Industry culture - shoes

Industry culture - shoes

SHOES ! We all have a pair, even more than a single pair. Individuals have several at a time, and this can be considered normal. We all have shoes, whether if it’s for walking, or running, or working, and so on. I myself have my normal walking shoes, a pair of steel toed shoes for work, a pair of winter boots, and finally a running pair. My wife has more shoes than I’d like to mention, I can’t necessarily say they all have a purpose. Shoes are always improving, whether if it’s the material they are made with, or their intended purpose. This can include shoes or boots for sports or rock climbing, or hiking and so on. We always seem to need a pair of shoes for specific events. This also creates its own subculture within the shoe culture, as I mentioned things such as sports or outdoor enthusiasts. We are even told we need a new pair of shoes at about every six months. We even have shoes for the elite culture too. Although some would argue the release of Jordan’s are not necessarily for elites but at a price tag of $400+ for a pair of limited editions, I could not afford this. Everyone seems to need to have them though, whether if it’s for collecting or wearing. Our popular culture loves shoes as for the most part, we can all afford a pair, and we all usually have more than one. Some even light up, which appeals to the younger generations in our shoe culture but whose to say it’s limited to them. We are always feed the idea that we need shoes for just about everything, and surprisingly we do own several pairs. We just do not think about it too much because this is considered normal in our culture at this point. 

We are forced fed by culture industry that we need the latest and greatest. For the most part, we willfully give up our hard earned money just to keep up with the industry as it’s always changing. These changes can be compared to the iPhone. As in Lance Eaton’s blog for this learning module, he mentions the changes between different generations of iPhones are all superficial for the most part, while functionality remains the same. The changes between all the new shows as well can be considered superficial as well. Most of these new releases, between shoes or iPhones are part of the culture industry, as capitalism and telling us we need this new product. Whether if we do need it or not. Once again, this can go hand in hand with all the other subcultures releases within the culture industry as well. As I mentioned previously about the ridiculously expensive Jordan’s that individuals collect. Not necessarily to wear but just to collect it due to the rarity of the shoe, even though it’s production costs are at the expense of sweatshops across the world. We as culture industry are willing to exploit others to have the latest and greatest because we are told we need it or we will not up to societies’ standards. Another point is that if everyone else has it, you should too. This gives the false impression that you need to spend all your money just to keep up with the constant culture industry, even in 4 weeks, another pair of shoes will be released that you suddenly need. Even though you have survived just fine with your current pair.