Modes of Production, Rituals & Advertising Industry

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Please see response attached, which is presented below as well.

RESPONSE:

1. How are modes of production related to exchange? Discuss examples of changing patterns of exchange and consumption and consider what the causes of these changes might be. You may use globalization as a theme (for example McDonald's, Starbucks, Wal Mart or any other example to illustrate the concepts) Use these 3 concepts, "minimalism, consumption fund, and market exchange."

In general, Modes of Consumption are dominant patterns in society of using things up or spending one's resources in order to satisfy demands. Patterns of exchange and consumption fluctuate with supply and demand factors, such that the higher the demand, the higher the consumption rates. People must consume to survive, but to consume they must produce, and in producing they necessarily enter into relations which exist independently of their will, according to Marx (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mode_of_production). This is linked to the Market Exchange, which is an exchange system in which production for sale is the primary goal and the buying and selling of commodities take place under competitive conditions determined by the forces of supply and demand.

Thus, as the supply and demand pattern change, there are also changing patterns of exchange and consumption. For example, minimalism is a mode of consumption that emphasizes simplicity is characterized by few and finite (limited) consumer demands, and involves an adequate and sustainable means of production to achieve them. In contrast, consumerism is a mode of consumption in which people's demands are many and infinite and the means of satisfying them are insufficient and become depleted in the effort to satisfy these demands. This is also linked to Consumption Fund, which impacts consumer demand, as it refers to a person or household's budget used to provide for their consumption demands. When there is a pattern of low consumption funds (economic trend), modes of production and market exchange will also be negatively impacted through supply and demand fluctuations in the economy. http://www.geocities.com/brianmyhre/4Def

2. Research online and then compare and contrast at least two examples of either birth rituals, death rituals or techniques of fertility control. Describe the examples in terms of anthropological meaning. Be sure to cite your references to receive credit on this board.

Rituals have varied extensively with time and place, and have often varied directly with religious perception. They provide critical insight into cultures and their relations with the other world, as well as their ideas about life after death. http://death.monstrous.com/death_rituals.htm

Funerals are a death ritual linked to other death rituals, such as embalming of the body, burying of the body, and crying. It is true that death is universal and that there are many common traits among death rituals. Furthermore, when examining death rituals cross-culturally it is easy to attribute the same symbolic significance to similar rituals. Nevertheless, after looking at the rituals, used in the context of the culture they ...