Consumption and the constitution of age: Expenditure patterns on clothing, hair and cosmetics among post-war ‘baby boomers’

Abstract

The article addresses debates around the changing nature of old age, using U.K. data on spending on dress and related aspects of appearance by older women to explore the potential role of consumption in the reconstitution of aged identities. Based on pseudo-cohort analysis of Family Expenditures Survey, it compares spending patterns on clothing, cosmetics and hairdressing, 1961-2011. It concludes that there is little evidence for the 'baby boomers' as a strategic or distinctive generation. There is evidence, however, for increased engagement by older women in aspects of appearance: shopping for clothes more frequently; more involved in the purchase of cosmetics; and women over 75 are now the most frequent attenders at hairdressers. The roots of these patterns, however, lie more in period than cohort effects, and in the role of producer-led developments such as mass cheap fashion and the development of anti-ageing products.

The baby boomer market maven in the United Kingdom: an experienced diffuser of marketplace information

“…This factor reveals that boomer mavens actively avoid wearing clothes that are not in style, they pay attention to what others are wearing and they keep up with clothing style changes. As Twigg and Majima (2014) point out when discussing baby boomers, clothing provides a fruitful area in which to explore the interface between identity and its expression, as well as the social meanings attached to it. These authors go on to suggest that for some baby boomers, consumption offers the chance of counteracting the cultural exclusion traditionally associated with age (p. 24).…”

“…Yet the vast majority of advertising spend still goes on advertising designed for people under 50 years old (Haslam, 2015;Lewis, Medvedev, & Seponski, 2011;Nielsen, 2012). Many practitioners are still struggling to find effective communication strategies to reach mature consumers (Moody & Sood, 2010;Moschis & Mathur, 2006) leading to alienation (Carrigan & Szmigin, 2000;Hurd Clarke, 2011;Moschis & Mathur, 2006;Twigg & Majima, 2014;Walker & Macklin, 1992) among a market that is becoming increasingly important for a range of goods and services (Eurostat, 2012;Reuters, 2013;Sudbury-Riley, Kohlbacher, & Hofmeister, 2015). Clearly, this situation makes the identification of market mavens among older segments even more important.…”

Understanding welfare conditionality in the context of a generational habitus: A qualitative study of older citizens in England

“…A constellation of cohort experiences marked by changing economic, demographic and cultural histories has shaped the current political and social orientations of those coming to retirement in early twenty-first century western Europe: often described as a 'special' or 'pioneering' generation (Twigg and Majima, 2014). For example, the cohorts that grew up following the second world war have arguably benefited socially and financially from expanded educational opportunities and relatively stable employment (Higgs and Gilleard, 2010), with the first twenty-five years of the welfare state an age of full employment, and mass affluence (Fraser, 2009).…”

“…The concept of the 'Third Age' describes how these histories play out in the retirements of those, roughly between their 50s to 70s in age, in the early 21 st century (Twigg and Majima, 2014). The Third Age has been conceptualised as a 'cultural field', formed by a logic of values including choice, autonomy, selfexpression and pleasure originating in a period of change in the early 1960s (Higgs and Gilleard, 2010, Gilleard et al, 2005, Jones et al, 2010 and summarised as: a period post-retirement, freed from the constraints of work and, to some degree, family responsibility…marked by leisure, pleasure and selfdevelopment (Twigg and Majima 2014: 1).…”

“…Drawing on Bourdieu's concepts of habitus, field and practice, the 'generational habitus' arises within a particular generational field of social practice that develops through time, producing a distinct consciousness of historical experiences, different from those that precede them, and carried in dispositions and practices as people grow old (Twigg and Majima, 2014).…”