Camelia Elias

taste  a matter of education  a matter of aesthetics  a matter of economics  social class is the elementary social fact

Attitudes towards shopping  Love  Hate  Indifference  emotional or rational?

variations  Love – liking:  if women are positive towards shopping they are likely to love it more than dislike it  Hate – disliking:  if man are negative towards it they are likely to hate it rather then dislike it  Indifference – neutral  not always neutral, but tends to tilt either on one or the other side

Consumption as a Western gendered activity  Shopping according to men  linked with the female role of housewife  Shopping is feminine  Shopping is effeminate  Men linked with the role of breadwinners  Resistance to shopping  fear of being labeled  Acceptance of shopping, even liking it  comes with a disclaimer

stereotypes  the result of ignorance  produced by fear  deny pleasure  express lack of interest  based on emotion not reason

Shopping as philosophy and ideology  Justify  Define and find ways of shopping ideology that are consonant with the idea of manhood  Revise the ‘feminine’ aspect of shopping  Distinguish what men are doing from the activity that women are dominant in Men produce; women consume

instrumental vs. expressive dichotomy  Purchase-driven  related to the satisfaction of need  Means to an end: no intrinsic value  torture  Pleasure-seeking  related to the gratification of desire  Means to an end: intrinsic value  recreational  Work-frame  shopping time kept to a minimum  Leisure  time extended  metaphors express the extended time associated with leisure: shopping trips, shopping spree, shop until you drop

Shopping as an aesthetic activity Need:  natural  basic  follows reasoning that denies pleasure  produces ideology  has no imagination  conservative Desire:  aesthetic  sophisticated  follows reasoning that justifies pleasure  resists ideology  creates fantasies  modern

Shopping as a modern activity  self-explanatory  it has its own reasoning machine  it produces knowledge  is competent  is for both sexes to take in in equal measures if the common goal is personal enlightenment  is the condition of being part of a modern society, as conservatism always marginalizes, not only others but also itself

Paco Underhill 1.From what perspective does Paco Underhill write his essay “Shop Like a Man”? 2.Does his point of view enforce, support, or deny the stereotypes about gender differences related to shopping? 3.What does it mean to shop like a man? What implication has that kind of shopping for women? What about the store? 4.Do women fall for the strategy: “Sell to the woman, close to the man”? 5.If we were to invert Underhill’s titles, how would you answer the question: what do men want? 6.Do women force men to “play house” with them, or do they stay neutral on men’s ‘desire’ to stay “erect” about their ‘need’?