Juliet Schro Thesis About Consumerism

In Juliet Schor’s book “Born to Buy: The Commercialized Child and the New Consumer Culture,” she expresses the consequences of modern-day consumerism and the affects it has on the youth. Schor goes into great depth about consumerism in America, particularly consumerism in children. In this paper, I will discuss the media’s impact on children, the habits of consumerism, and the health risks

She starts off her book by stating that (2004) “the United States in the most consumer-oriented society in the world” (Schor, 2004, p.9). This opening sentence catches the reader’s attention by drawing them in with an interesting fact about consumerism in America. The main social problem presented in her book is consumerism, more specifically, consumerism at younger ages. She describes that the problem is present because “most children here [United States] believe that their clothes and brands describe who they are and define their social status” (p.12). The reason most children think this way is because of our media surrounded society. If the media did not portray that having the best and most up to date items were cool and the norm, then it would not be that big of a deal to have off brand items. However, the media does depict that having the most up to date gadgets or brand name accessories as being more entitled, thus making the youth think that having the most up to date, brand name items, as cool and fashionable. In my opinion, consumerism in our culture is inevitable, especially in the youth, because no matter how hard we try to keep the youth away from it, it will always find the youth in some form.

Consumerism has been in existence in America since the industrial revolution of the 1800s. The industrial revolution made it possible ...

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...me example of branding at its finest.

Consumerism is more addicting than people might realize. In the chapter “How Consumer Culture Undermines Children’s Well-Being,” Schor highlights how the children are addicted to the media and consumerism for various reasons. In our culture no matter were you turn you will see branding somewhere. Branding is all around us and it’s inevitable to avoid. Even though branding cannot be avoided in a human’s daily routine, the human can be strong-minded and not allow branding and large corporations to determine what the individual eats and wears. It is up to the individual to take charge and start to do more little things to avoid consumerism. Such as shop at local stores, buy local products, eat at local restaurants and cook at home more often. Making these changes to a daily routine would help eliminate the consumerism problem.