With the upcoming holidays it is very evident how many products we as humans consume. We are lead to believe that we all need the new and upcoming item when in reality it is not needed in our lives. With the yearly anticipated event of Black Friday consumerism becomes extremely evident.
Consumerism is the idea that increasing the consumption of a good and service purchased in the market is always a good goal and that a persons well-being and happiness depends on obtaining consumer goods and material possessions. It is also an economic and social system that encourages the consumption of goods and services as a means of attaining wellbeing. This idea is related to the predominately Keynesian idea that consumer spending is the key driver of the economy and that encouraging consumers to spend is a major policy goal. From this view consumerism is a positive phenomenon that fuels economic growth. Some view the drive to obtain more material possessions as problematic causing individuals anxiety and eroding the social fabric.
To fully understand consumerism it is necessary to know that it refers to the tendency of people living in a capitalist economy to engage in a lifestyle of excessive materialism that revolves around reflexive, wasteful, or conspicuous overconsumption. This contributes to the destruction of traditional values and ways of life, consumer exploitation by big businesses, environmental degradation, and negative psychological effects. Conspicuous consumption is a means to show one’s social status, especially when publicly displayed goods and devices are too expensive for other members of the same class (it is associated with the wealthy but can also apply to any economic class). After World War II consumerism emphasized the benefits that capitalism had to offer in terms of improving the standards of living and an economic policy that prioritized the interests of consumers, these meanings have since fallen out of general use.
Economists presume that consumers benefit from the utility of the consumer goods they purchase; however, businesses also benefit from increased sales, revenue, and profit. Essentially meaning that spending by the consumer can benefit the economy and the business sector in particular. Consumption is seen as benefiting the economy while saving is seen as harmful to the economy. Conspicuous consumption also describes the theorization that some consumers purchase, own, and use products not for their direct-use value but as a way of signaling social and economic status.
Some advantages are that consumerism drives an economy and leads to increased production of goods and services. As a result of this there is a rise in GDP, gross domestic product, can occur. Business owners, workers in the industry, and owners of raw resources can profit from sales of consumer goods either directly or through downstream buyers.
On the other hand there are the disadvantages that consumerism can lead to a materialistic society that neglects other values. This is associated with globalization in promoting the production and consumption of globally traded goods and brands, which can be incompatible with local cultures and patterns of economic activity. This can create incentives for consumers to take on unsustainable debt levels that contribute to financial crises and recessions. Environmental problems are also frequently associated with consumerism, to the extent that consumer goods industries and the direct effects of consumption produce negative environmental externalities. Consumerism is also criticized on psychological grounds as it is blamed for the increase in status anxiety. Experiments have shown that people exposed to consumerist values based on wealth, status, and material possessions display greater anxiety and depression.
Now the true debate for if it is bad for society is based on how people begin to define themselves and others by what they own. While people need to be consumers in order to live and obtain our needs and wants, excess consumerism is wide enough to be negative for society. Consumerism leads to negative externalities like pollution and waste.
The bottom line is that consumerism is the propensity to consume and keep consuming. It is the drive to buy and own more stuff, and to define one’s identity through what they own. Economists view consumerism as a positive for consumer spending and GDP growth. Others like psychologists and sociologists, however, see negative effects of rampant consumerism ranging from creating anxiety in individuals to social ills.
Global Environmental Change 