Atmospheres of consumption: Shopping as involuntary vulnerability

Shopping is predominantly characterised as an activity realized by purposive subjects in which emotion is sometimes identified as a contributory factor. This article argues that contemporary retail environments also promote shopping through affective forces that facilitate the subdual of intentional subjectivity. It is shown how, in addition to stimulating purposive subjects, the affective atmosphere of these spaces may regulate the auto-affective attention of potential shoppers exposing them to further, relatively unfocused inducements to shop. This quality of the affective atmosphere of these spaces is explored through a focus upon the ambient ‘platform’ air conditioning provides for this achievement. The discussion explores the implications for the affective, subjective and bio-political dimensions of the socio-material assemblages constituting contemporary consumption more generally.