is a need; she must eat in order to live. However, she is ready to go to any length in order to buy a shoe and fit in society. Moreover, the world is currently full of commercials that influence our consumption patterns. These commercials create a wave of acceptability for products. The desire to acquire what everyone else considers the in thing has overshadowed our analytical reasoning of what is a need and what is a want.

Conclusion

In the 21st century, this commonsensical distinction between needs and wants cannot be effective at all in controlling consumer behavior, unlike the previous years, there are many prevailing factors that determine the consumer patterns apart from this distinction. Most of these factors have been brought about as a result of globalization. Nowadays unlike in the past, people don’t buy clothes because they need them. On the contrary, they do so in order to fit in the society by acquiring something that is trendy and in fashion upon which those of the past generation though they might still be in good condition are disregarded. Simply put, besides the distinction between needs and wants, our purchasing power and fashion among other factors control our consumption patterns and consumer behavior.

Reference

Gottdeiner, P., 2000, New forms of consumption: consumers, culture and commodification. Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield P.ublishers.

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Consumer Cultures. Needs and Wants

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