What is a consumer society and is it so bad

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

This phenomenon has many critics, but there are also supporters.

What is a consumer society

This is a type of social device in which people buy more goods and services than they need. In such a society, people do not seek to accumulate money, but to spend it on various goods. By shopping, consumers are trying to get closer to some ideal of a prosperous life. For example, to have a place to live, a car, good clothes, expensive jewelry, delicious food and rest abroad.

A thing becomes, first of all, a symbol of security and status, as well as a means of self-expression. So, a person can use the technique of a single manufacturer, ignoring the rest, or prefer one soda to another, although the taste is practically the same.

The consumer society was formed in the developed countries of the West after the end of World War II, when there was a massive transition to conveyor production.

Automation has made it possible to create a large number of cheap goods available to wide segments of the population. People began to acquire houses, cars, household appliances, and companies began to offer more and more things and services. As a result, consumption from periodic became permanent, and this type of society spread almost all over the world.

It is believed that in the current era the consumer society has been replaced by a society of experiences. But, in fact, it is no different globally.

So, with him, people no longer strive to possess status things, but they are eager to tell others about their eventful life. For example, not just posting photos from the beach on social networks, but showing that they got an atypical experience: they made a pilgrimage to the Eastern sages, descended into the caves of hermits or jumped from a bungee.

What are the advantages of a consumer society

Here's what his supporters say.

Provides economic and political stability

Mass consumption made it possible to avoid both overproduction crises, when there are too many goods and no one needs them, and shortages. Constant demand, on the one hand, leads to the fact that the products do not stagnate, and on the other hand, it does not allow them to overstate their prices. This has made businesses more sustainable and many people have received a stable source of income.

Motivates people

First, consumption forces companies to improve, reduce the cost of production, create new products, or expand the functionality of an old one. After all, people's demands are growing, and competitors are not asleep. This promotes progress.

So, 20 years ago, it was only possible to make calls from mobile phones, and few could afford such a device. Today, almost every person has a smartphone in which you can find everything: the Internet, a notebook, a photo and video camera, and much more.

Secondly, consumers themselves strive to earn more in order to buy more expensive things and live better. For this, people try to get a good education, become a professional in their field and take a high position. That is, they are developing.

Makes people calmer and more tolerant

The consumer society, according to its supporters, allows satisfying the basic needs of the majority of the population. Even non-middle-class people usually do not need food, clothing or shelter. As a result, there are significantly fewer absolutely powerless and disadvantaged people. Reduced social tension and fewer conflicts.

What the consumer society is criticized for

These are the main claims of his opponents.

Makes a person addicted to things

In a consumer society, the standard economic axiom "demand creates supply" is reversed: now "supply imposes demand." It is no longer the need forcing people to buy goods, but the presence of these very goods, advertising and the example of others make them spend money. Moreover, the purchase can be absolutely useless, and the pleasure of purchasing is only momentary.

Therefore, critics of the consumer society, for example the economist John Galbraith and the sociologist Erich Fromm, argue that there can be no true democracy under it. Business, they believe, through advertising and the media manipulates the minds of people for their own purposes and creates a special type of exploitation and totalitarianism.

Marketing shapes the tastes, desires, values, norms and interests of people. For example, he draws images of an ideal family, parents, childhood, youth and life in general. Advertising surrounds a person everywhere: from leaflets at bus stops to banners on Internet sites. At the same time, it adapts to the consumer, changes with him. And he gradually ceases to notice how his needs and tastes begin to directly depend on advertising.

Negates the practical value of things

It is replaced by consumer and demonstrative, when goods are bought not for utilitarian properties, but for the opportunity to boast of an expensive product. Brand markups appear.

The concept of using things is changing: people no longer repair them in case of breakage or wear, but buy new ones. As a result, commodities become obsolete and out of fashion faster than they lose functionality.

The purchases themselves often become impulsive and unplanned. Items of kitsch are becoming ubiquitous - useless things like spinners or pop-itts that are gaining popularity like an avalanche. And visiting shopping centers turns into a form of leisure and entertainment.

