The headline read "Thanksgiving dinner cost may increase...price of turkey increasing." Essentially, the article details how on average, purchasing a turkey for your Thanksgiving dinner will cost more than it has in previous years, as proven by a new study from the American Farm Bureau. Across the nation, the price is expected to increase about 5-6%.
The immediate thought that came to my mind when I read the headline was the concept of "hegemony." I know that it seems like a long shot, but here was my logic behind it--during Thanksgiving time in America, it is obvious that turkey is in high demand and that many individuals go to extreme lengths to get them--essentially, it is a seller's market, and they can manipulate it however they please, because they know that their turkeys will still sell.
If we recall the general notion of hegemony: A dominated class gives consent to the ideology that dominates them, we can put these two concepts together--in this situation, the consumers take the role of the dominated class, and they consent to the ideology that governs them (meaning they will continue to purchase turkeys for Thanksgiving, no matter how much the price goes up).
I mean, let's be honest, there is NO WAY that consumers will boycott the purchase of turkey because the price goes up--we all know that, the producers know that as well...so we are almost giving turkey distributors permission to do with the prices and quality as they please.
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2012/11/11/thanksgiving-dinner-may-cost-pretty-penny-as-survey-shows-price-turkey/?test=latestnews
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ReplyDeleteI agree with Khizar that it seems almost predictable and inevitable that the prices of Turkeys would raise. As stated, when you have a willing consumer, the producer will raise the price until the demand-supply equilibrium is established. This is simple economics. However, I feel it may be a bit much to say that this is hegemony. Sure people want turkey, but It does not seem absurd to say that if the price was raised far enough, people would stop buying it. Once again simple economics. If the price to people exceeded the demand curve then they would simply seek alternatives. And while this ideology of the thanksgiving turkey, being essential in American households does exist, I believe that simply means that the demand curve is far more flexible than most other common house hold goods. There is a point at which the producers will not be able to "manipulate it however they please, because they know that their turkeys will still sell." The value of the turkey will simply become less than the cost if they took this price raise to an extreme. However hegemonic this does seem, I am sure that there is a tipping point and in this economy, I doubt it really is too far away.
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