The Sensual Culture Reader Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

The Sensual Culture Reader - Essay Example The rise of consumer capitalism initiated several great changes within Western societies. One such transformation was the shifted emphasis from production to distribution, as the distributor got a higher role than the manufacturer and the consumer, because the growing production requires adequate sales. Therefore, it has become necessary to spur consumption by products replacement, when the notion of obsolescence artificially shortens economic cycles in different markets. As a side effect, to the material concerns of people a new factor of mass concern had been added - the visual confirmation of the social status. Another development was the subordination of visual art to the capitalistic institutions. In part, this has been done through sacralization of the art and isolation it in museums, where works of art serve as modern icons, but lose their intersensoriality, which is an active connection between senses needed for the wholeness of experience (Howes 2005, pp.318-334). Such trend s influenced our senses as a cultural frame of our perception because we almost never perceive the world immediately but rather sense it stereotypically.