...In modern times, the term “consumerism” has been associated with a preoccupation with the acquisition of goods and commodities. Traditionally, it has been used with negative connotations – as a “problem” that indicates a lack of discretion among “buyers” and “consumers” regarding what goods to buy and why to buy them in an increasingly commercialized environment. Among Marxist thinkers especially, what happened has been linked to exploitation under industrial capitalism. Consumerism has been associated with the growth of industrial capitalism in Europe from the 18th century and its global spread thereafter – a development that was accompanied by economies of scale and increases in production and productivity. Such increases were sustained by growth in demand, both in the immediate neighbourhood of centres of production and further a-field. Improvements in technology and extensive use of the division of labour enabled manufacturers to produce on a large scale for “wants”, “needs” and “fashions”. Commercialisation of leisure and the penetration by innovative manufacturers, of religious practices, public health, and education reinforced the habits of acquisition and increasing “consumption”. In European society, in these circumstances, availability of goods ceased to be a substantial problem. Rather, more important were means to ensure that they were in demand and “consumed”. If this was not achieved, “gluts” and economic depressions would take place, affecting...
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...In modern times, the term “consumerism” has been associated with a preoccupation with the acquisition of goods and commodities. Traditionally, it has been used with negative connotations – as a “problem” that indicates a lack of discretion among “buyers” and “consumers” regarding what goods to buy and why to buy them in an increasingly commercialized environment. Among Marxist thinkers especially, what happened has been linked to exploitation under industrial capitalism. Consumerism has been associated with the growth of industrial capitalism in Europe from the 18th century and its global spread thereafter – a development that was accompanied by economies of scale and increases in production and productivity. Such increases were sustained by growth in demand, both in the immediate neighbourhood of centres of production and further a-field. Improvements in technology and extensive use of the division of labour enabled manufacturers to produce on a large scale for “wants”, “needs” and “fashions”. Commercialisation of leisure and the penetration by innovative manufacturers, of religious practices, public health, and education reinforced the habits of acquisition and increasing “consumption”. In European society, in these circumstances, availability of goods ceased to be a substantial problem. Rather, more important were means to ensure that they were in demand and “consumed”. If this was not achieved, “gluts” and economic depressions would take place, affecting employer...
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...Consumerism Term 3, Lecture 1 Now, consumerism is more widespread than before. Before- What you produce determines who you are and how people look at you Now- Consumption= what is consumed, when it is consumed and how much, determines who you are and how people look at you 2. The roots of consumerism Began towards the end of the 18th century Sugar, tea, coffee- consumerist products With these consumerist products, came the associated pieces (cups, coffee cups, saucers, coffee shops) Consumerism= caused by increased prosperity. As people earn more, they consume more. Social, political and economic revolutions changed people- from this comes consumerism Consumerism becomes feminized- focuses on what goes on in the homes. Which is a woman’s job After consumerism (18th century), women are seen as more beautiful. Before, men were seen more beautiful. Thus women buy more to make themselves more beautiful. Men started to go shopping, as a fun activity. This was not the case before consumerism came along. 3. The growth on consumerism Uneven geographically- consumerism more in urban areas than rural areas a) changes in retailing(shops) changes in retailing boosts consumerism = department stores advertisement boosts consumerism = first in America Peasant societies don’t produce consumerism Changes in media boosts consumerism= radio Kleptomania= compulsion to steal...
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...CONSUMERISM Consumerism is the idea that personal happiness can be obtained through consumption, the purchase of goods and services. One of the phrases supporting consumerism is "Money can buy happiness." The term is often associated with criticisms of consumption starting with Thorstein Veblen or, more recently by a movement called Enoughism. Veblen's subject of examination, the newly emergent middle class arising at the turn of the twentieth century, comes to full fruition by the end of the twentieth century through the process of globalization. In economics, consumerism refers to economic policies placing emphasis on consumption. In an abstract sense, it is the belief that the free choice of consumers should dictate the economic structure of a society (cf. Producerism, especially in the British sense of the term). | History | | Consumerism has strong links with the Western world, but is in fact an international phenomenon. People purchasing goods and consuming materials in excess of their basic needs is as old as the first civilizations (see Ancient Egypt, Babylon and Ancient Rome, for example). A great turn in consumerism arrived just before the Industrial Revolution. While before the norm had been the scarcity of resources, The Industrial Revolution created an unusual situation: for the first time in history products were available in outstanding quantities, at outstandingly low prices, being thus available to virtually everyone. And so began the era of mass consumption...
