It’s like a drug: the thrill of the hunt and adrenaline rush that comes with finding a great bargain on that perfect pair of shoes / jeans that you didn’t even know you wanted! Our American Consumer culture has created this addiction to the deal: BoGos and Super-Sales and Black Friday’s.
It’s a phenomenon worthy of exploration: how we blur the lines between want and need and the adaptive behavior of sale shopping / bargain hunting to mollify our insecurities about our obsessive consumption culture. There is also the biological factor whereby we begin to connect feelings of euphoria to the “cheap thrills” of discount discovery!
Once again, Anna Akbari puts forward an interesting perspective (and even some thoughts on resultion) in today’s Sociology of Style blog:
http://sociologyofstyle.com/2012/10/09/cheap-thrills-our-addiction-to-bargains-and-how-to-resist/
Related articles
- The Sociology of Style: Are Women “Dressing For Success” Only To Encourage A Corporate Culture of Failure? (thenarcissisticanthropologist.com)
- Sociology of Style Redux: “Nerd Chic” (thenarcissisticanthropologist.com)
- Hocking Happy Memories: Feeding The Nostalgic Consumption Addiction (thenarcissisticanthropologist.com)
The Narcissistic (American) Anthropologist 
I’m continually amazed by this phenomenon especially since it has occurred in such a short period of time. This mindset didn’t exist is this country before WWII.
The advertising slogan that epitomizes the craziness of our addition to buying & bargains is ” The more you buy, the more you save.”