Some people even develop oniomania - an uncontrollable passion for shopping.

Devaluates the results of work and study

If a person lives only for consumption, his interests, goals and aspirations cease to matter. After all, then a good education is received only for the sake of a highly paid position, and they work in order to get more money.

In this case, there is no talk of development and self-realization. As a result, a person does not enjoy work and study and does not appreciate the process itself.

Harmful to nature

More and more natural resources are spent on the production of new goods, and factories and their products are increasingly polluting the planet. So, a car will not run without gasoline, and synthetic fabric cannot be created without oil-containing materials.

If the rate of consumption continues to grow and around the world approaches the level of developed countries, in the near future we may face the depletion of natural resources and global climate change.

Thus, according to the estimates of the European Environment Agency, by the end of the 21st century, the average world temperature may rise by 6.4 ° C. And this threatens the melting of glaciers, flooding of coastal areas, droughts and other negative consequences.

Supports social inequality

Due to the endless need to produce more and more goods, rich states have practically exhausted their own resources. They compensate for their lack at the expense of poorer countries, in which consumption has not yet reached the same level.

The latter become sources of raw materials and cheap labor, with the help of which goods are produced. Most of them go to developed countries, while developing countries receive practically nothing. Thus, in 2008 the EU imported six times more materials than it exported.

In pursuit of cheap power, corporations build factories in poor countries. Companies save on everything, so the work on such conveyors is especially difficult.

For example, from 2010 to 2016, about 20 employees of the Taiwanese company Foxconn committed suicide due to unbearable working conditions. This company supplies components for Apple. After the stories were published, the working conditions at Foxconn did not improve; they only got worse. The company installed bars on the windows of industrial and residential areas and refused to pay compensation to relatives of employees who committed suicide.

Deprives a sense of personal responsibility

The culture of a consumer society is impersonal: corporations are blamed for what is happening, not individuals. While many people know about greedy capitalists, less is written about ordinary consumers, who provide firms with profits. As a result, people do not feel personally responsible for the negative consequences of the consumer society.

For example, consumers are unlikely to feel guilty when factories smoke, planters clear forests to plant coffee, and workers' rights in Third World countries are violated. Although all this happens for the consumer and for his money.

In this regard, the story of the suicides of Foxconn employees is indicative. Apple didn't stop working with the company, and people kept buying iPhones.

May lead to a crisis

Opponents of the consumer society consider the existing stability to be illusory and fragile. For example, they note that spending on goods and services is constantly increasing, sometimes outstripping the growth of household income. This is facilitated by a developed lending system.

But inflating consumption for the sake of even greater consumption cannot go on indefinitely. Depletion of resources will lead to scarcity, and uncontrolled lending will devalue money. As a result, a crisis of such magnitude may occur, which has not happened before: when people will fight for food and die of hunger, while endless rows of coffee makers and televisions are gathering dust on store shelves.

What can be done to mitigate the negative effects of the consumer society

To one degree or another, we are all part of this society and we can hardly completely abandon it. Despite all the shortcomings, it has been successfully operating for many years.

However, the consumer society does create acute problems. Primarily ecological. If you want to do your part to combat them, try to become a conscious consumer and follow a minimalist strategy.

This does not mean that you need to give up shopping altogether, you just need to learn how to do them wisely. Here are some things to try:

1. Leave only what you really need. Try to put all the items in the house in boxes and live like this for a month. Most likely, you will understand that most have not even looked. Perhaps you simply do not need things from them.
2. Before you buy something, try postponing the purchase. For example, for a few weeks. If the thing is really necessary for you, then you will not change your mind and will return to the store. Otherwise, you will forget about it, which means that the product was not so needed.
3. Have fun, don't chase him. Read books, eat, shop slowly. Often we consume too much just because we are afraid to miss something. But in pursuit of the joys of life, you can lose your taste for it.
4. Strive to produce more than consume. So you will not only use this world, but also transform it. For example, get creative. It is especially good if you learn to give new life to old things.

These tips will not only make you a more responsible consumer, but will also help you save money and time.