An evaluation of Cooper, McLoughline and Keating model of postmodernist consumption: the case of sex and the city

Abstract

The aim of this dissertation was to evaluate the application of Cooper, McLoughlin & Keating's (2005) model, an adapted model of postmodern consumption from the works of Csikszentmihalyi and Rochberg-Halton (1981) and Cova (1997). In the case of a TV series with different characteristics, that to which it was initially applied. Sex and the City was chosen because the narrated tribe was clearly post-modernist. The model's purpose was to analysis the consumption as an expression of the self as individualistic consumption and as a system of meaning that links to the social tribes as tribalistic consumption. The model was found to have satisfactory explanatory power regarding the consumer behaviour of the characters of the series. The analysis was based on the application of semiotics, to investigate the meaning of goods and the consumption. Consequently, the model proved the pattern for individualistic and tribalistic consumption on the popular culture.