Impact of Extended Self and Socialized Technical Production in Business

The Social Context of Business
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The Social Context of Business
It was my expectation at the beginning of the course that I would get to learn and understand how business practices interact with various societal aspects. I have to say this has been fulfilled beyond my expectations. The concepts learned throughout the course have significantly improved my idea of how businesses operate in society, particularly in today’s technologically advanced environment. I found the course readings not only captivating but also in-depth as they compressively demonstrated how changes in society impact business operations. With each reading and class discussion, I became more aware of the major aspects that surround and influence business activities. In this final assignment, I reflect upon the key concepts and arguments that I was fascinated with as I went through the course readings as well as during class discussions. I found all the themes interesting but culture and consumption/production left a huge impression on me. Understanding culture is an integral part of business operations as it helps firms advance products and services that are consistent with specific customer demands. Production, on the other hand, must be optimized for reduction of costs and attainment of competitive advantage.
Specifically, I will be reflecting on extended self and socialized technical production in themes 3 and 5 respectively. I found the concepts and the arguments surrounding them interesting and as such, I decided, they would make a major part of my reflection. The concept of extended self is important because it helps in understanding oneself as well as consumer behavior. Socialized technical production is important because it drives the growth of modern businesses. I interacted with lecture notes, course readings, the internet, and friends to further my understanding of these concepts.
Culture: the extended self
I found the concept of extended self interesting, particularly because it not only helped me understand better consumer behavior but also myself. At the beginning of the course, I did not to really think about how possessions influence our sense of identity. The key premise in Belk’s 1998 article has it that our possessions contribute to and reflects our identity to a great extent (p.139). From the reading, I kept asking myself several questions. What role do possessions play in determining who we are? How does material possession influence the way we relate with others around us? Without material possession, does our sense of self deteriorate? How do other personal aspects such as opinions, commitments, and dreams contribute to the sense of identity? These questions kept lingering in my mind, and I can honestly say that the concept of extended self in theme 3 was an eye-opener. I came to appreciate Belk’s work and agree with him that our sense of self is defined by what we have. Given this fact, I came to understand myself as a consumer and what drives me to purchase particular things. Our clothes, cars, and electronics contribute significantly to our expression of self. We also tend to judge other people based on what they possess. I came to the conclusion that we choose things we possess because of our values and personality. During the course, therefore, I became more informed of the link between possession and identity.
The association of masculinity with material possession was particularly interesting. In the course reading, Belk points out that the “notion of extended self is superficially masculine...” (p.140). Men tend to be attached to expensive automobiles and this shows how possessions can be used to express oneself for the male members of the society. As I was reading through Belk’s article, I could not help but relate it to the hip-hop music industry and the extent to which it associates material possession to personal identity. Material possessions have become a key part of hip-hop as artistes rap about expensive possessions. They also go ahead to portray them in videos that accompany the music. As shown in the article by Questlove (2014), the few hip-hop artists who make the million-seller club are predominantly male. Just like in the past, hip-hop artists associate themselves with material possessions such as “Bugatti”. From the article and experience listening to hip music, I got to understand that material possessions are part of hip-hop artists and they use them to express who they are or what they want the audience to perceive them to be.
I found the article by Questlove (2014) remarkable because it goes ahead to show how hip-music has changed in terms of the products described in the music. While in the past, hip-hop artists such as Run-DMC mentioned products that are accessible by its audience, modern artists talk about products that are not within reach of the people who consume their music. Modern artists rap about luxury products that the audience cannot afford. I found it interesting that this does not offend the audience. The hip-hop artists have put themselves in a club that is unreachable by its audience, underpinned by the material possessions they portray in their music and videos. I could not help but agree with the author that the hip-hop artists have failed Black America, their primary consumer, by not taking into consideration its interests. I asked a couple of friends what they thought about hip-hop artists and whether they are okay with materialism portrayed. While they were not all okay with it, they considered the materialism part of hip-hop culture that has developed over time. It is without a doubt that the materialism in hip-hop is evidence of how possession is a reflection of identity as postulated by Belk (1988). In contrast, however, there is Cardi B, a female rapper, who has succeeded in both hip-hop and feminism. From the article by Collins (2018), it is clear that her feminist ideas are part of her identity and they make her stand out from other hip-hop artists.
As I was going through the readings, I kept wondering whether the use of possession to express self actually translates to happiness. It is through the reading by Kahneman et al. (2006 p.1908) that I came...