You can relate this idea to the concept of boundary-making (Barth) as we've discussed throughout the module. The creation of 'us' and 'them' is a very personal notion which can transcend the formal boundaries of a nation-state. It is also highly relative: whereas back home in England, a southerner might feel very distant from a northerner, these levels of distance can be effaced when the two find themselves in equally foreign surrounds. Perhaps it is then that their sense of imagined community (Anderson) becomes clearest. That consumers can easily acknowledge that Lynx and Axe or Walkers and Lays are the same product also reveals that attempts at branding (the look and feel of packaging, for instance) are highly successful at conveying meaning - aesthetically and culturally. Commodities are intrinsically tied to culture (consciously and unconsciously) in addition to any real personal needs or preferences. That someone might be more prone to purchase one of these products when abroad even if it is not their chosen item at home, simply because it is 'recognizable', brings us back to the very foundations of human identity and interaction. Relatively speaking, familiarity is comfortable. Things from the outside present risk, while things we associate with as being 'just like home' present safety: they're okay because we already know them. You can therefore see how talk of ethnicity, race, multiculturalism, immigration, and rapid social and demographic changes can be inherently threatening to people as they present a visible challenge to the common recognition of basic, mundane fundamentals of life.
Thoughts?
