Consumerism is a social and economic order that is based on the systematic creation and fostering of a desire to purchase goods or services in ever greater amounts. The term is often associated with criticisms of consumption starting with Thorstein Veblen Thorstein Bunde Veblen, born Tosten Bunde Veblen was a Norwegian-American sociologist and economist and a primary mentor, along with John R. Commons, of the institutional economics movement. He was an impassioned critic of the performance of the American economy, and is most famous for his book The Theory of the Leisure Class (1899) or, more recently by a movement[citation needed] called Enoughism Enoughism is the idea that there is a point where consumers possess everything they need, and buying more makes their lives worse rather than better. Like simple living, enoughism emphasizes less spending and more restraint in the buying behaviour of consumers. Enoughism is an antonym to consumerism, which Merriam-Webster defines as "the. Veblen's subject of examination, the newly emergent middle class arising at the turn of the twentieth century, comes to full fruition by the end of the twentieth century through the process of globalization Globalization describes a process by which regional economies, societies, and cultures have become integrated through a global network of communication, transportation, and trade. The term is sometimes used to refer specifically to economic globalization: the integration of national economies into the international economy through trade, foreign.[1]
It also may refer to a movement seeking to protect and inform consumers by requiring such practices as honest packaging and advertising, product guarantees, and improved safety standards. In this sense it is a movement or a set of policies aimed at regulating the products, services, methods, and standards of manufacturers, sellers, and advertisers in the interests of the buyer.[2]
In economics Economics is the social science that analyzes the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. The term economics comes from the Ancient Greek οἰκονομία from οἶκος (oikos, "house") + νόμος (nomos, "custom" or "law"), hence "rules of the house(hold)". Current economic, consumerism refers to economic policies placing emphasis on consumption. In an abstract sense, it is the belief that the free choice of consumers should dictate the economic structure of a society (cf. Producerism Producerism, sometimes referred to as "producer radicalism," is a right-wing populist ideology promoting economic nationalism which holds that the productive forces of society—the ordinary worker, the small businessman, and the entrepreneur—are being held back by parasitical elements at both the top and bottom of the social structure, especially in the British sense of the term).[3]
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Definition
The American Heritage Dictionary The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language is an American dictionary of the English language published by Boston publisher Houghton Mifflin, the first edition of which appeared in 1969. Its creation was spurred by the controversy over the Webster's Third New International Dictionary defines consumerism as "The movement seeking to protect and inform consumers by requiring such practices as honest packaging and advertising, product guarantees, and improved safety standards" or alternatively: "The theory that a progressively greater consumption of goods is economically beneficial".[4] It is thus the opposite of anti-consumerism Anti-consumerism refers to the socio-political movement against consumerism, the equating of personal happiness with consumption and the purchase of material possessions[citation needed]. Consumerism is a term used to describe the effects of the market economy on the individual. Concern over the treatment of consumers has spawned substantial or of producerism Producerism, sometimes referred to as "producer radicalism," is a right-wing populist ideology promoting economic nationalism which holds that the productive forces of society—the ordinary worker, the small businessman, and the entrepreneur—are being held back by parasitical elements at both the top and bottom of the social structure.
- Anti-consumerism Anti-consumerism refers to the socio-political movement against consumerism, the equating of personal happiness with consumption and the purchase of material possessions[citation needed]. Consumerism is a term used to describe the effects of the market economy on the individual. Concern over the treatment of consumers has spawned substantial is the socio-political movement against consumerism. In this meaning, consumerism is the equating of personal happiness Happiness is a state of mind or feeling characterized by contentment, love, satisfaction, pleasure, or joy. A variety of biological, psychological, religious, and philosophical approaches have striven to define happiness and identify its sources with the purchasing material possessions and consumption.
- In relation to producerism Producerism, sometimes referred to as "producer radicalism," is a right-wing populist ideology promoting economic nationalism which holds that the productive forces of society—the ordinary worker, the small businessman, and the entrepreneur—are being held back by parasitical elements at both the top and bottom of the social structure, it is the belief that consumers should dictate the economic structure of a society, rather than the interests of producers. It can also refer to economic policies that place an emphasis on consumption.
