01/25/20 Chapter 1: Jeans/Discovering Sociology

While reading this chapter I was first confused by the chapter being about jeans ad I questioned how it would inter relate with sociology although I knew this book was to give example that are common to society and then hep teach how it is an example of what sociology might study. On page two it describes how jeans are a fashion staple that somehow always stays in trend just being able to change the style for example the flare of a jean or the rise that is going to be worn. When they gave the word of sociological imagination and the examples that they corresponded with which is saying I love shopping because I love new stuff , it made me realize that we shop not for necessity but for wants. On page six it spoke more on how if a Jena does not fit right after a few washes it can then become seen by us as society as “old ” and that we need a new pair of jeans but in reality it is the society that surrounds us that feeds that into our mental that a pair of jeans are old after a couple washes . The example of jeans reminded me of iPhones because majority of the time a new iPhone comes out it is not that we need the newest phone that comes out but we start telling ourselves that we need a new phone whether it is because our phones going slow or the newest latest features of the newest iPhone release that makes us feel as if it is a necessity. On page nine where it starts to touch on the basis of how the average American has a $15,600 balance on their credit card because the people feel pressured to make purchases that they simply can not afford. This showed me the main point of this chapter how the example of jeans was to show that buying goods is the type of society we live in because although we have the tools to make jeans ourselves we simply won’t but rather go and buy them and this highlights the example of how we live in a consumer culture . That can even be compared with fast food we simply do not make the foods anymore because how convenient it is to just go through a drive thru and get our food handed to us . Sociologist are able to see these patterns and make sense of them so they do not just look at jeans as jeans but rather deeper as going into how it is made and the consumer demand it does have , the effects of the demand and why exactly we do demand it.