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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.
Bauman, Z, (1988) cited in Hetherington K, and Harvard C.(eds) (2014, pg.126,142). He further claims, “This is the characteristic pattern of inequality in our contemporary consumer society one that contrasts with the lines of class and occupational status that characterised the major cleavages in Industrial society”. Bauman, Z, (1988) cited in Alan, J. (2014 pg. 275). Moreover, consumerism encourages people to consume creating their own identities, replacing Identities centred on production and work. Furthermore, Hayek in the ‘Ordering Lives Strand’ claims “The market should be free of political intervention allowing individuals to be free to pursue their own interests” Hayek, F.A. (1976). cited in Clarke, J. (2014 pg.380). However, Allen. claims “The ability to ‘buy into’ a particular lifestyle actively excludes others from it on the basis of lack of income and those unable to do so will be seen as unworthy or inadequate” (Allen, J. 2014 P. 278). Thus constraints can be seen placed on people through lack of income, turning differences into inequalities with evidence indicating that ‘People’s values, beliefs and status are now shaped by ‘Consuming’ rather than as in Industrial times by work, politics and religion’, (The Open University, 2016). Therefore, differences which turn into inequalities are as predominant in today’s consumer society as they were in our industrial
America’s current standard of living is going to cause our demise. Consumerism is a problem throughout Americans culture since mass production began in the late nineteenth century. The obsession with consumerism has led to mindless wastes of resources, a diseased society and economic instability. Rick Wolff, a professor of economics at University of Massachusetts, states “economics of capitalism spread consumerism—now uncontrolled, ecologically harmful, and fiscally disastrous—throughout the United States”. Wolff’s viewpoint on consumerism aligns with mine. Believing that an economy based on promoting endless consumption is volatile and unsustainable. Consumerism can be analyzed and seen to be embedded by corporations and politicians.
With the rise of industrialization, globalization, and mass production, the manufacturing productivity has been dramatically increased and accordingly the availability of consumer goods. And with the rise of the mass media, various products have been targeted on broad groups of consumers. Consumerism, which is propelled by a system of mass production and high levels of consumption, has been one of the themes in art works from twentieth century till now.
Consumerism is the idea that influences people to purchase items in great amounts. Consumerism makes trying to live the life of a “perfect American” rather difficult. It interferes with society by replacing the normal necessities for life with the desire for things with not much concern for the true value of the desired object. Children are always easily influenced by what they watch on television. Swimme suggests in his work “How Do Kids Get So Caught Up in Consumerism” that although an advertiser’s objective is to make money, the younger generation is being manipulated when seeing these advertisements. Before getting a good understanding of a religion, a child will have seen and absorbed at least 30,000 advertisements. The amount of time teenagers spend in high school is lesser than the amount of advertisement that they have seen (155). The huge amount of advertisements exposed to the younger generation is becomi...
Economy and materialism are concepts that come up every day in the life of Americans. Those who are not from America may think the way Americans live is strange and wasteful and they’d be right in their thinking that. Americans are consumed by consumerism and the need to buy things because there is always some new and improved version of what was purchased two weeks ago. Although it is said that Americans are too materialistic, the truth is that materialistic does not quite cover the near obsession with the latest and greatest that Americans have.
After high school, college is where most students go to increase their knowledge, challenge themselves, and advance their ideas. Sometimes, college is looked at as a stepping stone to entering into the job market or becoming more refined. However, some see universities conforming to the consumer society, causing students to become less challenged academically and less ready for the real world. Colleges are acting more like businesses and less like a colleges. Competition amongst universities is causing large amount of debt, as these colleges build expensive new buildings in order to attract more students. The large amount of debt accumulated by these universities is directly related to tuition fee increases.
...f consumerism, discussed some of its consequences and provided a way forward for people to change their behaviors and attitudes toward consumerism, which is highly detrimental to the society.
In The Rise of Consumer Society in Britain, John Benson identifies consumer societies as those "in which choice and credit are readily available, in which social value is defined in terms of purchasing power and material possessions, and in which there is a desire, above all, for that which is new, modern, exciting and fashionable." For decades research on the history of consumerism had been winding the clock up to the nineteenth century as the starting point of a culture of consumption that fits Benson’s description. For societies like these to exist, there needed to be a fair portion of the population with enough money to purchase goods beyond daily necessities; there needed to be powerful productive forces to make enough goods available and allow for new strategies of marketing and selling; there also needed to be a tendency among people to start investing social meanings and emotions in the acquisition of goods. Industrialization, these histories tell us, prepared the ground for a consumer culture to develop thanks to malleable markets, large production lines, rise of shopping, advertising, marketing, etc.
Many theorists suggest that consumption is correlated to the identity of an individual, that by purchasing goods from the mass market, it enables us to visibly establish our position within society. This differs from previous times in which a range of factors such as family histories, character and personal achievements played a significant role (Gabriel and Lang, 2006). Instead, there is the idea that the consumer has the ability to gain pleasure over objects, not just solely by the manipulation of objects, but through the degree of control over their meaning. The degree of control is developed and achieved through imagination and provides greater possibilities of pleasure experiences. This suggests that modern consumption can be seen as device that enables individuals to ‘dream’ about the desires they wish to fulfill. (Campbell, 1989: 79) (Cited in Gabirel & Lang, 2006)
Many people become victims of consumerism, often aspiring to unrealistic heights or being unable to sustain the financial implications of passive consumerism. The difference between essential consumerism and euphoric consumerism is a very fine line that can be easily crossed over if control is not maintained.
Sassatelli, R. (2007). Consumer Culture: History, Theory and Politics, London: Sage, Page 30, Page 126, Page 132, Page 133
Stearns, Peter N. Consumerism in World History : The Global Transformation of Desire. Themes in World History. 2nd ed. New York: Routledge, 2006.
Mary Oliver's (Clinebell, 1996, p.188) poem has a lot to say about the relatively new approach to conservation called ecopsychology. Ecopsychology combines the human element from psychology, with the study of how biological systems work together from ecology. A more in depth explanation of ecopsychology is that it seeks to help humans experience themselves as an integral part of nature (Strubbe 1997). When this is accomplished, humans can proceed to commit to "helping heal the earth, as well as healing ourselves" (Strubbe 1997, p. 293). In the past, environmental action has consisted of scaring and shaming those who over consume or do not recycle, which proved to be quite ineffective. Ecopsychology, in contrast, attempts to create positive and affirming motivations, derived from a bond of love and loyalty to nature (Bayland, 1995). Before tackling the principles, religious aspects, therapy, actions and education included in ecopsychology, it is essential to unde...
According to Slater (1997), Consumer Culture is the culture of market societies and is defined though market relations. It predominantly is the product of capitalism. He believes that this new culture is a pecuniary culture based on money. The central claim is that the values from the realm of consumption will spill over into other domains of social action. He further argues that Consumer Culture is in principle, universal and impersonal. He simultaneously agues, that there is an ultior claim towards this definition, as although it seems universal and is depicted as a land of freedom, in which everyone can be a consumer, it is also felt to be universal because everybody must be a consumer. ...
The general idea of materialism is through conspicuous consumption, whereby the satisfaction derived from the product through the reaction of the audience, rather than personal utility use (Flouri, 1999). Materialistic tend to focus on the purchasing of “status goods” that impress other people (Fournier and Richins, 1991).