History
Origins
Consumerism has strong links with the Western world The Western world, also known as the West and the Occident , is a term that can have multiple meanings depending on its context (e.g., the time period, the region or social situation). Accordingly, the basic definition of what constitutes "the West" varies, expanding and contracting over time, in relation to various historical, but is in fact an international phenomenon. People purchasing goods and consuming materials in excess of their basic needs is as old as the first civilizations Civilization is a term used to describe a certain kind of development of a human society. A civilized society is often characterized by advanced agriculture, long-distance trade, occupational specialization, and urbanism. Aside from these core elements, civilization is often marked by any combination of a number of secondary elements, including a (e.g. Ancient Egypt Ancient Egypt was an ancient civilization of eastern North Africa, concentrated along the lower reaches of the Nile River in what is now the modern country of Egypt. The civilization coalesced around 3150 BC with the political unification of Upper and Lower Egypt under the first pharaoh, and it developed over the next three millennia. Its history, Babylon Babylon was a city-state of ancient Mesopotamia, the remains of which are found in present-day Al Hillah, Babil Province, Iraq, about 85 kilometers (55 mi) south of Baghdad. All that remains of the original ancient famed city of Babylon today is a mound, or tell, of broken mud-brick buildings and debris in the fertile Mesopotamian plain between and Ancient Rome Ancient Rome was a civilization that grew out of a small agricultural community founded on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 10th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea, it became one of the largest empires in the ancient world).
A great turn in consumerism arrived just before the Industrial Revolution The Industrial Revolution was a period from the 18th to the 19th century where major changes in agriculture, manufacturing, mining, transport and technology had a profound effect on the socioeconomic and cultural conditions starting in the United Kingdom, then subsequently spreading throughout Europe, North America, and eventually the world. The. In the nineteenth century, capitalist development and the industrial revolution were primarily focused on the capital goods sector and industrial infrastructure (i.e., mining, steel, oil, transportation networks, communications networks, industrial cities, financial centers, etc.).[5]
At that time,, agricultural commodities, essential consumer goods, and commercial activities had developed to an extent, but not to the same extent as other sectors. Members of the working classes worked long hours for low wages – as much as 16 hours per day, 6 days per week. Little time or money was left for consumer activities.[6]
Further, capital goods and infrastructure were quite durable and took a long time to be used up. Henry Ford Henry Ford an American industrialist, philanthropist, pacifist and antisemite, was the founder of the Ford Motor Company and widely considered a father of the assembly line technique of mass production. His introduction of the Model T automobile revolutionized transportation and American industry. As owner of the Ford Motor Company, he became one and other leaders of industry understood that mass production presupposed mass consumption. After observing the assembly lines in the meat packing industry, Frederick Winslow Taylor Frederick Winslow Taylor , widely known as F. W. Taylor, was an American mechanical engineer who sought to improve industrial efficiency. He is regarded as the father of scientific management and was one of the first management consultants brought his theory of scientific management Scientific management is a theory of management that analyzes and synthesizes workflows, with the objective of improving labor productivity. The core ideas of the theory were developed by Frederick Winslow Taylor in the 1880s and 1890s, and were first published in his monographs, Shop Management (1905) and The Principles of Scientific Management (1 to the organization of the assembly line in other industries; this unleashed incredible productivity and reduced the costs of all commodities produced on assembly lines.[7]
While previously the norm had been the scarcity of resources, the Industrial Revolution The Industrial Revolution was a period from the 18th to the 19th century where major changes in agriculture, manufacturing, mining, transport and technology had a profound effect on the socioeconomic and cultural conditions starting in the United Kingdom, then subsequently spreading throughout Europe, North America, and eventually the world. The created an unusual economic situation. For the first time in history products were available in outstanding quantities, at outstandingly low prices, being thus available to virtually everyone. So began the era of mass consumption, the only era where the concept of consumerism is applicable.
