Abstract

This essay was my first ever at the University of Sheffield. In it, I analyse consumerism using Goffman's interaction order, then loop this in with Marx, Veblen and Bourdieu, all of which I argue are "instances of Goffmanian macrosociology". Final grade was first class honours, word limit 1,500. Ideas expressed in this essay have since turning into a separate paper I am working in which I present a Bourdieusien-Goffmanian Relativity theory of Interaction. This paper misses out later ideas I developed around Veblen-Goffman analysis, particularly with regards to Veblen's theory of emulation and the concept of Veblen goods both being fundamentally proto-Goffmanian.