“Our Consumer Society” is an intense dive into consumerism as a concept and a state of being. It examines what consumerism means, what it looks like and how it affects every human being on Earth mentally, physically and economically. It also looks at how consumerism came to be, what motivates it, its history, and its philosophical, psychological, and sociological influences.
The Latin word “consumere”, meaning “to use up, eat or waste”, is the root word of consumerism. And today, there is a lot of using up, eating up and wasting going on, with fast food, fast fashion, and fast trends. But it wasn’t always like this. Our consumer society began around the 15th century when trade between countries increased, and the Western world now had access to Eastern goods and vice versa.
The following 400 years would see significant manufacturing and industrial advances, producing more goods. Towards the end of the 19th century, consumerism was well on its way to being a major driving force in the world economy. The 20th century, particularly after World War II, introduced new technology and many new items for us to consume.
Our Consumer Society revolve around shops, supermarkets, new experiences, new stuff, a world surrounded by image, advertising, marketing, one-day delivery, product placement, gadgets and fast fashion. We are – supposedly – shallow, obsessed with the self, narcissistic and vein, building personal castles of consumption on the foundations of we don’t really need. But is this true? In some sense, of course, we’ve always consumed. And while we do consume the latest frivolous fashion and want the latest pointless gadget, we also consume meaningful things – new foods and books, travel and art.
So consumerism is a broad and vague concept. From the latin – consumere – it used to mean to use up and was limited to candles, food, drink, wood – things that you would literally consume, would disappear. But its obvious that throughout the modern period and increasingly from the 1950s, something has changed. Something new has happened. A consumer revolution, maybe? Consumption expanded, across the globe, across the classes. It began to dominate our lives. At some point we transformed into a consumer society.
Our Consumer Society is different from previous forms of consumption. We have a wider variety of goods and shops, more pervasive marketing, everything is commercialised and exchanged, and consumerism has become not just about producing new goods, but has become a cultural phenomenon.
In his classic 1993 book Land of Desire, historian William Leach says that “The cardinal features of this culture were acquisition and consumption as the means of achieving happiness; the cult of the new; the democratisation of desire; and money value as the predominant measure of all value in society.’ And historian Peter Sterns defines consumerism as: ‘a society in which many people formulate their goals in life partly through acquiring goods that they clearly do not need for subsistence or for traditional display.’ So today, I want to explore our consumer world, our landscape of desire. What does consumerism mean? Is the term even useful? Is the West ‘shallow’? What does it do to us to be surrounded by image, advertising, and celebrity? Is consumerism making us ill, alienating us from our true selves? Is there any possibility of ethical or conscious consumption? Is there a way out?
First, we need to look at the history of how consumerism developed, what we might have lost and when and why this change happened, to really understand what our consumer society is. Modern consumerism, as we understand it today, began to develop in the city states of renaissance Italy in the 15th century. Trade between the Far East, Middle East, and Europe increased, merchants became wealthier, and disposable income became more common. Artisans and shopkeepers traded in, owned, and collected increasing numbers of household wares like jars, bowls, plates, cutlery and textiles like
