Age Of Capitalism

Consumerism is everywhere and it affects everyone, but not everybody is aware of it. Consumerism is an idea that it is encouraged for people to acquire goods in increasing amounts. The idea is broadly used in America, but in Brave New World consumerism is everything. Every aspect of life in Brave New World deals with consumerism and to the World State it is the most important thing and it is their foundation of their society. Aldous Huxley mainly uses consumerism as a negative and takes it to extreme lengths where there is almost a humor about it. However, consumerism is a mixed bag that can help certain parts of society, but destroy others.

The amount of consumerism that happens every day of our life is something people in society may never think of. Consumerism is everywhere in our societies. .Consumer culture is the value of where our thoughts are on the buying and selling of goods or services and how we use the resources that we consume. In the article “Devil Takes Visa” on consumer culture, Clapp would say everything people do is becoming consumeristic, from going to church or going to school we are consumers. Consumer culture is all around and all through us whether we believe it or not we are constantly being consumers of many products and services. Americans are constantly consuming and it’s something I wouldn’t agree more on. I’ve never really stopped and thought about

The average debt per citizen in America is $63,056. This gargantuan amount of debt can be attributed to one desiring what one does not need. In the novel, Into the Wild, by Jon Krakauer, Chris McCandless believed these unnecessary desires were selfish outlooks towards life. Moreover, he thought that one should live deliberately, meaning one should strategically plan on how one uses his or her money and resources. “Less Stuff More Happiness” a TED Talk by Graham Hill, “Seeing” from Pilgrim at Tinker Creek by Annie Dillard and Into the Wild, by Jon Krakauer all pertain to the idea of living deliberately. Chris lived deliberately by having a giving spirit, by cutting out the extraneous, and by declining financial help from others.

Evaluation: This article, posted on April 1, 2016, was originally published on TheConversation.com. Throughout the article, the author cites sources that come from 2012-2017, with the majority of them coming from 2015-2016. Moreover, these cited websites are credible, well-known, and have information that can be corroborated with other sources. Some of these sites included The Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, and a report from the Federal Reserve. Moving on, the author, Mechele Dickerson, is an expert on this topic. Dickerson received both her B.A. and J.D. from Harvard University and currently works as a professor of law at the University of Texas at Austin. Here, she teaches classes on consumer law, debt and spending to law and undergraduate students. In her current research, she explores causes and consequences of consumer debt and how the culture

America was once known for being one of the richest nations, now facing a modern day depression. America starting noticing the economy going down during the collapse of the Lehman Brothers, and the global banking failure in 2008. This debt has become a burden amongst college students and the middle class Americans. This long lasting debt seems to be a drag and has no chance of getting better anytime soon.

Before the causes and resolutions are discussed, debt must be understood. Terry Herman, a financial advisor for Edward Jones, expresses this definition: “Simply put, debt is a product bought or a service utilized that you still have a financial obligation to” (Herman). To further that definition, debt is the borrowing of money with the entitlement of repayment with interest; this explains the financial obligation Herman expressed. While family members and friends may not enforce interest, interest would not demean the situation. The current consumer-driven culture has significantly increased the amount of personal debt from decades ago. A chart derived from statistics collected by the Federal Reserve and Bureau of Labor Statistics displays the climb of debt from $1,186 per person in 1948 to $10,168 in 2010 (Indiviglio). As shown, the increase over 62 years is approaching a factor by the multiple of nine. Consumers are clearly spending irresponsibly, which Herman manipulated into the “complete difference between an investment and expenditure” (Herman). An investment is something expected to obtain an additional value while an expenditure is unnecessary spending. Thus, consumers must be acquiring expenditures more frequently than investments.

After suffering the results of overusing credit cards, many Americans began more carefully analyzing the way they pay for their goods. Despite the average amount of debt going up in the past few years, the number of people holding

Americans live in an era of out of control spending that is driven by materialism. Children at a young age become well acquainted with the idea that owning the newest and best puts a greater amount of value into one’s life. Unfortunately, for many, this negatively translates into adulthood. Materialism is the root of millions of American citizen’s insurmountable amounts of debt. People have the desire to appear to their family and friends as though they are living lifestyles of luxury, when in reality, they are simply digging themselves a hole of debt they will never escape. But not only is trying to keep up a wealthy persona costly, it also entails a vicious, draining cycle that constantly leaves the consumer

However, Shklar does not address different types of debt that are essential to the middle-class’ achievements in society. Dwyer, et. al., are that there has been a generational shift that has increased the amount of debt in American society, which can be attributed to the democratization of credit and a shift in desired lifestyles (Dwyer, et. al., 728).

Supporters of consumerism point out that indebtedness has long been a part of America’s history. Until the 20th century, Americans believed indebtedness

Today’s economy seems so great with capitalism, that people can start their own businesses at any time easily and workers have minimum wages. Yes, these things are great, but there is big problem behind these things that can make the whole economy system collapse in the future. This big problem is the huge inequality in the distribution of wealth within the Capitalism.

Consumerism in the economic sense is defined by Merriam-Webster dictionary as the theory that an increasing in consumption is economically desirable. Consumerism is used in sociology as a preoccupation with an inclination toward the buying of consumer goods. The consumerism theory is used in support of Capitalist economies that benefit from citizens buying more goods and companies spending money to make goods in order to bolster the economic standing of a country. After World War II, America influenced many Allied countries including France to take more capitalist approaches in their economic ideals and free trade policy. This led to those western countries experiencing the sociological definition of consumerism. A new world was seen in those countries with an emphasis on materialism and spending more than they were accustomed to. Both

Uncontrollable debt and consumerism falls on the shoulders of individuals. Firstly, saying the words “budget deficit” in front of politicians possesses the ability to create an argument. Both sides bicker back and forth about who is at fault. The combination of government spending and weak revenues are responsible for the massive deficit. Furthermore, businesses are also liable for consumerism. While they are guilty for leaving an environmental footprint and attracting a population, consumerism seems to get the least amount of attention. And, if employees are not getting paid what they deserve from these occupations, it forms a large payroll gap. Lastly, individuals themselves are to blame. Instead of downshifting to achieve their interest,

We are experiencing today a new phase of the expansion of capitalism whose purpose is not the conquest of colonies, but the control of global trade and the wealth that flows from it. Our government is too eager to take the decisive steps into the unknown of globalization without our elected officials having had the time to examine each of the sections in detail before passing the agreements. Regrettably, politicians themselves seem to have forgotten that they represented defeating our social safety net by raising taxes to the maximum, while negotiating trade agreements such as the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) to better assist multinational companies, but not to us, the citizens. Without our assistance or our opinion, these

Materialism can be viewed as a never ending cycle where once you fall victim to the consumer culture, it is practically impossible to detach yourself from it. I can say this with personal experience, since I live in a culture where materialism and superficiality surrounds you. Even though I disagree with the reasons behind excessive materialism, I fall victim to this cycle too because I have become obsessed with wanting to buy the latest luxury businesses have to offer. Companies are very aware of this cycle, and use the ‘victims' of materialism as their target audiences to advertise their products to; consumer has now come to be a derogatory term within businesses. Firms constantly advertise new models of products, and mindless consumers who are targets of this cycle obsessively buy and purchase the goods, thinking this will help them gain recognition in society. The constant media influence of advertising products is another reason the underprivileged people feel pressured to live up to the standards that society set.