Consumerism has long had intentional underpinnings, rather than just developing out of capitalism. As an example, Earnest Elmo Calkins noted to fellow advertising Advertising is a form of communication intended to persuade an audience to purchase or take some action upon products, ideals, or services. It includes the name of a product or service and how that product or service could benefit the consumer, to persuade a target market to purchase or to consume that particular brand. These brands are usually executives in 1932 that "consumer engineering must see to it that we use up the kind of goods we now merely use", while the domestic theorist Christine Frederick observed in 1929 that "the way to break the vicious deadlock of a low standard of living is to spend freely, and even waste creatively".[8]
The older term and concept of "conspicuous consumption" originated at the turn of the 20th century in the writings of sociologist and economist, Thorstein Veblen Thorstein Bunde Veblen, born Tosten Bunde Veblen was a Norwegian-American sociologist and economist and a primary mentor, along with John R. Commons, of the institutional economics movement. He was an impassioned critic of the performance of the American economy, and is most famous for his book The Theory of the Leisure Class (1899). The term describes an apparently irrational and confounding form of economic behaviour. Veblen's scathing proposal that this unnecessary consumption is a form of status display is made in darkly humorous observations like the following:
| “ | It is true of dress in even a higher degree than of most other items of consumption, that people will undergo a very considerable degree of privation in the comforts or the necessaries of life in order to afford what is considered a decent amount of wasteful consumption; so that it is by no means an uncommon occurrence, in an inclement climate, for people to go ill clad in order to appear well dressed.[9] | ” |
The term "conspicuous consumption Conspicuous consumption is a term used to describe the lavish spending on goods and services acquired mainly for the purpose of displaying income or wealth. In the mind of a conspicuous consumer, such display serves as a means of attaining or maintaining social status. A very similar but more colloquial term is "keeping up with the Joneses&" spread to describe consumerism in the United States in the 1960s, but was soon linked to debates about media theory Media influence or media effects are terms used in media studies, psychology, communication theory and sociology to refer to the theories about the ways the mass media affect how their audiences think and behave, culture jamming Culture jamming is a tactic used by many consumer social movements to disrupt or subvert mainstream cultural institutions, including corporate advertising. Culture jamming is often seen as a form of subvertising. Many culture jams are simply aimed at exposing questionable political assumptions behind commercial culture so that people can, and its corollary productivism Productivism is the belief that measurable economic productivity and growth is the purpose of human organization , and that "more production is necessarily good".
| “ | By 1920 most people [Americans] had experimented with occasional installment buying.[10] | ” |
In the 21st century
Beginning in the 1990s, the most frequent reason given for attending college had changed to making a lot of money, outranking reasons such as becoming an authority in a field or helping others in difficulty. This correlates with the rise of materialism Materialism refers to how a person or group chooses to spend their resources, particularly money and time. Literally, a materialist is a person for whom collecting material goods is an important priority. In common use, the word more specifically refers to a person who primarily pursues wealth and luxury. Sometimes such a person displays, specifically the technological aspect: the increasing prevalence of compact disc players, digital media, personal computers, and cellular telephones. Madeline Levine criticized what she saw as a large change in American culture – “a shift away from values of community In biological terms, a community is a group of interacting species sharing an environment. In human communities, intent, belief, resources, preferences, needs, risks, and a number of other conditions may be present and common, affecting the identity of the participants and their degree of cohesiveness, spirituality Spirituality can refer to an ultimate or immaterial reality; an inner path enabling a person to discover the essence of their being; or the “deepest values and meanings by which people live.” Spiritual practices, including meditation, prayer and contemplation, are intended to develop an individual's inner life; such practices often lead to an, and integrity, and toward competition, materialism and disconnection.” [11]
Businesses have realized that wealthy consumers are the most attractive targets of marketing. The upper class's tastes, lifestyles, and preferences trickle down to become the standard for all consumers. The not so wealthy consumers can “purchase something new that will speak of their place in the tradition of affluence” [12]. A consumer can have the instant gratification Deferred gratification or delayed gratification is the ability to wait in order to obtain something that one wants. This attribute is known by many names, including impulse control, will power, self control, and in economics, "low" time preference. In formal terms of accounting, an individual should calculate net present value of future of purchasing an expensive item to improve social status.
Emulation is also a core component of 21st century consumerism. As a general trend, regular consumers seek to emulate those who are above them in the social hierarchy. The poor strive to imitate the wealthy and the wealthy imitate celebrities and other icons. The celebrity endorsement of products can be seen as evidence of the desire of modern consumers to purchase products partly or solely to emulate people of higher social status. This purchasing behavior may co-exist in the mind of a consumer with an image of oneself as being an individualist.