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... Subject: CONSUMERISM Working Title: consumerısm and the mıllenıum generatıon INTRODUCTION Topic: how does consumerısm affect the mıllennıum generatıon? Definition/Explanation: consumerısm : the state of an advanced industrial society in which a lot of goods are bought and sold • disapproving when too much attention is given to buying and owning things (taken from dictionary.cambridge.org) Millenium generation : The millennials have different characteristics than any generation before them and in order to serve them better, K-12 education and colleges and universities are having to change the way they do business. The millennials have grown up in a society that is very different than any group before them. They have been plugged into technology since they were babies, are a safe generation, are the first generation for which Hispanics/Latinos will be the largest minority group instead of African Americans and have the most educated mothers of any generation before them. They are the most scheduled generation ever, are true multi-taskers, expect to have 6-8 careers in their lifetime and are attracted to diverse environments. Taken from http://www.cpcc.edu/millennial Disagreement about this issue: Thesis: although some people may disagree, consumerism has affected the millenium generation negatively by damaging their physical health,damaging their psychology and damaging their relationships. BODY 1. Argument supportıng your opinion: consumerısm affects youth...
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...Consumerism is sometimes used in reference to the anthropological and biological phenomena of people purchasing goods and consuming materials in excess of their basic needs, which would make it recognizable in any society including ancient civilizations (e.g. Ancient Egypt, Babylon and Ancient Rome). However, the concept of consumerism is typically used to refer to the historically specific set of relations of production and exchange that emerge from the particular social, political, cultural and technological context of late 19th and early 20th century capitalism with more visible roots in the social transformations of 16th, 17th and 18th century Europe. The consumer society emerged in the late seventeenth century and intensified throughout the eighteenth century. While some[who?] claim that change was propelled by the growing middle-class who embraced new ideas about luxury consumption and the growing importance of fashion as an arbiter for purchasing rather than necessity, many critics[who?] argue that consumerism was a political and economic necessity for the reproduction of capitalist competition for markets and profits, while others point to the increasing political strength of international working class organizations during a rapid increase in technological productivity and decline in necessary scarcity as a catalyst to develop a consumer culture based on therapeutic entertainments, home ownership and debt. The more positive, middle-class view argues that this revolution...
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...Beyond Consumerism: New Historical Perspectives on Consumption Author(s): Frank Trentmann Source: Journal of Contemporary History, Vol. 39, No. 3 (Jul., 2004), pp. 373-401 Published by: Sage Publications, Ltd. Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3180734 . Accessed: 21/03/2011 08:15 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp. JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use provides, in part, that unless you have obtained prior permission, you may not download an entire issue of a journal or multiple copies of articles, and you may use content in the JSTOR archive only for your personal, non-commercial use. Please contact the publisher regarding any further use of this work. Publisher contact information may be obtained at . http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=sageltd. . Each copy of any part of a JSTOR transmission must contain the same copyright notice that appears on the screen or printed page of such transmission. JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org. Sage Publications, Ltd. is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access...
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...Abstract This essay employs a visual analysis to compare and contrast Andy Warhol’s ‘Blue Marilyn’ with Roy Lichtenstein’s ‘In the Car’ in association to the postmodernist theme of Consumer Culture and more explicitly, the introduction of Pop Art, born from post-war consumerist societies. The argument refers to eight scholarly research sources, three of which are scholarly journal articles. POSTMODERNITY AND CONSUMERISM: WIT, INVENTION AND THE AFTERMATH OF WAR Research Statement: Using a visual analysis, compare and contrast Andy Warhol’s Blue Marilyn with Roy Lichtenstein’s In the Car in association to the postmodernist theme of Consumer culture and more explicitly the introduction of Pop Art; born through post-war materialisation. The Postmodernist Cannon of the latter twentieth and twenty-first Century Art is a crucial anthology, signifying radical and innovative movements that differentiated from Modernist art practices. It signifies a period of time whereby practitioners sought to contradict the rebellious experimentational aspects of Modernist art through re-visioning and revitalising media to fit the metamorphosing culture. Incorporated within the Cannon were several movements that were heavily influenced by the rise of Consumer cultures, dictated by the post-war explosion of advertisement in the 1950’s, compelling practitioners to manipulate and transform their style in either awe of the perpetually adapting society or in rebellion towards the mass produced...
