Quote of the Day: Juliet B. Schor on the Overspent American
by Jasmin Malik Chua, Jersey City, USA on 09.20.07
Photo credit: zizzy
American consumers are often not conscious of being motivated by social status and are far more likely to attribute such motives to others than to themselves. We live with high levels of psychological denial about the connection between our buying habits and the social statements they make.
Most Americans would deny that, by their spending, they are seeking status, in the usual meaning of the word—looking to position themselves in a higher economic stratum. They might point out that they don't want everything in sight, that purchases are often highly selective. Indeed, what stands out most about much of the recent spate of spending is its defensive character. Parents worry that their children need computers and degrees from good colleges to avoid being left behind in the global economy. Children, concerned about being left out in the here and now, demand shoes, clothes, and video games. ... Increasingly overworked, adults need stress-busting weekends, microwaves, restaurants meals, and takeout to keep up with their daily lives. But the cost of each of these conveniences add up."
—Juliet B. Schor, The Overspent American: Why We Want What We Don't Need (1999, Harper Paperbacks)
The reality is that ever since the industrial age began, American's have been undergoing a psychic evolution - and a sad one at that, one that has destroyed their ability to connect with simplicity of any form (in how they dress, in what they find entertaining, in how much food it takes to satiate, even the type of sex that they find titillating).
This rapid fire rate of expansion in the last century driven by the American capitalistic ethic has caused the west to essential "reprogram" - that not only is simple (in any form ) not enough, but what one already has (no matter how much that is) - is not enough.
Consumerism, advertising, large corporations are fueled by the notion of the public wanting more, bigger and better. I believe that the back lash against this is upon us and this is why, as the post above states, parents feel a need to justify their excessive spending - because the moral undertone is thankfully shifting, if ever so slowly.
Julia Z.Fenster
Editor, The Lohasian
http://www.thelohasian.com
Parents worry that their children need computers and degrees from good colleges to avoid being left behind in the global economy.
This is not an unfounded worry.
Children need computers and college degrees. Within reason these are things worth going in debt for.
The (invisible) elephant in the room is what begs the question... why does it matter, either way? It's fascinating to me how many of the voices who cry out against consumerism reveal that they have a bias... for example, consumerism is bad because people should go to church and pray more. Those types of voices are unsubstantiated, I think, and they have no chance to fight back against the modern world.
It's really fascinating to me not so much that people seek status symbols, but that other people think that this is fundamentally wrong for some reason that I don't think they can really explain without resorting to some traditional value. Yet, I've never seen anyone make a valid argument that it is not the traditional values themselves that are having trouble coping with modern society and need to be changed, rather than the other way around.
It seems, then, that this concern betrays itself - it is not an objective criticism of modern values, but a sentimental longing for the simpler times of old. It looks like a movement for the restoration of supposedly changed values that in reality, if there really is a problem, are the same unchanging values that got us into trouble in the first place.