The Causes Of Consumerism In America

If you’ve ever been in a history class, I am sure you have heard of the concept of “Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness.” If we reflect on that statement of “The Pursuit of Happiness”, what really makes people happy? Is it money? Power? Love? Some believe that a higher power is the only place we can find happiness. We worship and try to live up to these ideologies because we have been taught to fulfill the American Dream. With the way that society is heading, the answer may not be soon revealed. Maybe not even in our lifetime. We are programmed from a young age to have a herd mentality, and want everything that we don’t have or need for that matter. We try to keep up with the Jones’

The American attitude has always been to work as long, and as hard as possible. Not everyone agrees with this idea, but for those who do, why is that? Is it because that is what they were told? Is it because they are truly passionate about what they do? Perhaps it is so they can just afford to buy what is needed to live. However, what about those who work overtime just so they can afford the luxuries like going on vacation, or buying a new phone? This need for luxuries dates back since after the Civil War (“Consumerism,” par 4). Another part of the American culture is shopping, in fact shopping is now perceived as “a patriotic activity” (“Consumerism,” par 1). This is what consumer culture is, the push to buy what isn’t a necessity.

The past two hundred years has brought drastic change to the United States. The country has gone from an agricultural society to an urbanized and industrialized civilization. With this economical shift have come other societal transitions. Juliet Schor is the author of a trilogy of books that concern this shift in society. As an economist, she examined trends in the American economy, but also investigated these trends from a sociological and anthropological angle. She surveyed the increasing amount of work hours the average adult accumulated per year and the unprecedented amount of consumer goods that modern families have collected. Consumerism, which is an ideology of the acquisition of goods and services, is the topic of the third book

Consumerist culture; a significant sociological and economical term representative of a pivotal decade/s in –particularly American - history. With its firm roots in consumer capitalism, consumerist culture clearly reached its apogee during the 1980s and early 1990s and is explicitly denoted by its ‘removal of individualism’ through Fordist reproduction models (Giroux, 2001, p.3; Ivanova, 2011, p. 333-334) as well as the spread of narcissistic, conspicuous consumption as a means of expressing a superficial identity and social status (Layton, 2011). However, it is argued by Phillips, 2006, that period of ‘significant ideological and economic’ change usually involve the questioning of gender roles (p.405). Axiomatically, consumerist culture influenced the literature of the 80s and 90s which resulted in the birth of ‘blank fiction’; novels which utilized mass cultural references in order to provide a ‘critique of contemporary

Consumerism is both a social and an economic system that is based solely on the creation and dissemination of the purchasing of goods at an ever increasing rate. After the founding of the United States, and particularly after the Civil War, America was growing by leaps and bounds. Railroads opened the West, factories increased in urban areas producing steel, building was rampant, and all of these activities took a larger labor force. Because these vast numbers of workers were unable to produce their own essential goods as they did under agricultural societies, factories were set up to produce those goods as well. Because of this method of production, the previous norm of scarce resources, when combined with modern technology and production methods, changed to a situation in which products were available in large quantities at relatively low prices, and available to virtually everyone. In fact, this trend moved so fast that the term "conspicuous consumption" began to define American society in the 19th century, becoming even more rabid in the 20th (O'Cass and McEwen, 2006; Faragher, et.al., 2009, Chapter 19).

When I think about American consumerism the words money and capitalism come to mind. The big TV news channels come to mind for example CNN or FOX News. Social media also comes to mind like Twitter or Facebook because of all the ads I see on there from franchises or big companies. Donald Trump as a big corporate owner comes to mind and not Trump as a politician. Anything dealing with money comes to mind. Everything we see, hear, and eat deals with American Consumerism.

