Patricia Perry

WS 100C
May 4, 2010

Key Words Dictionary Rough Draft

Aesthetics:
That which is regarded as beautiful and tasteful across time and space; yet, can
also be dependant on economic, political, and moral values at certain points in time.
When something is said to be aesthetically pleasing, it possesses a je ne se qua quality
that is pleasing to the senses. It is a way of viewing and perceiving the world that is
fashioned by cultural appreciation and refinement. Aesthetics also structure people’s
reception and consumption of that which is regarded as beautiful.

Built Environment:
Anything made by humans that encourages human activity and social interaction
(e.g. parks, buildings, lakes, UCI). It refers to the ways in which the environment is
structured to promote certain kinds of activities through their design, construction, and
management. Yet, in class, we have discussed the ways in which our surroundings are
encoded with certain messages regarding its use, but can be decoded with messages
regarding uses other than that which it was encoded with.

Consumption:
The practice of taking in physical objects (i.e. goods and services), concepts, and
ideas. Things are consumed to meet certain needs and/or desires. Until after WWII,
consumption was not thought to be nearly as important as production, which led to over-
production and under-consumption. A consumer society was then slowly developed to
meet the growing demands of products. This has created issues regarding conspicuous
consumption, where items are being bought not out of a need or real desire for the item
itself, but for the pretentious purpose of flaunting the ability to own certain items and the
sense of superiority it brings, and give the appearance of elevated class.

Fashion:
Ways of adorning/expressing yourself that aligning or skew you with or from
dominant cultural norms. It is also a way of expressing and increasing a person’s cultural
capital via consumption practices. Fashion can also be thought of as a profit driven
commodity circuit through which trends are quickly established and displaced. It is a
privilege afforded only to the “haves”, while the “have nots” use clothing, not as fashion,
but as a necessity. It is a perfect representation of the unequal distributions of power and
profit, where old, used, “vintage” clothes are ascribed greater value than new, clean,
good-quality ones; where the “haves” buy brand new, durable jeans, just to shred holes
into them for the sake of looking stylish, while the “have nots” wear clothing with holes
because they cannot afford new ones.

Globalization:
 A response to capitalism’s crises of over-accumulation, which has led to the
international expansion of national economies. It is the idea that individual societies are a
smaller part of a large, single, interconnected society. This has enabled transnational
circulation of certain individual societal representations (e.g. language, ideas, and pop
culture); yet, this circulation is not neutral. There has been major criticism that
globalization is more of an imposition of Western ideologies onto other societies, and a
recreation of the uneven power distribution found in the West. It is itself an ideology of
capitalism that claims that international economies are inevitable.

Habitus:
How we come to inhabit a state of mind (opinion) about everyday events and
issues, depending on social and economic factors. The routine judgments we make about
ourselves, others, and certain situation that we have come to think of as habits. It is a
schematic representation of our personalities, temperaments, tastes, and tendencies.
Basically all the identities we inhabit and behaviors that are habit.

Ideology:
Ways of viewing and perceiving the world. It is the expression of particular
values, beliefs, worldviews, and frameworks. But not all ideologies are given equal
weight. There are dominant ideologies which are always expressed, affirmed, and
privileged, there are subjugated ideologies which are suppressed, undermined, and
disadvantaged, and then there are ideologies that fall somewhere in between the two.
Dominant ideologies are often taken for granted and seen as common sense. They work
through this ‘common sense’ framework to maintain their position as dominant
ideologies.

Taste:
Not only is taste one of five physiological senses, it is also the material
representation of our habitus. The higher the amount of cultural, social, and economic
capital, the better a person’s sense of taste is thought to be. It is a way of distinguishing
class and of elevating other people’s perception of an individual’s economic standing. A
sense of the aesthetically valid forms of cultural and individual expressions.

Urban:
Of or relating to the city; essentially city life. The city is characterized by tall
buildings, such as skyscrapers, congested streets, and culturally relevant architecture,
such as museums. Along with the physical structuring that denote the city as such, there
are also specific connotation that are attached to it. There is usually a sense of freedom of
expression associated with the city, but there is also a sense of danger that this freedom
entails. This idea is further emphasized by the high rates of violence and policing
associated with the city.

Mobility:
The ability to travel from one place to another. This ability is usually associated
with a power relation, for it is the privileged that are allowed to move freely from place to
place and adopt the cultural modes of expression unique to specific places, while the
disadvantaged are usually forcibly displaced; made mobile yet unable to adopt any other
cultures mode of expression. They are, therefore, always seen as other and never fully
integrated into any particular society.

Leisure:
Having free time. An escape of the day to day stresses of life for the sake of
restoring and rejuvenating an individual’s physical and mental endurance. All cultures
have leisure time, but the West has taken it to a whole new level. Technological advances
that have displaced functions once carried out by people have afforded people,
Americans especially, a whole new amount of leisure which has started to blur the line
between rest and laziness. Leisure is also usually associated with luxury, which is in turn
associated with privilege.

Postsuburban:
Neither a suburb nor a city, Postsuburban neighborhoods are instead a hybrid of
the two. They have the sense of safety associated with the suburbs and the expressive
freedoms associated with cities. It is a creation built around the concept of promoting
consumption.

Hegemony:
A field of contestation where ideologies struggle for domination. It is the idea that
dominant ideologies are unstable and must therefore constantly be reasserted in slightly
differing ways via the manipulation of popular consent. This gives dominant ideologies
the ability to gain consent from all groups, including those that are subjugated. The
naturalization of certain unequal power distributions also aids in this consensus gathering
process.

Geography of Power:
Places associated with the exercise of power; the ways in which the planning,
design, and execution of certain structures exert power over its inhabitants. We saw this
phenomenon when we looked at mall culture and observed that malls where private
spaces parading as public areas of congregation. This is an important phenomenon to
analyze, because there are ways in which our bodies are policed and forced to inhabit or
leave certain spaces.