Narcissus in City : A Study of a Consumer-Urbanite and Urban Public Space

Autor: Mäenpää, Pasi
Přispěvatelé: University of Helsinki, Faculty of Social Sciences, Department of Sociology, Helsingin yliopisto, Valtiotieteellinen tiedekunta, Sosiologian laitos, Helsingfors universitet, Statsvetenskapliga fakulteten, Sociologiska institutionen
Jazyk: angličtina
Rok vydání: 2005
Předmět:
Popis: Only abstract. Paper copies of master’s theses are listed in the Helka database (http://www.helsinki.fi/helka). Electronic copies of master’s theses are either available as open access or only on thesis terminals in the Helsinki University Library. Vain tiivistelmä. Sidottujen gradujen saatavuuden voit tarkistaa Helka-tietokannasta (http://www.helsinki.fi/helka). Digitaaliset gradut voivat olla luettavissa avoimesti verkossa tai rajoitetusti kirjaston opinnäytekioskeilla. Endast sammandrag. Inbundna avhandlingar kan sökas i Helka-databasen (http://www.helsinki.fi/helka). Elektroniska kopior av avhandlingar finns antingen öppet på nätet eller endast tillgängliga i bibliotekets avhandlingsterminaler. The study examines interconnections between consumption, urban culture and public space. It consists of theorizing of modern urban interaction and three empirical case studies, as well as an applied section and a discussion which generalises the results of the study by deepening the theory and widening the cultural perspective. City of Helsinki, the capital of Finland is the concrete object of the study, especially the city centre and its commercial spaces. Both theoretically and empirically the study combines sociology of consumption with urban sociology and multidisciplinary urban studies. Theoretically the main conception comes from Georg Simmel, Erving Goffman, Richard Sennett, Marshall Berman, Colin Campbell and Roger Caillois and the way it has been utilized to urban interaction in modern public space which I term urban or city publicity. City as a place for public appearance of theatrum mundi is one of the basic ideas of urbanism. From this idea and by analysing empirical data I evidence that chance-taking and imitation or mimicry as elements of the social form of play are also key notions to understand fundamentals of urban culture at the street level. The action of consuming as pleasure-seeking shopping means circling and watching with fantasizing and mental probing and trying things on before purchasing. Also shopping forms an autonomic and autotelic playform which has become a generalized urban practice. This practice is enabled by the social order of urban public space as interaction of mere eye contact and avoidance between anonymous people. From the empirical data I infer the concepts of anticipating and mimetic self-relation that I further apply to the data. The main character of urban culture is attached to mimetic self-relation, i.e. the mode in which an individual who is stranger to other individuals in the city publicity projects her or his ideal self-image and opens up to new ways of performing herself or himself. The basic idea of society that Goffman had as “self-dramatization” and “impression management” turns inwards in the culture of urban consumption. Grounded on this, I develop a theory of modern consumption that is able to explain its insatiableness and expansion. Then I analyse and criticise the spatial order and the production of space in the present day city. Finally, I deepen the theory of urban play and widen the perspective to modern culture in general by showing its connections and effects on architecture, youth culture and the development of information technology. The production and reproduction of the practice of consumption and the urban publicity construct the main sphere of social transaction of our society.
Databáze: OpenAIRE
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