Explain how consumption can create community and illustrate your answer by analysing a specific brand community or subculture of your choice

Consumption Subcultures

The Community and Market Creation of the Mac Users

Introduction

When it comes to computing products , there are the two dominating consumer groups : the PC users and the Mac users . The popularity of the Macintosh /Apple products have not reached the growth and the reach of PC users the market share of Apple computers remain to be behind the PCs (Fried , 2002 . However , in any case , Mac computers have created a certain cult as opposed to the more popular and widely-used Windows users although there is the debate as to

which operating system and computer serve the users best , the Apple /Mac community can be observed to have become an important market niche and segment , especially as Apple /Mac have become leading brand names in many computing technologies , from their laptops and desktops , to the widely popular iPods and iPhones . In a sense , the Apple /Mac brand , as a consumer product , can be considered to have encouraged the formation of a community of users dedicated to the brand , its developments , and up to a certain extent , its elusiveness

Such formation of communities of Mac users reflects a subculture determined by consumption practices apparently , the binding factor among Mac and Apple users is the combination of the product and brand Subcultures , in the context of consumption , are therefore driven by the association of identity with product , yet at the same time , it is also possible that a subculture group creates significant influence to the production processes thereby enabling the...