"There is a lady who is sure that all that glitters is gold. And she buys a staircase to heaven. When she gets there, she knows if the stores are all closed. With a word she can get what she came for. Ooh, ooh, and she buys a stairway to heaven. ", by Led Zeppelin Shopping centers don't just happen. They are not the result of wise planners who decided that suburbanites, lacking social life and stimulation, needed a place to go (Bombeck, 1985). The mall was originally designed as a community center where people converged to shop, participate in cultural activities, and interact socially (Gruen and Smith, 2005). It’s safe to say that the mall has met and exceeded those early expectations. Unfortunately, in today's consumer culture, the mall is the center of the universe and this has shaped consumers in negative ways. Unlike the original concept of providing the consumer with greater choice, the mall actually limits the choices of suburban shoppers. . The consumer is forced to go to the mall to shop, but once inside, he also feels guilty if he does not make a purchase. The mall promotes materialism and superficiality, a feeling of purchased self-esteem and artificial happiness. The housing shortage and increased mobility (car) have allowed families to move away from the city and settle in the suburbs. These areas were designed to be self-contained, pre-packaged communities with schools, parks, homes, etc. close to each other. Not far from city jobs, the suburbs offered a safe, enclosed space ideal for raising a family. The only problem was the fact that most of the stores were downtown and too far for the mothers (who did most of the shopping) to drive...... middle of paper ..... .y, advocates this cycle of making money, spending money and buying happiness. Overall, shopping malls promote a sense of superficiality, the need to acquire goods for social acceptance, and an emphasis on artificial happiness. Although they began with innocent intentions, the sinister effects of changing societal values ​​have left us in a perilous situation. Our superficial “needs” for consumer goods have weakened society and compromised our position as a close community. Works Cited Gruen, V. and Smith, L. (2005), Shopping Towns, U.SA. : The Planning of Shopping Centers. New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold. May, Elaine Tyler. Heading Home: American Families in the Cold War Era. Basic Books, 2008. Miller, Daniel. Capitalism: an ethnographic approach. Berg, Oxford. 1997. Miller, Daniel. A theory of shopping. Political Press, Oxford, 1998.