Under Construction @ Keele 2016 Volume 2 Issue 1 | Page 55

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The Age of Extreme Consumerism: Pushing the Boundaries of Common Discourse
and the Construction of the New Social Deviant
Amy Louise Jones
(PhD Sociology, Keele University)
In 1979, referred to as the period of ‘revolutionary’ change, Margaret
Thatcher took to the political stage and fundamentally altered the global
economic and social landscape in accordance with a neoliberal ideology.1
During this period, a new human subjectivity also had to be constructed
adhering not only to the principle of work to maintain production, but also
consumption. It is the latter principle, consumption, which takes centre
stage within this article, in conjunction with ethnographic research carried
out in Meir, Stoke-On-Trent, in 2014. It focuses on the research findings,
notably how young people are caught up in the neoliberal drive to
consume, whilst older people have desires to make and mend objects,
resulting in resistance to contemporary ways of living. In the first instance,
this article claims that those in old age possess alternative modes of
subjectivity and cultural politics to younger people. It then explores the
negative consequences of these actions, including derogatory labelling as
a social deviant and exclusion.
Keywords: Neoliberalism, consumerism, subjectivity, resilience, resistance
Introduction
In an age of extreme consumerism, can the boundaries of common discourse be
challenged and what are the consequences of active resistance? These questions
serve as the foundations for this article’s analysis, which seeks to examine the effects
of the neoliberal ideology upon human subjectivity and personhood. In the first
instance the article draws attention to the ways in which the state, global forces and
the media have redefined individuality and citizenship in accordance with the tenet of
consumerism and commodity accumulation. Following this, data derived from an
ethnographic study, in Meir in Stoke-On-Trent, is utilised to demonstrate the extent
that older people (aged 60 and over) accord with this ideological discourse and
represent what Deleuze and Guattari call ‘desiring machines’.2 Before concluding,
this article explores society’s reaction towards this cohort, including demonisation
and marginalisation.

1

David Harvey, A Brief History of Neoliberalism (United States of America: Oxford University Press,
2005).
2
Giles Deluze and Felix Guattari, Anti-Oedipus: Capitalism and Schizophrenia (London: Athlone
Press, 1984), 1.