2
An interchangeable, and more oft-used term to describe these settings, is Ritzer’s “cathedrals of
consumption”
1
. These are self-contained consumption settings that utilize postmodern techniques such as
implosion, the compression of time and space, and simulation to create spectacular locales designed to
attract consumers. They can be considered cathedrals, because much like their religious counterparts they
“are seen as fulfilling people’s need to connect with each other and with nature, as well as their need to
participate in festivals. [They] provide the kind of centeredness traditionally provided by religious
temples, and they are constructed to have similar balance, symmetry, and order” (8). Thus, they are the
empyrean form of a consumption setting. Kowinski (1985, 218) also favors this implication that
consumption has replaced religion as the dominant distraction of the masses.
In past ages, when religion dominated even civic life, the churches were often the most
sensually satisfying social gathering places in the community – which may be one reason
people went there. They not only saw their friends and promenaded in their Sunday best, but
where else could they get elaborate architectural effects, stained glass, candles, incense,
costumes, oratory, and singing, save Westminster Cathedral? Now it’s more likely to be
Westminster Mall.
Landscapes of Consumption
Ritzer (2005) has taken the concept of cathedrals of consumption to the next level to describe
what he terms “landscapes of consumption”, or “geographic areas that encompass two, or more,
cathedrals of consumption” (149). This definition can be extended to define landscapes of consumption as
locales that encompass two or more cathedrals of consumption that allow, encourage, and even compel
people to consume. The prototypical example of this would be the Las Vegas strip – an area where
multiple cathedrals of consumption exist side-by-side in the same geographic settings and entice
consumers not only through their individual appeal but also through the techniques made possible by their
synergistic proximity.
1
Although Ritzer is the theorist most responsible for popularizing this phrase, it had been used at least since
Kowinski (1985, 218) who stated that “malls are sometimes called cathedrals of consumption, meaning that they are
the monuments of a new faith, the consumer religion, which has largely replaced the old”.
Convention