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Family values of today
Consumerism in society
Family values of today
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According to the current data, depending on the source being used, the United States is often regarded as a capitalist economy, but it is actually a “mixed economy” that is fueled by consumerism. In the day to day shuffle, society feels the consumerism and its manipulating control of consumers. Consumerism is a form of government control which leads society to form an almost uncontrollable buying habit, especially during the holiday season. Holidays, once spent with family to praise and give thanks, are now being taken over by the strong desire to run to an awesome sale to buy unnecessary stuff. Society is allowing the government to split families up during a holiday with the lure of unbelievable sales. Author Matt Walsh wrote an insightful online Huffington Post article titled, “If You Shop on Thanksgiving, You Are Part of the Problem.” In his article he also shows strong concern for society’s outrageous spending habits during the holiday season, and how the government fuels the shopping frenzy. Matt Walsh additionally goes so far as to state, “Why give thanks for what you have when there’s so much you don’t have? That’s the new meaning of Thanksgiving: count your blessings, and then buy some more blessings and count them again” (Walsh. Web). Society has strength in numbers to help stop the government from its money driven ways that play a role in families growing further apart. Society must be rehabilitated and forego this buying habit, return to traditional family values, and not allow the government to rape family unity through clever economic brainwashing.
Our government has a strong motive to inconspicuously economically manipulate its citizens by changing interest rates. When interest rates ...
... middle of paper ...
...e economy may improve.
In conclusion, the government has us by the balls where it hurts most, our money. The government can completely control society by pulling on the yo-yo strings of interest rates. However, we cannot afford to allow our government to commercialize society’s holidays at a price of splitting family unity. Civilization goes back long before the words economy and government shut-down were used in everyday kitchen talk. Society, in this country, has the luxury of standing their political ground without being shot. When a society stands united they have more power than most governments. Now is the time for Americans to unite their families and utilize traditional family values, and save family holidays from just being a ploy in business marketing.
Works Cited
Walsh, Matt. Huffington Post. 13 November 2013. Web. 2 December 2013.
In conclusion this paper has shown my perceptions on the described topics. I have identified why the family is considered the most important agent in socialization. I explained the dramatic changes to the American family and what caused them. I explained the differences in marriage and family. I expressed my feelings on the trend of diverse families, and how a change in trends to traditional views would change women’s rights.
America is built on materialism and it created the idea that happiness is formed from consumption. Advertisements have successfully turned every major holiday into an opportunity for people to empty their pockets. For example,
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.
The purpose of this is to draw attention to the invisible government which controls the United States. One of the means of control is the Federal Reserve System. Many of us have seen the recent decline of the dollar in the news. We will address this in terms of the Federal Reserve System’s control over the value of the dollar. Much of this is a concentration of quotes by noteworthy individuals such as Economists, Presidents, and Congressmen.
The wealth inequality debate should focus on what public policies will aid the accumulation of wealth by more, not fewer, American families. The first step American’s need to make toward transforming our consumer culture is to understand it better.
What seems to go unnoticed by many Americans is the evident and growing wealth gap. According to Pew Research Center, the current U.S. income is at its highest since 1928. This large dispersion of wealth can be attributed by the “fall [of the] routine producers” (Reich). Where jobs that were once attainable during the 70s are declining due to advancing technology and corporations finding workers in poor countries who are willing to work at half the cost of the routine producers. What also drives this wealth gap is the power of corporations in an age of extravagant consumerism. Through media, the demand to buy what we want is unavoidable. Corporations are able to gain revenue while people go unemployed because of America’s vast opportunities to buy what we want when we want it.
For hundreds of years Thanksgiving has been a holiday filled with traditions celebrating family and togetherness. The day after thanksgiving known as “Black Friday” is a day for shopping and taking advantage of greatly reduced prices. The recent decision by retailers to move Black Friday to Thursday, Thanksgiving Day, has caused quite a stir among many families. People have become upset over the decision to turn a day of gratitude and family, into another day of greed and violence. Retailers should not open their stores on Thanksgiving Day because doing so will cause many employees to miss out on spending a special day with their families, cause people to forget about the thanks and festivities that thanksgiving represents, and create more violence in stores and violence towards people.
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.
