The ‘Malling’ of The ‘Malling’ of EuropeEurope

Cultures of Consumption

Consumption and Consumerism• Consumption, as the practice of the culture of

consumerism (acquiring, purchasing, consuming, taking in, assimilating), is what (if not all) we do in the ‘developed’ postindustrial world– Consumption: using up a good or service until it no

longer has value – W.W. Rostow (1960) characterized the most

developed stage of society as “high mass consumption”

• In Europe consumerism, the culture of consumption, is big, very big!

• Single most important (if not the) means of social differentiation– Essential to formation of identities: local and regional

The Rise of Retail• ‘Postindustrial’ Economies

– Decline of heavy industry (increasing costs)– Diversification of retailing, services, information– Europe as a large office complex for globalizing

industrial economy– Retained high-tech manufacturing (information driven

and also most responsive to needs of informational and financial sector of economy)

• Society less divided by class (the workplace), gender and race/ethnicity (so the argument goes)– ‘shopping’ becomes a critical activity in understanding

and establishing one’s place in society– And, really, people are shopping crazy in Europe!– Rise of retail is reflected in the changing landscapes of

Europe

From Retail to ‘E-tail’ and the Super Superstore• Retail and undergone progressive concentration

– Fewer, larger sites• Out-of-town developments

– Integration of downtowns (city centers) into pedestrianized malls• marketed under a single banner

– More employees per outlet

– Vertical integration• Single ownership of the supply chain

• Occurring at differential rate– North-south differential

• New forms of marketing– Appealing to consumer lifestyles

– Convenience: including e-tailing

Continental Retailing • Paddison and Paddison argue that “Euro-

patterns” of consumption are emerging.• Single market established new patterns early

on– http://www.day-tripper.net/shoppingciteeurope

.html – Now maturing though corporate structures

• Homogenization of retail choices and cultures across Europe

– Extending to former communist countries in EU• http://tesco-stores.jobs.cz/vrizeni.html

– Catching-up with affluent Western- Northern Europe

Conclusion• Retailing trends reflect broader uncertainty of

future of Europe– Greater cohesion and equality; or less so?

• Greater concentration and fewer but larger retail sites– Increasingly single company sites

» Integrated services: food, insurance, finance, hardware, clothes

– Internationalized retailing

• Immigration transforming national cultures– Resisting homogenization of markets– Hybrid consumerist practices

» Chicken tikka masala #1 dish in Britain (outdoes fish ‘n’ chips!)

• Consumption and consumerism as a lens for analyzing these broader political, social and cultural trends in Europe in 21st-century