Flawed consumers’ and societal values

In his research into the sociology behind consumerism, Zygmunt Bauman takes the previous points a step further to argue that ‘flawed consumers’, the people who do not contribute, are deemed worthless by the general public, and, more importantly, by the management of our ‘public’ spaces. Bauman states the mentality behind many of us is that “they [the poor] need to be removed from the streets and other public places used by us, the legitimate residents of the brave consumerist world” (Bauman, 2007, p. 34). In suggesting this, Bauman makes links to the public perception of ‘flawed consumers’ and argues perhaps it is due to our consumer-based society that many believe in money over inclusiveness, and stereotypes are formed upon this basis of contribution and value. He suggests “the poor of a consumer society are socially defined… as blemished, defective, faulty and deficient” (Bauman, 2005, p. 38).

This is supported within an interview conducted by Marcus Fairs, where, in his interview of the homeless men who own the tents pictured in figure 20, the interviewees emphasise how they are further discriminated against due to their appearance. Respondent A (2018) suggests that “they [the general public] dismiss us ... But I guarantee if I had a suit on ... [they would] say have a good evening back”. To summarise this argument, Smith and Walters (2018, p. 4) suggest that the introduction of hostile architecture has moved away from crime prevention, as initially described in 1961 by Jacobs (2011), and in 1973 by Newman (1973), it has instead become more responsive to consumer-based stereotypes, and the commercial interests of the site owner, than the needs of the community.