Shopping Decoded -- A Brief History of Shopping Culture

Author: Thomas Hine (USA)
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-05-01
Features: Why do we need objects, and how do objects change us?
When I was driving toward the Walmart parking lot, I noticed that old lady. In fact, it was because she blocked my car that I had to pay attention to her. She was using a walker, and it was clearly the impatient shoppers who were unhappy with my parking, shouting at me. The old lady moved slowly, step by step, toward the entrance of the discount store. At the parking lot, she found a shopping cart and quickly and gracefully put her walker into it. With the help of the shopping cart, she picked up her pace and soon reached the store entrance. This way, others could park, and everything returned to order. As I walked into the store, I couldn’t stop being amazed by the old lady. Why would she go through all this trouble? What did she really need?
Upon entering the store, I noticed that our paths often crossed. Every time I saw her, she was either leaning on her walker or on a shelf, examining shirts, pants, or staring at the top of the shelves. About half an hour later, in her cart, she had already picked up a few small items. It’s easy to imagine that none of these were necessities, of course, nor were they extravagant or self-indulgent goods. When I finally asked her why she came to Walmart, she shrugged and expressed the hardships of her journey. She said she always took the bus to come here. Today, she planned to buy some decorations for her house and some gifts for her grandsons. Clearly, what she was buying was not essential.
“I just wanted to come out,” she said, “to browse.” For her, what mattered most wasn’t the items themselves but her ability to go out alone and make her own choices. She told me she had to carefully consider what she was buying, otherwise, if there were too many things, she wouldn’t be able to carry them on the bus. She also had to think about whether she had enough money.
However, once she left the store, she felt she was reliable. The items she bought were both generous and frugal. She wanted to prove to the people around her that nothing in her cart was an impulse purchase. From the moment she entered the store, no one thought she was frail; she was still able to live a normal life, buy gifts for her grandsons, and firmly believe she was an important part of the family.
Perhaps you could conclude that the act of shopping is more important than the items in the shopping cart, but that’s not entirely true. Shopping may well demonstrate her ability, but the items she brings home better prove the power she possesses. Objects connect humans to the establishment of human power—they are an ancient and universal form of human behavior. Other species can only use limited tools to complete specific tasks, but only humans—far more than I can tell you—place objects at the center of every society. For everyone, at least since the Neolithic era, objects have been symbols of power. Those who owned the main objects were either rulers or shamans. The king’s crown, the chief’s cloak, the mystic’s collection, and gem-encrusted teeth—all these were symbols of power and authority.
Throughout history, the desire for objects has always been limited and precious. Ambitious people sought to become masters by acquiring these precious items. Those who already had power gave gifts to their allies and potential rivals to maintain their status. Priests and shamans claimed to reach the spiritual world through the use of religious objects, which they believed would gain supernatural power. When symbols of power fell into the hands of the wicked, social order was in danger. Throughout history, rulers and religious leaders not only worked through the power of symbolic objects but also prevented others from obtaining them. To maintain control, they limited the distribution of these objects.
In today’s society, this is a nightmare for rulers. Even poor people living in squalid conditions can afford to live and own goods. In a resource-abundant society, it’s hard to establish authority. Possessions are no longer symbols of a leader’s power, but they are an important symbol of another kind of power: the right to choose as a consumer.
My understanding of the old lady at Walmart made me think that the things in her cart were no different from the possessions of a monarch, except that the monarch’s objects were a different kind of political statement—they were a declaration of independence. Even today, shopping is not the only way humans establish a relationship with the power of objects. There are still people who steal, often seizing objects in their own way. Robbers have killed young people just to get their cool shoes. However, the exchange of gifts remains an important way for humans to build connections and responsibilities.
Shopping is the primary form through which we exercise the power of objects. As a habit, shopping is so deeply integrated into our lives that we no longer recognize its existence. In today’s society, most people learn to shop before they even begin to understand the world or make meaningful voices. Child psychologists have observed that shopping is one of the earliest ways humans begin to understand the world and form their personalities. Three out of every four American babies have been to a store, usually a supermarket, by the time they are about six months old, and some even go to stores right after birth. These children begin to realize that there are good things in stores, and before seeing them, they could only be alone with their parents. After a while, by the average age of two, they can point to or indicate the items they want in the store. Most children quickly realize that they have the opportunity to get what they want in their own way. From then on, children start to remember the things they’ve seen before or the items they particularly like. Even before they can express their thoughts clearly, they begin to demand these items.
Therefore, in this sense, marketers have begun to focus on children. Most three-year-olds can remember the items they’ve seen in supermarkets and discount stores they’ve visited. If they are allowed to walk around the self-service area and make their own choices, they are very happy. This act of choosing is the most important part of the shopping experience. This behavior begins when children can walk and ends when the elderly can no longer walk. Children understand that shopping is not just a process of choosing but also one that requires payment. American parents allow children to buy some items by the time they are five and a half years old—letting them choose and pay themselves—and by the age of eight, they are allowed to manage their own money.
We all start our lives as consumers, depending on what others provide for us. The ability to choose items in a store may not make us completely independent, but it gives us a sense of independence and autonomy. This autonomy is what modern culture values. Also, when children see beautifully packaged items in stores, they think of them as jewels. Children enjoy playing with cans and boxes, which stimulate their imagination. Children often see cans and boxes as private property, which is quite different from the marketers’ original intention.
Young people learn to shop as naturally as ducks learn to swim. It is both a response to their survival world and an individual reaction to the power of objects themselves. We may not be born to shop as T-shirt ads claim, but we are born to use objects, and we increasingly believe that choosing objects is an important part of the life of a capable and successful person. Shopping is so important to our growth that it truly influences our thinking and behavior. However, to clearly illustrate the power of objects in our lives, we must imagine what life was like before shopping.