Blog post 1 – lecture reflection
During the first two weeks of the better lives unit, I watched six lectures titled: ‘Power’, ‘Culture’, ‘Inclusion’, ‘Emerging Technology’, ‘Empathy’ and ‘Well Being’. Thinking generally about the better lives themes, I feel the ‘Power’ lecture by Julia Crew had strong links with social responsibility discussing issues such as brand control, with big names having big industry influence; the idea of a power imbalance causing a wealth imbalance which is abused in the fashion industry for labour – CEO’s being worth millions, whilst workers physically creating the garments in sweatshops barely earn enough to live. One notable part of the lecture that I was able to relate to was the idea of social media being used in today’s day and age to advertise to consumers; Instagram now seems home to thousands of influencers sharing and promoting products mainly from fast-fashion companies such as ‘PrettyLittleThing’ and ‘Missguided’. These influencers have the power to be seen by the millions of people that use social media countless times a day seemingly being subconsciously coerced into feeling the need to purchase more and more throw-away fashion items. However, influencers also have the social responsibility to share and promote the right message; social responsibility for sustainability. Fast fashion most certainly is not sustainable as it produces large volumes of garments in such a quick turn-around time that a lot of waste is left to landfills, with the chemicals damaging the environment substantially.
An aspect that got my attention most was the idea that consumers have all the power within the fashion industry (without consumers, fashion simply would not exist) and they are responsible for the choices they make.
I’ve been interested in reading about mental health lately, therefore the ‘Well Being’ lecture was of great interest for me. However, before this lecture, I was introduced to the unsustainable culture of consumerism during the ‘Culture’ lecture by Anna Fitzpatrick. I learned that consumerism focuses on the individual instead of a diverse group creating a selfish idea that they are only responsible for themselves. Change comes from people working together and being selfless; for the fashion industry to be sustainable consumer culture needs to change.
I’ve recently read ‘Reasons to Stay Alive’ by Matt Haig which is a novel about his struggles with anxiety and depression, and within it he discusses the idea that the economy has created a consumerist anxiety – if people were happy with their lives and what they had then the economy would be poor. This links with Jekaterina Rogaten’s well-being lecture, where she discussed the hedonic treadmill – consumers are never satisfied, once they purchase one item, the need to purchase more increases, as they believe it will make them happy. In both the lecture and Haig’s book, the culture of consumerism is made out to be toxic for a person’s happiness. From both of these resources, thinking about the better lives themes of social responsibility and sustainability, it has made me aware that individual’s attitudes and behaviours need to change; shopping more sustainably (such as second hand) and doing good for the environment not only benefits other social groups, it also positively impacts a person’s happiness. Doing good is proven to make you feel good. Being materialistic, on the contrary, only has temporary positive effects, until the need to buy more is fulfilled.