Punk Ideologies Part 6: Anti-Consumerism
Consumerism is the idea that increasing consumption of goods and services purchased in the market is always a desirable goal and that a person's wellbeing and happiness depends fundamentally on obtaining consumer goods and material possessions. In an economic sense, it is related to the predominantly Keynesian idea that consumer spending is the key driver of the economy and that encouraging consumers to spend is a major policy goal. From this point of view, consumerism is a positive phenomenon that fuels economic growth.
Understanding Consumerism
As consumers spend, economists presume that consumers benefit from the utility of the consumer goods that they purchase, but businesses also benefit from increased sales, revenue, and profit. For example, if car sales are increasing, auto manufacturers will see a boost in profits. Additionally, the companies that make the steel, tires, and upholstery for cars also see increased sales. In other words, spending by the consumer can benefit the economy, and the business sector in particular. Because of this, businesses (and some economists) have come to view increasing consumption as a critical goal in building and maintaining a strong economy, irrespective of the benefit to the consumer or society as a whole.
Advantages of Consumerism
Advocates of consumerism point to how consumer spending can drive an economy forward and lead to an increased production of goods and services. As a result of increased consumption spending, a rise in GDP growth or Gross Domestic Product can occur. In the U.S., signs of healthy consumer demand can be found in consumer confidence indicators, retail sales, and personal consumption expenditures. Business owners, workers in industry, and owners of raw resources can profit from sales of consumer goods either directly or by downstream buyers.
Disadvantages of Consumerism
Consumerism can be criticized on economic grounds. In the form of conspicuous consumption, consumerism can impose enormous real costs on an economy. Consuming real resources in zero- or negative-sum competition for social status can can offset the gains from commerce in a modern industrial economy and lead to destructive creation in markets for consumer and other goods. Consumerism can also create incentives for consumers to take on unsustainable levels of debt, which can contribute to financial crises and recessions.
Consumerism is also often criticized on cultural grounds. Some see that consumerism can lead to a materialistic society that neglects other values. Traditional modes of production and ways of life can be replaced by a focus on consuming ever more costly goods in larger quantities. Consumerism is often associated with globalization in promoting the production and consumption of globally traded goods and brands, which can be incompatible with local cultures and patterns of economic activity.
Environmental problems are frequently associated with consumerism to the extent that consumer goods industries and the direct effects of consumption produce environmental externalities. These can include pollution by producing industries, resource depletion due to widespread conspicuous consumption, and problems with waste disposal from excess consumer goods and packaging.
Lastly, consumerism is often criticized on psychological grounds. It is blamed for increasing status anxiety, where people experience stress for increasing competition for social status in the constant drive to "keep up with the Joneses" by increasing their consumption. Psychological research has shown that people who organize their lives around consumerist goals, such as product acquisition, report poorer moods, greater unhappiness in relationships, and other psychological problems. Psychological experiments shown that people exposed to consumerist values based on wealth, status, and material possessions display greater anxiety and depression. Others show that encouraging people to identify as consumers leads to lower trust, lower sense of personal responsibility, and less willingness to cooperate with others.
feel free to add better definitions and examples!
snowghoul
turnnoffyourmind
kianamaiart
theartofmadeline
stormborns
amandla
