Effects on Consumerism

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Consumerism is a description of society’s lifestyle in which many people embrace to achieve their goals by acquiring goods that they clearly do not need (Stearns, 7). The idea that the market is shaped by the choice of the consumers’ needs and wants can be defined as a consumer sovereignty (Goodwin, Nelson, Ackerman, Weisskopf, 2). This belief is based on the assumption that the consumer knows what it wants. Contrary to this logic, marketers convince us that the consumer does not know what they want. The consumer has to be told what they want or be persuaded by advertising items in a matter that demonstrates the reason a product makes their life easier or will improve their life instantly. As one of the most successful entrepreneurs, Steve Jobs, has said multiple times over the years, “People don’t know what they want until you show it to them” (Isaacson, 97). Consumers in this matter are negatively affected by constantly buying with the state of mind of wanting to fit in or buying the latest item.
For instance, the overexploitation on consumer spending has manipulated the importance of growing the economy by spending our income and collecting debt rather than living in our means while saving and investing for our own personal growth (Smart, 42). In addition, consumerism is shaped by mass market. Consumerism is the general assumption that human desires are infinitely expandable. That being said, “If human desires are in fact infinitely expandable, consumption is ultimately incapable of providing fulfillment” ( Roszak, Gomes & Kanner,3)

Consumerism is a social and economic order and ideology that encourages the acquisition of goods and services in ever-greater amounts. This conspicuous consumption or belief that goods are a m...

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...pf, Thomas. Consumption and the Consumer Society. Microeconomics in Context. Medford, Massachusetts: M.E. Sharpe, 2008 Print.
Isaacson, Walter. Steve Jobs. New York, New York: Simon & Schuster paperbacks, 2011. Print
Roszak, Theodore, Gomes, Mary E., and Kanner, Allen D. Ecopsychology: Restoring the Earth, Healing the Mind. Sierra Club Books,1995.Print
Smart, Barry. Consumer Society. UK : Sage Publications, 2010. Print.
Stearns, P. Consumerism in World History: The Global Transformation of Desire. Themes in World History. Routledge; 2 edition,2006. Print.
Kennedy, Emily Huddart. “Towards a Sociology of Consumerism.”1:173.Web. 12 May 2014.
Chasmar, Jessica. “Chinese man fed up with his girlfriend’s shopping jumps to his death.”. The Washington Times, 9 Dec.2013.Web.12 May 2014.
U.S Congresswoman Beutler, H. Jaime. “ Ending Government Overspending.” Web. 16 May 2014.

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