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...Two Cheers for Consumerism In the article called 2 cheers for consumerism, the writer Twitchell explains how people, the consumers, are consuming more and more items everyday. According to the author of the article “The really interesting question may be not why we are so materialistic, but why we are unwilling to acknowledge and explore what seems the central characteristics of life.”. Many people spend most of their time and energy consuming or producing items all the time and most of that happened in the 20th century, like for example in the 1960’s. Some people consider this as Commercialism, and others as consumerism, but either way, commercialism or consumerism will stay up high for many people that like to buy stuff. The U.S. is a nation of consumers. Consumerism affects people in many ways, like for example age and many other things. The main idea for consumerism is that many people can’t resist having a specific item, most of those items are objects that they don’t really need. According to the author “ it is simply impossible to consume objects without consuming meaning.”. This means that consumerism is all around us, currents of desire are flowing around us all the time, like if it were white smoke. Some people say that consumerism It’s pretty much a waste because it’s now a big concern. America is considered a nation of consumers, one that can never have enough things (Twitchell). Twitchell refers to American material culture as a mallcondo...
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...November 18, 2014 Consumerism: Gotta Buy ‘Em All It is the day after Thanksgiving, known colloquially to Americans as “Black Friday”. Hundreds of thousands of shoppers line up outside of department stores, anxiously waiting to get their hands on the latest of gadgets and gizmos to purchase for families, friends, and loved ones for the holiday season. Many of the retailers in America have offered attractive promotional sales on this day to attract high traffic and volume in their stores. Realizing this, consumers in America who take a part in Black Friday see this as a fight to the death. This “fight to the death” literally came true in the year 2013, as one death and fifteen injuries resulted from the madness of the shopping event, according to BlackFridayDeathCount.com. On the flip side for businesses, Americans spent an average of $407.02 from the Thursday through Sunday that bookends Black Friday, as stated by the National Retail Federation. This topsy-turvy day recognized by a vast majority of American culture has been seen by many as the yearly peak of the country’s ever-increasing trend towards consumerism. Consumerism, the belief that goods give meaning to individuals and their roles in society, has presented itself to Americans in both a positive and negative spirit. On the one hand, consumer spending drives the economy, gives consumers a vast myriad of retailers to choose from, and renders shopping as a social experience. On the other hand, consumerism can render...
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...GERMAN UNIVERSITY IN CAIRO - MARKETING DEPARTMENT Antecedents To Consumerism The Role Of Marketing By Nabila Youssri El-Assar 22-3384 To Dr. Noha El-Bassiouny On 10/12/2012 1 Literature Review Outline 1. Introduction 2. Consumerism in perspective 2.1. Definitions 2.1.1. First stream of thought: Benign Definitions 2.1.1.1. 2.1.1.2. 2.1.1.3. First definition: Manipulative Techniques Second definition: Customer is King Third definition: Globalization 2.1.2. Second stream of thought: Destructive Definition 2.1.2.1. Evolution Of The Consumer Culture 2.2. Implications Of The Benign Consumerism Definitions On Marketing Strategy 3. The Consumer Culture And The Consumption Society 3.1. Distinguishing Definition 3.2. Conditions For A Consumption Society 3.3. Unhealthy Pillars/Consequences Of The Consumption Society 3.3.1. Materialism 3.3.2. Compensatory consumption: The "Shopaholic" Phenomenon 3.3.3. I Shop Therefore I Am 3.3.4. Living Beyond Your Means 4. Antecedents To The Unhealthy Consumption Pillars 4.1. Intrinsic/Personal Influences 4.1.1. Personality Characteristics: 4.1.1.1. 4.1.1.2. 4.1.1.3. Self-Monitoring Personality Trait Innovativeness, Fashion Orientation And Opinion Leadership Ethical orientation 4.1.2. Psychological characteristics 4.1.2.1. 4.1.2.2. 4.1.2.3. 4.1.2.4. Co-morbidity and the Joint cycle of compulsive consumption Obsessive thoughts and Risk Taking Propensity Low self esteem Dealing with Negative Emotions and life challenges 4.2. Societal...
