Show Me the Value of my Degree, Please.

Last year, 2008, I graduated with a 2.1 in Media and Cultural Studies from a top 20 UK university. I was part of the last year of students to be paying tuition fees of £1,200, before the rise to just over £3000 for 2006 entry and onwards. Watching the
News this morning, I was surprised to be greeted by the fact that tuition fees are being suggested by universities, to rise to over £5000 in coming years.

Perhaps it is money well spent if you’re guaranteed a quality form of employment within the first 12 months after graduating? Yet having graduated over six months ago with a respectable degree, I still find myself on a continuing quest for employment.

I’m not alone either. Amongst many others, a friend who studied Marketing and Advertising and received a first degree, as well as gaining work experience from a well renowned advertising agency, is also still unemployed.

With the promise of a degree as a stepping stone to our chosen careers, we now only seem to only be employable to those ‘student job’ employers such as bars, supermarkets and call centres. As a result of the constant influx of rejection letters from graduate employers, for unpaid work experience as well as full time employment, I now find myself questioning, where is the value of our degrees?

Obviously, we are in the midst of a recession, but surely the government or our universities should be doing something to help graduates out in times like these, especially with the growing amount of student debt that each of us hold? Should it not be an incentive to universities for them to ensure that recent graduates set an example to their current and prospective students and find decent employment quickly, showing them why they should subject themselves to tremendous amounts of debt to complete a degree, justifying the increase in tuition fees?

So here I am, a fully qualified graduate, on New Deal Job Seekers Allowance, learning how to use a computer in a Job Centre Plus Training Centre. The government are paying for me to be unemployed and to train me for employment, whilst charging interest for the extent of my oh so ‘valuable’ education. Ironic, huh? Cheers.

Affluenza and the Recession

To describe affluenza you are describing something somewhat similar to the common flu virus. As a highly transmittable social illness, resulting in symptoms of exhaustion, lack and depression, it is easy to see why many people feel in dire need of a cure. Yet unlike the common flu virus, the cure afflueza’s subject seeks is not through prescribed medication, but through consumption.

However, by seeking refuge in consumption, the symptoms of affluenza are magnified. The subject is led to desire to consume more and more in a continuous vicious cycle, as a result sinking deeper and deeper into debt.

Let me explain in relation to fashion. Obviously, fashion is not a necessity of our lives, it is something which we desire, but can live without. Capitalism has installed our need for these desires through consumption. For instance, if we see our favourite celebrity or favourite designer promoting a specific item then we are more likely to desire this item. It’s all about keeping up with our peers. When this gets out of had and affects our day to day lives, then this is affluenza.

It is affluenza which our capitalist western society desires, and through adverts, magazines and other media, it helps to sustain. What I ask is with the collapse of our economy in the recession, what affect will this have on affluenza and consumption?

Obviously we have already seen some affects, the decline of businesses and the fall of profits, people are resisting their battles with affluenza because they have to in order to survive, or are they?

Could it be that capitalism can control our consumption so significantly through clever advertising and the media coverage of the recession enough to slow down or even stop our feelings of lack and dissatisfaction?

Day after day we see stories on the news about the closing of businesses and high unemployment levels in our country. Interest rates are being cut and high street sales are never ending. Yes, we may be kept informed, but we are also scared to spend, scared to consume.

Before the recession capitalism fed its population consumption, people were given more credit than ever before, with 100% mortgages and credit cards galore. Just as in severe cases of affluenza, we now find our selves in debt, and so does capitalism. So does this mean capitalism has become victim of affluenza itself? Quite possibly, in my opinion, greed and desire got the better of the economy and now it has to pay the price.

Please note this is all completely my opinion/random thoughts!

Random Image taken from http://www.bengaluruairport.com/