Consumerism And It's Discontents Analysis

Today’s consumerism can be ethically justified using Kant, Singer, and Aristotle; however, people still should donate money to charity. Utilitarian’s, like Signer, believe that people should do everything they can to maximized the happiness of all people. To them, buying everything in sight is ethically wrong because the money could be better spent on helping others. Using Kant and Aristotle, it can be shown that buying lots of items, like in today’s society, can be ethically justified.

We have great inventions that have made our lives very easy however there is still discontent within each individual. We strive very hard to attain materialistic things and our level of desire is never ending. Consumerism has promoted greed within our society.

Some would say that the advertisers are responsible for building the hype and the consumer is just responding to a once in a lifetime deal (that happens every year). Some have even gone as far as blaming capitalism and the manner in which it functions within our society. If you recall though, James Twitchell blames the consumer and not these other outlets. “Some might blame this on capitalism, but one can love the freedom and innovation of capitalism and hate the materialism of consumerism… However this isn’t because capitalism promotes consumerism. Capitalism is just an economic system - an imperfect one - that that reflects the values we put into it, so if we feed it consumerism, that’s what we’ll get. We, the consumers, are guilty of turning Thanksgiving into a consumerist holiday” (Daniel). This isn’t to say that everyone that participates in Black Thursday or Friday is guilty of consumerism, maybe they don’t have a family to spend the holiday with or maybe shopping with family is there means of spending quality time together. The important thing is that we are all consumers in this society and we must be aware of the production companies ability to trigger that within our brains the need to buy more and more things we don’t necessarily need and sometimes even want. Playing the victim in all of this proves that you are aware of the tactics used to get you to use your purchasing power and inturn you are aware of your own ability to change the way consumerism is currently

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

Just what is consumerism, and is it beneficial or detrimental to our economy and society? Basically, consumerism is the ideology that people must buy products and services in order to allow the economy to function correctly, but is this line of thinking accurate? It is entirely possible that consumerism is creating a downward slope, leading us into greed and selfishness; but it is also argued that consumerism is merely a means to stimulate the economy and produce a better society as a whole. There are flaws in the system of course: pollution, greed, wasted materials; but there are also benefits to it, such as, the creation of new jobs, the growth of businesses, and even a show of patriotism. In essence, consumerism is both a positive and a negative force in the modern world, depending on how it is utilized and portrayed, for example: a person with a positive world value would best consider balancing out their life so they are neither needlessly consuming nor being a minimalist to a

Healthcare consumerism is increasing in importance in the 21st century. In today’s world, consumers have multitudes of information available that at one time was strictly available to the medical profession. Patients obtain information through the internet, commercials, and ad campaigns. The days when consumers followed referral recommendations are drifting away. Consumers are now at the center of the health care system causing customer service to be a key component to any successful practice (Hone, 2007).

“Consumerism comes from the verb consume, which is rooted in the Latin word consumere, meaning to use up or to waste. The noun consumerism also refers to a movement that promotes the interests of consumers — that is, people who purchase goods, use them, and then buy more — especially the protection of these consumers from things like fraud or price gouging” (“Consumerism”). Consumerism has changed over the thousands of years that people have been living. Some people believe that consumerism is great where it helps stimulate the economy, but other people see it as an evil force because it hurts people and makes them care less about their self and the world around them. I can agree with the people that says it is good for the economy; however, I have seen for myself that consumerism hurts people on different levels that other factors can not compete with. I believe that excessive consumerism is

Consumerism is becoming the characteristics of most world economies. In today’s society, consumerism is often having a negative aspect of people’s lives. But, if looked in a positive light, consumerism have certain positive characteristics. Consumerism has been as part of a history process. People often want more than they have now, more money, a better car, a more comfortable house, more luxuries brand clothing or shoes. People never be satisfied with them, because there is new advertisement for new cars, clothes and electronics every day. In term of is discussion consumerism, James B. Twitchell, author of “ The Allure of Luxury ”, explores the joys of luxury and challenges the academic criticism that condemns our material instincts as shallow and self-centered. Another author Daniel Gross of “ Will Your Recession Be Tall, Grande, or Venti? ” , illustrates the correlation which economists should be counting the number of baristas when they judge the direction the economy will take between having too many Starbucks and having a financial crisis. So, consumerism has a major effect on our lives, whatever negative effects or positive effects.

