¶ … birth of the phenomena known as the consumer society is unknown but there is no doubt that, at least in the western world, it has existed since the advent of the Industrial Revolution.
In the consumer society a high value is placed on the use and possession of material goods. Prior to the industrial revolution, most of society was concerned about mere sustenance and there was little demand for goods other than those needed to live from day. With the advent of the Industrial Revolution mass production became possible and suddenly the producers had an excess of goods and needed to create a market for them.
The concept of consuming more than what one needed did not suddenly emerge with the birth of the consumer society as the ancient Romans and Egyptians were well-known for their hedonism but such behavior in those societies was limited to a select few in the ruling class. What the Industrial Revolution allowed was the spread of produced goods to society's masses.
One of the overriding features of the consumer society is materialism.
Materialism is a strong desire to accumulate possessions as a form of wealth. The emergence of materialism served to stimulate the economies of the western world as the desire to acquire more and more opened up new markets for businesses. As the consumer society matured and grew materialism took on more importance as the consumers' desire to acquire motivated producers to manufacture new and better products. Arguably, this system benefited the consumer as he was presented with more options to consider when making purchases but the question is "who really benefitted?"
There are essentially three views that must be examined when considering the winners and losers in a consumer society. These three views, which are actually game theory terms, refer to the actual amount of wealth those parties in society gain.
In a zero-sum scenario, one party advances his position while another party suffers a corresponding loss. The wins and losses add up to zero. In the positive-sum scenario, the outcome results in a sum that is greater than zero. This situation occurs in an economy...
Finally, there is the negative sum situation. This occurs where there is shrinking economy and, as a result, everyone ends up losing. The losses can be minimized in this situation if everyone lessens their expectations.
How do these concepts or game theories apply to an
analysis of the consumer society? Initially, consumerism was a western world phenomenon. Countries outside of Europe and the United States played no major part but that has changed in recent years as improvements in
technology and
communication have brought increased prosperity to developing Third World nations.
As a result, the issues presented in the earlier game theories have come into greater play.
The benefits of a consumer society are many. In such a society industrial production is increased which produces a corresponding increase in the availability of goods and services. Employment is increased and theoretically the purchase of the comforts allows for the enjoyment of a better life style, however, as demonstrated by the game theories described above, too often there has to be some corresponding give and take.
Consumerism depends heavily upon the perpetuation of materialism. This creates a society where the craving of goods is high but this can also lead to frustration when the
purchasing power is not available. It can also lead high levels of
stress as one strives to keep up with his neighbors and friends in the
acquisition of more "things." Often times, it can also cause an increase in
crime rates as the more unscrupulous members of society decide to forego obtaining desired objects through the traditional methods of purchasing them by
stealing them.
As the consumer society continues to grow and expand into new markets there have…
