How Self-Concept and Ego Can Be Evaluated and Discussed Within Consumer Habits

Harvey Bolger

doi:10.58477/dj.v4i2.328

Articles Vol. 4, No. 2 (2026)

Harvey Bolger

Cardiff Metropolitan University

10.58477/dj.v4i2.328 Published: 2026-07-30 28 Views 17 Downloads

Abstract

The impact that self-concept and ego have on consumeristic habits often goes unnoticed each day, as mundane purchasing habits become invisible and methodical. Do we truly acknowledge the implications behind what we buy? We may all resonate with how marketing can shape our perspectives, particularly given the societal awareness of social media and its influence, but are we truly honest with ourselves when we look deeper into our own actions? This study identifies the ways in which self-concept and ego can manipulate individual actions and viewpoints in relation to consumerism, drawing out pivotal theoretical understandings within the context of today through literature review, speculative design, autoethnography, and critical design practice. It therefore offers a new perspective within the self-concept and ego lens, bringing a speculative global design attitude to the largely theoretical and academic groundings of the topic, and by opening this new scope onto the relationship between the self, the ego, and consumption, it allows for a personal and societal shift in understanding the impacts and manipulations that consumption can have, creating a speculative space for reflection and critical assessment.

Keywords:

Self-Concept Ego Consumer Behaviour Identity Construction Speculative Design Symbolic Consumption

How to Cite

Bolger, H. (2026). How Self-Concept and Ego Can Be Evaluated and Discussed Within Consumer Habits. Design Journal, 4(2), 64-79. https://doi.org/10.58477/dj.v4i2.328

Harvey Bolger

Cardiff Metropolitan University

MDes Global Design Master Student, Cardiff Metropolitan University, Cardiff, United Kingdom.

DOI	https://doi.org/10.58477/dj.v4i2.328
Publication Date	2026-07-30
Journal Section	Articles

