Munch & Crunch little earthlings.

 

 

Shortly after World War II, retail analyst Victor Lebow proclaimed that:

“Our enormously productive economy… demands that we make consumption our way of life, that we convert the buying and using of goods into rituals, that we seek our spiritual satisfaction, our ego satisfaction, in consumption… we need things consumed, burned up, replaced and discarded at an ever increasing rate.”

 

 

Consumerism: the friend of many and the enemy of the few.

 

Many thinkers tried to explain the concept of consumption that basically started with modernity and the invention of new machines and technology. This in turn caused a massive change in the production industry that facilitated a rise in material living standards.

 

If you are bored by now, I advice you to skip this paragraph, knowing that your little brains can’t comprehend a few hard words.

 

What was I saying? Oh yeah consumption.

Moving on….

 

People basically started questioning and understanding human behavior with the start of the scientific revolution. ( Yes I know bla bla bla, READ ON ). Such questioning and spread of new ideas lead to the growth of secular culture, individualism, rationalism, and spread of free speech and liberal democracy. Accordingly, religion that was once used as a mechanism for social understanding has been undermined with alternative theories.

 

In the aftermath of the scientific revolution, modernity, and enlightenment …

 

Consumption and human behavior held a different meaning. 

With the division of labor and the spread of “specialization” the nature and mechanism of industrial production changed. People no longer produced to meet their basic needs, and with the rise of capitalism, changed man’s input for wages. These are thoughts by Karl Marx, which he discussed in detail, if you’re interested in further readings on the matter.

 

Another thinker, Oliver James, argued that the political values of modernity have been hijacked by selfish capitalism. Corporate and business success measured by share price; the privatization of public utilities; increased de-regulation and tax relief for the rich; and growing consensus among the latter that consumption and market forces can meet all of man’s needs.

 

On average, people are working one to two hundred more hours per year than twenty years ago and our obsession with the acquisition of material wealth is having serious consequences for our spiritual and psychological wellbeing. - Boot,2008.

 

 

-> Consequently, many think that human worth is defined through possessions, earnings, appearance and celebrity.

 

To take up this subject on a simpler tone, patterns of consumption have changed drastically over the years both globally and locally. All people acquired before were basic daily survival needs. Now people’s wants become their needs. People want to own the latest gadget, car, and bag and slowly started misinterpreting that want for a need. For example, if you’re thinking of buying a car for the main purpose of taking you places, you can basically choose ANY car right? You can get a Corolla, Toyota, or even a Ferrari. So you need a car, any car, but you want a fancy one. Ultimately you’ll get the fancier car not because u need it but because you want it. However, people will often believe that they actually need a fancy car. So that primal instinct of basic self-fulfillment is ultimately altered.   

 

Are these patterns of consumption causing any change in our society?

Is that change good or bad?

Do we really need that change?

What are future implications of consumerism?

What’s the role of capitalism in promoting consumption?

Is the free market economy really “free”, aren’t they chaining us with values that subject our traditional way of life?

 

There are MANY questions that are put forth when thinking about this subject.

And yes this has been a mind fulfilling yet boring post to many.

After reading this post you can now go and play dominos with your monkey pets.

 

And like my fellow consumers say,

Goodbye,

Shamma.

 

 

 

shamma aldabal

shamma aldabal

Trying to understand life. In a constant journey of discovery. Join the crew.

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