New Ritual Society

Book excerpt: Consumerism has established itself as a dominant lifestyle, but the reasons behind this are often unclear. This study revisits a large amount of diverse research, and argues that consumerism is a powerful ritual “machine” that can make up for the modern lack of values with new symbols and rituals. Consumerism made its claim between the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century, when the traditional symbolic world had ended and a new one had not yet emerged. Slowly but progressively, consumerism begun to develop new symbolic forms and new social rituals, becoming the basis for new mimetic behaviours. As nationalism has progressively declined, consumerism has permeated the entire social fabric. Supermarkets and shopping malls must be interpreted in the light of their ritual significance, as temples and holy cities of a new symbolic order. In the consumeristic era, many people are led to think and imagine in consumer terms, to identify themselves through consumption rituals. The impact of consumerism on culture, from literature to art, should not be underestimated. Many artists have tried to develop their aesthetics by triggering a dialectical, or openly critical, confrontation with consumerism. This book also takes into account the development of violence and the effects of consumerism on childhood and new generations. The book contains a preface by the German anthropologist Christoph Wulf, and the images illustrating the text are by Belgian artist Michel Couturier.