Abidin, C. (2018). Internet celebrity: Understanding fame online. Emerald Publishing.
Adorno, T. W. (1991). The culture industry: Selected essays on mass culture. Routledge.
Arnould, E. J., & Thompson, C. J. (2005). Consumer culture theory (CCT): Twenty years of research. Journal of consumer research, 31(4), 868-882. https://doi.org/10.1086/591204.
Bakhtiari, K. (2025, July 31). The big lesson from the Sydney Sweeney American Eagle backlash. Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/kianbakhtiari/2025/07/31/the-big-lesson-from-the-sydney-sweeney-american-eagle-backlash/
Banet-Weiser, S. (2012). Authentic™: The politics of ambivalence in a brand culture. NYU Press.
Barrett, E. (2011). Practice as research: Approaches to creative arts enquiry. I.B. Tauris.
Barthes, R. (1972). Mythologies. Hill and Wang.
Baudrillard, J. (1988). Selected writings (M. Poster, Ed.). Polity Press.
Baudrillard, J. (1994). Simulacra and simulation. University of Michigan Press.
Baudrillard, J. (1998). The consumer society: Myths and structures. Sage.
Bauman, Z. (2000). Liquid modernity. Polity Press.
Bauman, Z. (2007). Consuming life. Polity Press.
Baumeister, R. F. (1988a). Self-esteem: The puzzle of low self-regard. Plenum Press.
Baumeister, R. F. (1988b). The self. In D. T. Gilbert, S. T. Fiske, & G. Lindzey (Eds.), The handbook of social psychology (pp. 680–740). McGraw-Hill.
Baumeister, R. F. (1999). The self in social psychology. Psychology Press.
BBC News. (2025, August 18). White House slams outrage over Sydney Sweeney American Eagle ads – why people voted Trump. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c20ny39wpg3o
Beck, A. T. (1967). Depression: Clinical, experimental, and theoretical aspects. Harper & Row.
Belk, R. W. (1988). Possessions and the extended self. Journal of Consumer Research, 15(2), 139–168.
Bolger, H. (2025a). MDes Global Design – One product, three selves: The Actual Razor [Sculptural artifact].
Bolger, H. (2025b). MDes Global Design – One product, three selves: The Ideal Razor [Sculptural artifact].
Bolger, H. (2025c). MDes Global Design – One product, three selves: The Social Razor [Sculptural artifact].
Bourdieu, P. (1984). Distinction: A social critique of the judgement of taste. Harvard University Press.
Bourriaud, N. (2002). Relational aesthetics. Les presses du réel.
Brehm, J. W. (1956). Postdecision changes in the desirability of alternatives. Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 52(3), 384–389.
Cooley, C. H. (1902). Human nature and the social order. Scribner's.
Cova, B., Kozinets, R. V., & Shankar, A. (2007). Consumer tribes. Butterworth-Heinemann.
Danziger, P. (2025, August 6). American Eagle, Sydney Sweeney controversy: AEO is laughing all the way to the bank. Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/pamdanziger/2025/08/06/american-eagle-sydney-sweeney-controversy-aeo-is-laughing-all-the-way-to-the-bank/
Deci, E. L., & Ryan, R. M. (2000). The "what" and "why" of goal pursuits: Human needs and the self-determination of behavior. Psychological Inquiry, 11(4), 227–268.
Di Placido, D. (2025, July 31). Sydney Sweeney's "Good Jeans" ad: The American Eagle controversy explained. Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/danidiplacido/2025/07/31/sydney-sweeneys-good-jeans-ad-the-american-eagle-controversy-explained/
Dittmar, H. (2008). Consumer culture, identity and well-being: The search for the good life and the 'body perfect'. Psychology Press.
Dittmar, H., Bond, R., Hurst, M., & Kasser, T. (2014). The relationship between materialism and personal well-being: A meta-analysis. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 107(5), 879–924.
Elliott, R., & Wattanasuwan, K. (1998). Brands as symbolic resources for the construction of identity. International Journal of Advertising, 17(2), 131–144.
Featherstone, M. (1991). Consumer culture and postmodernism. Sage.
Featherstone, M. (2007). Consumer culture and postmodernism (2nd ed.). Sage.
Festinger, L. (1954). A theory of social comparison processes. Human Relations, 7(2), 117–140.
Festinger, L. (1957). A theory of cognitive dissonance. Stanford University Press.
Firat, A. F., & Venkatesh, A. (1995). Liberatory postmodernism and the reenchantment of consumption. Journal of Consumer Research, 22(3), 239–267.
Foucault, M. (1977). Discipline and punish: The birth of the prison. Pantheon Books.
Foucault, M. (2008). The birth of biopolitics: Lectures at the Collège de France, 1978–1979. Palgrave Macmillan.
Freud, S. (1961). The ego and the id (J. Strachey, Trans.). W. W. Norton. (Original work published 1923)
Fromm, E. (1976). To have or to be? Continuum.
Galbraith, J. K. (1958). The affluent society. Houghton Mifflin.
Giddens, A. (1991). Modernity and self-identity: Self and society in the late modern age. Polity Press.
