Shopping's not just a stress-buster

Most of the people see shopping as a good stress-buster, and for the rest, it is a nice way of passing time. But, when we actually go out to the market to shop, it becomes a way of interacting with the world around us, says a researcher. According to Swedish ethnologist Erik Ottoson of Uppsala University, our relationship with objects is multi-layered and often very emotional, and this is expressed in the way we shop. Ottoson, in his research, has studied the way we look for things in shopping malls, town centres and flea markets. “Being a consumer sometimes means fantasising and dreaming about objects, and this is boosted when we come face-to-face with things that arouse various feelings of attraction and resistance,” says Ottoson, who has researched the way we look for things we want to acquire. He has observed how people behave in markets, make their way along shopping streets and through malls. According to Ottoson, searching in this way teaches us what is available and how we can track down what we are looking for. Agrees fashion designer Ranna Gill, “Shopping actually serves a manifold purpose for me – I enjoy it immensely. It’s great retail therapy and when you’re out shopping after a very busy and long period of work, it gives you a real high. After all, that’s when you congratulate yourself for a job well done.” At the same time, says Ottoson, shopping becomes an opportunity to look inside ourselves and explore our feelings when faced with what is actually available. “This means searching becomes a way for us to interact with the world around us, an experimental horizon where certain aspects loom large in the foreground while others are pushed into the background,” he says. Entrepreneur Timsy Anand says, “Everytime one goes out shopping, I make the most of the opportunity to interact with myself. And that’s also the time you sometimes strike up an interesting conversation with someone who’s there picking up something – so it also becomes a way of interacting with the world.” In particular, the research focuses on what is actually going on when we are window shopping. The people Ottoson has been studying search patiently for certain things, but more than anything, they are searching for the feeling of having found something that is better and finer that they could have imagined. Says Ranna, “Window shopping is amongst the best ways to stay connected with the latest. What’s more, it gives you a great topic of conversation when you’re with friends.” For Timsy, “Every time you go out shopping, the person you’re dreaming to be, comes alive.” The study also shows that what we call just looking is not just about looking with your eyes, it involves your entire body – walking till your feet ache, picking things up and putting them back and feeling things with your hands.