Criticism
Main article: Anti-consumerism Anti-consumerism refers to the socio-political movement against consumerism, the equating of personal happiness with consumption and the purchase of material possessions[citation needed]. Consumerism is a term used to describe the effects of the market economy on the individual. Concern over the treatment of consumers has spawned substantialOverview
Since consumerism began, various individuals and groups have consciously sought an alternative lifestyle, such as the "simple living Simple living is a lifestyle characterized by consuming only that which is required to sustain life. Adherents may choose simple living for a variety of personal reasons, such as spirituality, health, increase in 'quality time' for family and friends, reducing their personal ecological footprint, stress reduction, personal taste or frugality. E. F",[13] "eco-conscious Environmentally friendly are synonyms used to refer to goods and services, laws, guidelines and policies considered to inflict minimal or no harm on the environment. To make consumers aware, environmentally friendly goods and services often are marked with eco-labels. But because there is no single international standard for this concept, the",[14] and "localvore Local food or the local food movement is a "collaborative effort to build more locally based, self-reliant food economies - one in which sustainable food production, processing, distribution, and consumption is integrated to enhance the economic, environmental and social health of a particular place" and is considered to be a part of the"/"buy local Local purchasing is a preference to buy locally produced goods and services over those produced more distantly. It is very often abbreviated as a positive goal 'buy local' to parallel the phrase think globally, act locally common in green politics"[15] movements.
In many critical contexts, consumerism is used to describe the tendency of people to identify strongly with products or services they consume, especially those with commercial brand A brand is the identity of a specific product, service, or business[page needed]. A brand can take many forms, including a name, sign, symbol, color combination or slogan. The word brand began simply as a way to tell one person's cattle from another by means of a hot iron stamp. A legally protected brand name is called a trademark. The word brand names and perceived status-symbolism A status symbol is a perceived visible, external denotation of one's social position and perceived indicator of economic or social status. Many luxury goods are often considered status symbols. Status symbol is also a sociological term – as part of social and sociological symbolic interactionism – relating to how individuals and groups appeal, e.g. a luxury automobile Luxury vehicle is a marketing term for a vehicle that provides luxury — pleasant or desirable features beyond strict necessity at increased expense, designer clothing The quality of the clothing, and resemblance to the designer's work vary considerably depending on who the licensee is, and the terms of the agreement the designer has struck. Some terms of these agreements may include limits on the number of styles of different types of garments that may be produced, or a final approval clause allowing the, or expensive jewelry. A culture that is permeated by consumerism can be referred to as a consumer culture or a market culture.[16]
Opponents of consumerism argue that many luxuries and unnecessary consumer products may act as social mechanism allowing people to identify like-minded individuals through the display of similar products, again utilizing aspects of status-symbolism to judge socioeconomic status Socioeconomic status is an economic and sociological combined total measure of a person's work experience and of an individual's or family’s economic and social position relative to others, based on income, education, and occupation. When analyzing a family’s SES, the household income earners' education and occupation are examined, as well as and social stratification In sociology and other social sciences, social stratification refers to the hierarchical arrangement of individuals into divisions of power and wealth within a society. The term most commonly relates to the socio-economic concept of class, involving the "classification of persons into groups based on shared socio-economic conditions ... a. Some people believe relationships with a product or brand name are substitutes for healthy human relationships lacking in societies A society or a human society is a group of people related to each other through persistent relations such as social status, roles and social networks. Human societies are characterized by patterns of relationships between individuals sharing a distinctive culture and institutions. Without an article, the term refers either to the entirety of, and along with consumerism, create a cultural hegemony Hegemony is the political, economic, ideological or cultural power exerted by a dominant group over other groups, regardless of the explicit consent of the latter. While initially referring to the political dominance of certain ancient Greek city-states over their neighbors, the term has come to be used in a variety of other contexts, in, and are part of a general process of social control[17] in modern society. Critics of consumerism often point out that consumerist societies are more prone to damage the environment, contribute to global warming Global warming is the increase in the average temperature of Earth's near-surface air and oceans since the mid-20th century and its projected continuation. According to the 2007 Fourth Assessment Report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change , global surface temperature increased 0.74 ± 0.18 °C (1.33 ± 0.32 °F) during the 20th and use up resources at a higher rate than other societies.[18] Dr. Jorge Majfud says that "Trying to reduce environmental pollution without reducing consumerism is like combatting drug trafficking without reducing the drug addiction." [19]