Through the arrival of American consumerism as early as the 1600s through interactions between Native Americans and Europeans America has always grown to be a trade nation. In modern consumerism consumers tend to purchase never wondering the ethical matter of their products. Since Europeans arrived on American soil and the transactions that lead to different cultural assimilation between the Europeans and Native Americans through clothing, jewelry, and weapons. As time progress the colonist boycott British products due to the high taxes that were placed imports from Britain. In each case different cases show American consumerism affected different groups of people from assimilation to British culture through the Native Americans to the free

When you go to a supermarket, do you always end up buying things that were not in the list? If your answer is yes, clearly there are things that convince shoppers to shop for more, and we must find those factors that lead us to spend massively. My question is what causes Americans to consume so much? An easy answer is the desire not to miss countless of great deals and promotional items. The department stores, like Ross and Macy’s, advertise irresistible deals occasionally and often include that the sales are limited editions. Time is flying, while the buyers psychologically feel forced to buy given with a little amount of time. Another great answer is the idea to honor the American consumers. McDonald’s holds a policy, which the customers

Consumerism rears its ugly head in many ways in America, and nothing has shown me this more than working in retail. The most plentiful example of the issue of overconsumption is the pressure that retail America Puts on the masses to overspend on holidays and special occasions. Whether it be back to school or black Friday the consumeristic skeletons in everyone’s closets break free and create chaos among the splendor of the holidays.

Consumerism is the center of American culture. Americans tend to confuse their wants with their needs. With new advances in technology, as well as the help of advertisers, people are provided with easy access to new products that seem essential to their everyday life, even though they have survived this long without them. People cannot live without food, clothing, and shelter. But realistically, according to people's different lifestyles, more than food, clothing, and shelter are needed. Most people need to work to survive. Unless a job is either in their own home, or within walking distance, a means of transportation is needed. Whether it be a vehicle, money for a taxi-cab, or a token for a ride on the subway, money must be spent

The American Dream itself has come to contain consumerism as one of its most important elements. As a consequence, many Americans believe that communism represents a threat to achieving the American Dream. A society where consumerism would no longer be present is, in the eyes of many,

Consumerism is damaging to our society, in our North American society consumerism is often portrayed to be a negative aspect of people’s lives. However, one can also argue positive effects that result from consumerism, or emphasize on the negative effects of consumerism and how it can be a constraining force in one’s own life. Consumerism is an idea of an economic policy that the market is shaped by the choice of the consumer and continues to emerge to shape the world’s mass markets. Some of the negative effects of consumerism that many critics may argue and that will be further emphasized on are the overexploitation of consumerism which has lead to economic poverty, and increase

A primary factor leading towards excessive consumerism found within the American culture is the presence of social classes. Each social class within society is defined by their own yearly earnings. When taking a deeper look into these social classes, it becomes clear just how much this influences modern day consumerism. For instance, someone in the middle class is more likely to look up to those in the upper class region and strive for what they have. Upper class Americans are notorious for their wealth. They can be seen with the most expensive lifestyles, along with the fact that they're always portrayed as constantly being joyful and content because of what

The first appearances of radio broadcasts at Presidential elections and in magazines led to an influx of media that strongly encouraged consumerism. In the beginning, people started columns in The New Yorker and newspapers began dictating social standards for women: “she will never make you a hatband or knit a necktie, but she’ll drive you from the station [on] hot summer nights in her own little sport car” (Howes 2006, xvi, Gourley 2008, 12). This is a prime example of how the newspapers laid out the rules of how a woman ought to behave and therefore how influenced society could become. An example is how in 2017, models in magazines seem to have a sense of beauty that is unachievable and yet women still aspire to be seen as perfect and skinny, blindly following those magazines. An advertisement for an electric washing machine in The Saturday Evening Post convinced the older Americans to spend money on credit for an appliance they believed they needed, fueling consumerism (Howes 2006, 50-1). With numerous new discoveries, such as radio, came innovative appliances that an important and ideal woman would need in her kitchen to believe that she was an accomplished part of society. Those countless Americans who spent money on credit would end up with debt as a result of being concerned over society’s thoughts which is part of why such a giant economic crash happened. A Florida Land Boom ad “Every Day a June Day, Full of Sunshine Where Winter Exists In Memory Only” made their

Consumerism has caused society to create a social hierarchy where the rich and famous are dominant because of their title and what they own.  According to the world, without money and fancy new cars, that person is considered unsuccessful and is looked down upon.  When in reality, people can be successful and not be rich; some people just have different standards of success.  Possessions give individuals a sense of pride in their hardwork and perseverance, but taking pride in possessions becomes dangerous when people start worshipping what they own and/or never being content or satisfied with what they already have.  However, the consumeristic world today has caused families and individuals to make materialism a lifestyle: “It is phenomenally easy for