Blackwell Reference Online

Extract

“Experiential consumption” refers to consumption patterns and practices in which the experiential aspect gains a central role, thus rendering the utilitarian and economic aspects a less significant status as the motivational factors of consumer behavior. The centralization of the experiential aspect implies an emergence of a consumer mentality which is oriented toward the realm of representations rather than mere need satisfaction. Consequently, the rise of experiential consumption is closely linked to the following three historical trends at work in the coming of the (western) consumer society, roughly from mid-nineteenth century onwards. (1) The expansion of the realms of media publicity, mass culture, and entertainment . This trend gains strength especially from the late nineteenth century onwards, creating markets for the mass production of (textual and audio-visual-tactile) representations which are consumed primarily in an experiential mode (newspapers, magazines, novels, music halls, spectator sports, cinema, radio, television, amusement parks, theme parks, tourism, and so on). These make up the category of actual experiential goods which are comparable to other “consumables” (versus “durables”; Hirschman 1982 ) like food where the item is “used up,” usually in a single act of consumption. Then again, the actual experiential goods lack the oral materiality of food (which ... log in or subscribe to read full text