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...Is Consumerism Killing Our Creativity? by Jocelyn K. Glei Have you ever fallen into a black hole of comparison shopping? You’re looking for a new digital camera, for instance. You head over to Cnet.com and read some reviews of various cameras, watch the video demos, identify the model you want. Then perhaps you employ Google’s shopping search to price out the options and find the best deal. All of the sudden, it’s four hours later. You’ve found the perfect camera, but your purchasing triumph is tainted by a creeping feeling of, well, disgust. Couldn’t that time have been used better?I was thinking recently about what my biggest distractions were – the things keeping me from pushing my creative projects forward. As I scanned through my daily activities, I found that the most insidious distraction was, in fact, things. More specifically, the wanting, hunting, and getting of things – whether they be tangible (a new computer) or intangible (information). As Annie Leonard says in The Story of Stuff, “Our primary identity has become that of being consumers – not mothers, teachers, or farmers, but of consumers. We shop and shop and shop.” We love our stuff. Yet more than the stuff itself, we love the act of finding it – the search, the anticipation. But why is consumerism – and particularly, an online hunt for the ideal purchase – so addictive? It turns out that our consumerist impulse stimulates the same part of the brain that fires when we’re on the trail of a great...
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...MGMT2200 PROJECT PROPOSAL Students undertaking tertiary education in this day and age are often seen exhaustingly conducting the futile exercise of dividing and budgeting their scarce funds across a variety of spending platforms in order to support and satisfy their university needs and wants. In this project, we attempt to analyse specific spending behaviours of the young university student demographic and define the reasoning behind specific consumption patterns, supported by the findings of primary and secondary research. The primary research conducted by our group will primarily focus on behavioural factors that influence different aspects of students’ consumption, and will predominately be in the form of questionnaires and surveys from a large sample. The primary research steps our group undertakes to will be two-fold: 1. Identify what the target audience is purchasing and the proportion of income spent on particular categories. Clear defined categories will be provided, with examples given Eg. Food, recreation, entertainment, going out, other etc. 2. Examine reasons why money is proportioned in this way, explanations as to what leads students to spend on particular categories, rather than others. Eg. Those who spend more on food have less to eat at home, those spending a lot on clothes/music/magazines/etc. why? Do students have a tendency to save? For what reason? In surveys, open-ended questions may be asked eg. “Your money is proportioned so that 60% is spent...
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...Consumerisms Effect Consumerisms Effect Consumerism is defined as, “the theory that an increasing consumption to goods is economically desirable; also: a preoccupation with and an inclination toward the buying of consumer goods” (“Consumerism,” n.d.). With this said, is consumerism healthy for anyone who is involved? From American cultures birth after the revolutionary war, this society has relished the flattery of consumerism. The search for wealth, material goods, and happiness has no boundaries in this society. Although some positive influences exist within consumerisms definition, a darker side to this phenomenon cannot be over looked. Consumerism reflects many negative human attributes and its increase is adversely affecting American culture, societal equalities, and the environment. Consumerism, in all its forms, has been around since the earliest times of American culture. From the earliest time of America, directly after the Revolutionary War, this attitude of need and want for material good and what was considered the best was very evident. One would think that during a life altering divide of nations the concept of consumerism would stop between them, but during this time, Americans still sought British goods. A high perceived value and thought pattern that these goods were of superior quality allowed these items to become a status symbol for early Americans. George Washington, weeks after signing a peace treaty with Britain, ordered a large...
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...As people, we all have become materialistic in this modern society. We are competing with each other. People buy useless things because they see others or they wish something. In the article “Spent: America After Consumerism” the author, Amitai Etzioni, discusses two problems: consumerism and capitalism, which is causing an economic crisis. Etzioni explains how consumerism has become a social disease, where people are spending money on useless things to acquire higher lifestyle to fit in the society. He also suggests solutions, to control consumerism by following communitarianism or transcendental pursuit. However, many people feel that consumerism is part of life. They feel as if they acquire more materialistic objects or money it will bring happiness in their life. I do agree with the author that consumerism has become a social disease and people will do anything to acquire vain desires. At first, I have seen many people working extra-long hours to acquire their desires without thinking how restless life can affect them physically and mentally....
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