Analysis of People Like Us
Analysis of People Like Us
It has been claimed that the world is the smallest it has ever been in the history of mankind, thanks largely to liberalization of society and culture, the rise of globalization and the internet, and due to the ever increasing mingling of sub-cultures. However, it is easy to dispute this when we review the work of marketing experts who are happy to subjugate society into a variety of clusters and cultures (Brooks, 2003, p308). It is through this work that people seem to lose their humanity and can be equated with others in terms of their zip codes, their buying habits, or even their income, none of which are particularly personal. In People Like Us, the author has addressed this idea, stating: “Looking through the market research, one can sometimes be amazed by how efficiently people cluster – and by how predicable we all are” (Brooks, 2003, p308). This idea is central to the view of how human beings fit into society nowadays and it seems antiquated when we consider that not fifty years ago, the local stores were able to provide services based on their personal knowledge of their customers: Mrs Baker always buys fifteen eggs, Mr Davis always buys motor oil and so on. People Like Us discusses how this has changed and how people are, despite living in a smaller world than ever before, keener to mix with their ‘type’ of person than ever before.
The author addresses this idea by referring to it broadly as “human nature” stating that our desire to be around like-minded people to ourselves is called “community” (Brooks, 2003, p309). This is an interesting idea because arguably, in the past, community was formed when those who could afford to live in a certain area all grouped together in one cluster of houses, bringing with them similar values, incomes and lifestyles. Now, this is less the case as communities are more accessible by all types of people. In the book, this is also attributed to the idea that places are ever-evolving these days and as a consequence, they change their faces more frequently, meaning that they do not attract the same type of people over and over again. The author writes: “in the information age, the late writer James Chapin once told me, every place becomes more like itself” (Brooks, 2003, p307) and it is this idea which means that communal identity no longer truly exists. The only time that the more traditional view of community seems prevalent is in quite extreme examples. The author here lists Boulder, Colorado has being one such place: it became known as a place for “politically progressive mountain bikers” and, following the mass exodus of this specific demographic to the area, it became a “parody” of itself (Brooks, 2003, p307). This idea seems both quirky and inconvenient in today’s climate: the traditional ideal of a community sharing beliefs and values is archaic and sadly, Boulder, Colorado is no longer truly taken seriously because of this.
However, it seems unfair to dismiss all areas as being at odds to Boulder, Colorado. In the UK, the city of Brighton is infamously equated with having a lively and vibrant gay and lesbian scene and does attract people because of that. Equally, the city has a strong bohemian vibe and is populated by liberal thinkers and artists too. The author does discuss this too: “We are finding places where we are comfortable and where we feel we can flourish” (Brooks, 2003, p307). It is this as well as the lesser need to be tied to one place (as so often in the past, factory or local business workers were) that sees the greater migration of people several times in their lives and invokes the need for such marketing strategies that allow companies to target their prospective customers more completely, since they are unable to simply just target certain areas which are known to be affluent or poor, or conservative or liberal, for example.
The author also claims that this willingness to group together with like-minded people, tends to breed an inability to see both sides of the divide – political or otherwise: “Within their little validating communities, liberals and conservatives circulate half-truths without the supposed awfulness of the other side” (Brooks, 2003, p310). However, this view does seem quite outdated as it fails to incorporate the impact of the internet and other globalization aspects which cause different people to be exposed to other ideas. In truth, the world is smaller than it has ever been and the author here seems keen to highlight this in terms of the close-minded approach that people still take today, harking back to more traditional ideas of community. And, to some extent, this is correct: people will always seek like-minded people for their own communities and social circles but equally, we are all being thrown outside of our comfort zones by exposure to differing ideas and values. It is a time of change.
References
Brooks, D. (2003). People Like Us. In Atwan, R. & McQuade, D. (Eds.), The Writer’s Presence (pp. 306-311). Boston: Bedford/St Martin’s.