Ever since The Great Depression (1929- 1939) World War II, society has experienced an increase in available products. Having access to materials that provide comfort or make life easier have given us opportunities to enjoy many aspects of life by saving time or providing tools that make our lives easier that give us more leisure time. Some people believe that more possessions may lead to increased happiness. But acquiring possessions can have both positive and negative effects. Can striving for materialism go too far and actually interfere with our quality of life and our personal ethics or beliefs? When are people consumed by materialism?

There is so much to talk about in this essay, so I will personally get straight into this paper starting with the mystery hidden worldviews that we all do not really take a look at that much.From the beginning they shed light on the fact that all people are consumers at one level. We were made by God to consume, to eat, to enjoy, to live. Healthy consumption should take one’s responsibility to others into account. This is not the case when consumption becomes an “-ism.” They state: “Consumerism absolutism consumption by believe that we can find fulfillment by accumulating wealth and everything that comes with it” This tendency is true in all facets of American culture. We desire “just a little bit more” of anything that we think will

In the 1980s, health policy in many countries was strongly influenced by the promotion of consumerism as part of the market ideology (Marincowitz, 2004). The problem with consumerism was that it encouraged people to make demands, but failed to emphasise reciprocal responsibilities (Marincowitz, 2004). Because of a growing awareness of this deficiency, partnership (mutuality) has largely replaced consumerism. This study discusses how the contextual factors and the interactional features and the consumeristic power relationship linked each other and how it negatively influence the therapeutic relationship. Consumerism offers more power to the patient to take decision according to the patient need (Williams and Hariison 1999). This study identified the certain possible sociocultural factors that influence the patient’s treatment decision while using the power of consumerism and the interactional strategy that used by used by the patient to convey it to the therapist during their interaction.

The impact of consumerism is a human behavior stimulating a multitude of neurological functions of individuals globally. The behaviors have been classified in both positive and negative terms dependent on perspective and severity. The neurological connection will be examined through similarities between compulsive shopping and illicit drug addiction, the relationship between brand recognition and attachment, as well as the effect of estimating value in material objects compared to life experiences, to identify the cause of consumerism.

Every society has mythology. In some societies, it's religion. Our religion is consumerism.Ellen Weis, San Francisco's Museum of Modern MythologyConsumerism fuels the capitalist fire. In a capitalist society, the goal is to make money, by whatever means possible, exploiting whichever potential weakness that might exist. The human race is one with a wild imagination, and this wild imagination, though a great strength, can, like all great strengths, serve as a potential weakness.It is our imaginations that advertising exploits, and it is our imaginations that religion and myth traditionally played the role of satiating, telling stories that have morals to them, lessons to be learned. Now consumerism fulfills this role.

“Consumerism is not only refers to consumer spending or the buying of consumer goods; It is an ideology that an ever-increasing consumption of goods is beneficial to the economy.”

Consumerism has became a part of every aspect of modern life. Parts of our lives that were not altered by consumerism, now have to conform with this phenomenon that has taken control. Consumerism is a reality that has always happened in developed nations, in which people purchase goods and services that they do not need. Nevertheless, with the Industrial Revolution the way the economy worked changed completely. An incredible amount of resources was now available to a wide range of the population. With the Industrial Revolution also came the capitalism. The capitalism was a new form of economy that caused a rapid growth of middle classes in developed societies (Webster). The population that was considered part of the middle class now had money to acquire not just basic needs for consumption but also other other goods and services they wanted.