Goffman, E. (1959). The presentation of self in everyday life. Anchor Books.
Grant, R. (2023). The little book of therapeutic rationality.
Higgins, E. T. (1987). Self-discrepancy: A theory relating self and affect. Psychological Review, 94(3), 319–340.
Hill, R. P. (2001). Surviving in a material world: Evidence from ethnographic consumer research on people in poverty. Journal of Contemporary Ethnography, 30(4), 364–391.
Joyce, T. (2011). Material meanings: The social and symbolic use of gold leaf in art. Journal of Material Culture, 16(3), 243–260.
Kahan, D. M. (2013). Ideology, motivated reasoning, and cognitive reflection. Judgment and Decision Making, 8(4), 407–424.
Kahan, D. M., Jenkins-Smith, H., & Braman, D. (2011). Cultural cognition of scientific consensus. Journal of Risk Research, 14(2), 147–174.
Klein, N. (2000). No logo: Taking aim at the brand bullies. Flamingo.
Lacan, J. (1949). The mirror stage as formative of the function of the I as revealed in psychoanalytic experience. Reading French Psychoanalysis, 119-26.
Lasch, C. (1979). The culture of narcissism: American life in an age of diminishing expectations. W. W. Norton.
Markus, H., & Wurf, E. (1987). The dynamic self-concept: A social psychological perspective. Annual Review of Psychology, 38(1), 299–337.
Markus, H. R., & Kitayama, S. (1991). Culture and the self: Implications for cognition, emotion, and motivation. Psychological Review, 98(2), 224–253.
Marwick, A. (2013). Status update: Celebrity, publicity, and branding in the social media age. Yale University Press.
McCracken, G. (1986). Culture and consumption: A theoretical account of the structure and movement of the cultural meaning of consumer goods. Journal of Consumer Research, 13(1), 71–84.
Mead, G. H. (1934). Mind, self and society. University of Chicago Press.
Mezirow, J. (1991). Transformative dimensions of adult learning. Jossey-Bass.
Miller, D. (2008). The comfort of things. Polity Press.
Nickerson, R. S. (1998). Confirmation bias: A ubiquitous phenomenon in many guises. Review of General Psychology, 2(2), 175–220.
Pierre, M. (2025, July 31). White House slams outrage over Sydney Sweeney's American Eagle ads, calls it "big reason" Americans voted for Trump. Entertainment Weekly.
Race, M. (2024, November 23). 'Trust and reserve judgement' on rebrand, says Jaguar. BBC News. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c20ny39wpg3o
Rogers, C. R. (1951). Client-centered therapy. Houghton Mifflin.
Rogers, C. R. (1959). A theory of therapy, personality, and interpersonal relationships: As developed in the client-centered framework. In S. Koch (Ed.), Psychology: A study of a science: Vol. 3 (pp. 184–256). McGraw-Hill.
Rogers, C. R. (1961). On becoming a person: A therapist's view of psychotherapy. Houghton Mifflin.
Rosenberg, M. (1979). Conceiving the self. Basic Books.
Schroeder, J. E., & Zwick, D. (2004). Mirrors of masculinity: Representation and identity in advertising images. Consumption Markets & Culture, 7(1), 21–52.
Sedikides, C., & Strube, M. J. (1997). Self-evaluation: To thine own self be good, to thine own self be sure, to thine own self be true, and to thine own self be better. Advances in Experimental Social Psychology, 29, 209–269.
Sirgy, M. J. (1982). Self-concept in consumer behavior: A critical review. Journal of Consumer Research, 9(3), 287–300.
Sirgy, M. J. (1986). Self-congruity: Toward a theory of personality and cybernetics. Praeger.
Solomon, M. R. (1983). The role of products as social stimuli: A symbolic interactionism perspective. Journal of Consumer Research, 10(3), 319–329.
Solomon, M. R. (2017). Consumer behavior: Buying, having, and being (12th ed.). Pearson.
Sontag, S. (1977). On photography. Farrar, Straus and Giroux.
Swann, W. B. (2012). Self-verification theory. In P. Van Lange, A. Kruglanski, & E. T. Higgins (Eds.), Handbook of theories of social psychology (pp. 23–42). Sage.
Tajfel, H., & Turner, J. C. (1979). An integrative theory of intergroup conflict. In W. G. Austin & S. Worchel (Eds.), The social psychology of intergroup relations (pp. 33–47). Brooks/Cole.
Tajfel, H., & Turner, J. C. (1986). The social identity theory of intergroup behavior. In S. Worchel & W. G. Austin (Eds.), Psychology of intergroup relations (pp. 7–24). Nelson-Hall.
Thompson, C. J., & Hirschman, E. C. (1995). Understanding the socialized body: A poststructuralist analysis of consumers' self-conceptions, body images, and self-care practices. Journal of Consumer Research, 22(2), 139–153.
Veblen, T. (2007). The theory of the leisure class: An economic study of institutions. Oxford University Press. (Original work published 1899)
Wolf, N. (1991). The beauty myth: How images of beauty are used against women. HarperCollins.