Since many more Americans are working today they have less and less time to participate in their community. Marx would agree that part of the decline in social capital is more people spend...
Therefore, employees that do not have two nickels to rub together for Thanksgiving are not enjoying nor encouraging the hectic luxury spending done on Black Friday by fellow consumers. Employees such as the ones at Wal‒Mart, have no choice but to work Black Friday for extra money just to make ends meet while simultaneously watching hundreds of shoppers come into their store and blow multiple paychecks worth of money. Malveaux goes on to say that “According to Wal‒Mart 's CEO, at least half of its workers earn less than $25,000 a year, which is not enough to live on in a city”(Malveaux). This quote from Malveaux confirms the idea of Black Friday being only for the corporations and consumers. Employees are simply the vehicle to make Black Friday happen.
In the latter half of the 19th century, the Second Industrial Revolution produced new engineering and science-based technology, such as railroads, petroleum, and the assembly line, which allowed large corporations to produce, and export, enormous quantities of goods at a faster rate than before. While transforming the American economy for the better, these new inventions drastically changed our society as massive quantities of low cost products became accessible to all, and coupled with a rapid growing population, it ushered in a new era of Mass Consumption. This era essentially changed the United States from a work-based society to a consumer society as people raised the question ‘Why have the old model?’. Soon enough this philosophy led people
Thanksgiving is a holiday that is celebrated on the fourth Thursday during the month of November in the United States. Thanksgiving honors a legal holiday for people to be thankful for what they have, such as family and friends. Thanksgiving is meant to be spent with your family and not out shopping trying to find deals on items. In fact, in the article “Two Dozen Retailers Won’t Open on Thanksgiving-And They’re Shaming the Ones That Will,” it states, “Read between the lines and you’ll see that any retailer forcing employees to work on Thanksgiving must be an ‘unfriendly’ company.” Thanksgiving is about giving...not taking. Big name stores such as Walmart, Macy’s, and Target are staying open on Thanksgiving to make some extra money. Thanksgiving
Consumerism is defined as “the theory that an increasing consumption of goods is economically desirable” (“Consumerism”). Its primary motivation is the idea that if one does not have all that money can buy, then he or she cannot be happy. This school of thought has become an integral part of modern society not only in the United States, but internationally as well. While the exact source of this term and ideology are debatable, it is certain now that consumerism is here to stay, intertwining with all aspects of American culture.
For most, Thanksgiving is a holiday spent with family and delicious food, but for others, it is a day consisting of tremendous planning in hopes for a major haul of “discounted” items. In the United States, it is safe to say that Black Friday is one of the biggest shopping events each year. In recent years the public's participation in Black Friday has continued to decline, stated by the National Retail Federation. ”Thirty-five percent of consumers who plan to shop during Thanksgiving week say they will do so on Black Friday, down from 51 percent last year and 59 percent the year before, according to consumer markets research from PwC, the professional services giant.” (Bhattarai). I personally have never been
American has had in the last fifty years decades of unprecedented economic growth which has has all but solved the economic problems of how to secure the necessities of life and most people are living lives of luxury and comfort (Alexander 1). This has caused the consumer industry to skyrocket. Everywhere one looks there are advertisements being thrown at them. These items are not advertised as luxury items, but as something someone needs to survive. The consequences of consumerism is people are saving less money and feel they need to keep earning more money to keep up with the demands of society (Etzioni 1). Students today are being told to go to college because it will give them an opportunity to earn more money at a better job. Has anyone stopped to question if they really need to make more money or could they live a satisfying and happy life without having to work sixty or seventy hours a week? Alexander states in his paper The Voluntary Simplicity Movement “The huge increase in wealth has stopped contributing to people individual” and “social well-being and the process of getting richer is now causing the very problem that they seem to think getting richer will solve” (Alexander 1). It would seem many americans do not enjoy this quick paced lifestyle which keeps them always at the edge of truly having it all. According to a study done in 1989 “Three out of four Americans would like to see our country to reform to a simpler lifestyle with less emphasis on material success” (Etzioni 3). At the same time though from 1980-1990 consumer spending rose by 21.4 percent (Etzioni 4). If both these studies are true then Americans are running into this oxymoron where they are living the consumerism lifestyle but wishing their lives ...