In 1955, economist Victor Lebow stated:
| “ | "Our enormously productive economy demands that we make consumption our way of life, that we convert the buying and use of goods into rituals, that we seek our spiritual satisfaction and our ego satisfaction in consumption. We need things consumed, burned up, worn out, replaced and discarded at an ever-increasing rate".[20] | ” |
Critics of consumerism include Pope Benedict XVI Pope Benedict XVI is the 265th and current Pope, by virtue of his office of Bishop of Rome, the head of the Catholic Church and, as such, Sovereign of the Vatican City State. He was elected on 19 April 2005 in a papal conclave, celebrated his Papal Inauguration Mass on 24 April 2005, and took possession of his cathedral, the Basilica of St. John,[21] German historian Oswald Spengler Oswald Arnold Gottfried Spengler was a German historian and philosopher whose interests also included mathematics, science, and art. He is best known for his book The Decline of the West (Der Untergang des Abendlandes), which puts forth a cyclical theory of the rise and decline of civilizations. After Decline was published in 1918, Spengler (who said, "Life in America is exclusively economic in structure and lacks depth"[22]), and French writer Georges Duhamel, who held "American materialism up as a beacon of mediocrity that threatened to eclipse French civilization".[22]
In an opinion segment of New Scientist New Scientist is a weekly international science magazine and website covering recent developments in science and technology for a general English-speaking audience. Founded in 1956, it is published by Reed Business Information Ltd, a subsidiary of Reed Elsevier. Reed Elsevier acquired New Scientist when it took over IPC Magazines, retaining the magazine published in August 2009, reporter Andy Coghlan cited William Rees of the University of British Columbia The University of British Columbia, commonly referred to as UBC, is a Canadian public research university with campuses in the Greater Vancouver area and in Kelowna, British Columbia. The 402 ha main campus in the Greater Vancouver area is located in the University Endowment Lands on Point Grey, a peninsula about 10 km from downtown Vancouver, and epidemiologist Epidemiology is the study of factors affecting the health and illness of populations, and serves as the foundation and logic of interventions made in the interest of public health and preventative medicine. It is considered a cornerstone methodology of public health research, and is highly regarded in evidence-based medicine for identifying risk Warren Hern of the University of Colorado at Boulder, saying that human beings, despite considering themselves civilized thinkers, are "subconsciously still driven by an impulse for survival, domination and expansion... an impulse which now finds expression in the idea that inexorable economic growth is the answer to everything, and, given time, will redress all the world's existing inequalities."[23] According to figures presented by Rees at the annual meeting of the Ecological Society of America, human society is in a "global overshoot", consuming 30% more material than is sustainable from the world's resources. Rees went on to state that at present, 85 countries are exceeding their domestic "bio-capacities", and compensate for their lack of local material by depleting the stocks of other countries, which have a material surplus due to their lower consumption.[23]
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Fri, 20 Aug 2010 05:47:46 GMT+00:00
Inside Pulse (blog) When times are booming we don't mind rampant consumerism and the pursuit of having the best things because times are good. When times are tough we get ...
Chris Morran
Wed, 21 Jul 2010 19:10:00 GM
Remember that study from yesterday that said there had been a significant increase in the number of flight cancellations since the DOT enacted new rules limiting the number of hours a plane can sit on the tarmac?
Q. America has none of the world's 10 largest malls. The biggest we have are the King of Prussia Mall in Pennsylvania and the Mall of America in Minnestoa... those places are really small compared to some of the foreign malls, though. The Manila area of the Philippines alone has three malls bigger than anything in the US - the North EDSA Mall, the Megamall, and the Mall of Asia. Come on, America - can't we do better? Should the government step in and fund the construction of the largest mall in the world, to bring the consumerist crown back to America?
Asked by STRAUSSIAN - Tue Jun 16 00:04:09 2009 - - 13 Answers - 0 Comments
A. Why waste the money? soon anything you want will be able to e bought online with minimal shipping and direct to your door in less than 48 hours. This type of thing is part of the reason behind why so many malls are now failing as it is. They can have their huge malls, I will have the biggest mall of all, the one on my computer that I do not even have to waste gas to get to.
Answered by julvrug - Tue Jun 16 00:12:11 2009
