Affluenza: Over-Consumption and Social Decay in America

Introduction: The Paradox of American Affluence

Today's American society's affluence is unparalleled. With the success of a capitalist economy, America is able to provide the essential needs of its citizens — and at a quantity exceeding what the entire country requires. Food, clothing, cars, housing, and home appliances range from the cheap to the expensive, available in various sizes, colors, and forms. All these material needs and wants are accessible to virtually every American. An observer might well conclude that American life is the ideal life to live.

John de Graaf, David Wann, and Thomas Naylor thought otherwise. Critically examining the seemingly affluent and ideal social order of American society in their book Affluenza, the authors present an insightful interpretation of the "social diseases" that plague America. Collectively categorized under the epidemic they term "affluenza," the authors discuss how affluent American society is far from perfect: it harbors social diseases created by indulging in excessive material accumulation — specifically, over-consumption, social disintegration, and environmental degradation. Centering on these three social diseases, Affluenza brings into focus the detrimental effects that capitalism and its comforts have had on American society.

Prior to discussing these three main themes, the authors first define the nature of the epidemic itself. They describe "affluenza" as "a painful, contagious, socially transmitted condition of overload, debt, anxiety, and waste resulting from the dogged pursuit of more" (de Graaf, Wann, and Naylor 2). Evidently, affluenza is a social problem that emerged from the very success of capitalism and modernism in America.

Over-Consumption and the Stress of Excess

In illustrating how the epidemic spread and gave rise to the concept of "affluenza," the authors first show how over-consumption became one of its primary symptoms — that is, Americans increasingly feel the need to accumulate more material wealth in an effort to win the race toward affluence. This is explored in Chapter 5, "The Stress of Excess," in which the authors discuss the emergence of "possession overload" and "time famine" — interrelated concepts that effectively illustrate how Americans learned to buy more than they need in the shortest time possible.

Over-consumption reflects an American psyche in which people treat excessive spending as an immediate solution to the stress of everyday life. Ironically, what the authors convey is that Americans work very hard in order to financially support a lifestyle they cannot maintain, much less enjoy (de Graaf, Wann, and Naylor 40). This observation reveals that Americans are not living the life they aspire to: the comfort available to them only produces stress and financial ruin. Bankruptcy results from overspending and the inability to pay for excessive purchases, while stress is caused by the pressure to keep pace with others' apparent ascent toward affluence and to manage sudden feelings of emotional instability through further consumption.

Over-consumption thus represents the primary detrimental effect of affluenza on the individual. Through this first symptom, readers are invited to recognize themselves in the epidemic, making it easier to grasp the full complexity of the social problem. And yet, as the authors make clear, affluenza reaches well beyond the individual — it has also caused serious disorder in society's most important institutions, including the family and the community.

Social Disintegration: Family, Community, and Isolation

The second symptom and effect of affluenza is the disintegration of the American family and community. The authors identify "socially sanctioned addiction" as the root cause of this disintegration, describing it as "trying to acquire as many things as possible … a real addictive cycle that families get into where they go out and spend money in order to feel good about themselves … when there's no more money left … they start feeling stress and tension in their relationship" (de Graaf, Wann, and Naylor 47).

Socially sanctioned addiction reflects the money-centric American family, in which unity is measured by the amount of money available to spend on "bonding activities" and other pursuits thought to strengthen family bonds. Consequently, a good family relationship is equated with the family's capacity to spend. When overspending depletes resources, the effects threaten family cohesion — precisely because family members have absorbed the belief that a better life requires material comfort, and material comfort requires money. The absence of funds therefore becomes a source of conflict and relational breakdown.

Another manifestation of family disintegration discussed in the book is moral degeneration, particularly among children. Exposed to popular culture and bombarded with advertisements and television programs, children exhibit increased discontentment with their personalities and lifestyles. Aspiring to emulate famous media personalities, children treat media as their barometer for the ideal personality and lifestyle — the standard required to "fit in" and be considered "cool." Moral degeneration occurs when children, and people more broadly, cultivate a psyche of chronic discontent that can only be soothed by purchasing products that make them feel or appear better. According to the authors, the aspirations to "fit in" and be "cool" are ultimately anti-social attitudes, fostering the belief that people must differentiate themselves from others (de Graaf, Wann, and Naylor 55). Paradoxically, the drive to be unique — achieved through consumption — leads to isolation rather than belonging.

Isolation is further intensified when young people are exposed to excessive multimedia technologies. Those who become addicted to video games, computer games, or internet socializing are cited as examples of individuals who gradually withdraw from society. Disintegration — and eventually isolation — occurs when a person's activities increasingly involve human-machine interaction rather than genuine face-to-face human contact. American society, in this reading, is not just money-centric but fundamentally material-centric. A life governed by computers and internet technologies lacks authentic human interaction, leaving the individual isolated and finding comfort in machines rather than in other people.

Conclusion: A Society Consumed by Consumption

In sum, Affluenza reflects the kind of society America has evolved into: people have become more individualistic and self-centered, and as a result have neglected both their fellow citizens and the natural environment. The authors demonstrate how a seemingly contained problem of over-consumption and overspending ripples outward to destabilize the social order and degrade the conditions of collective life. In the midst of material comfort, people are in fact suffering from a profound social disease — and the only parties truly benefiting from these social diseases are manufacturers and business interests, institutions that have carefully studied, planned, and funded the creation and perpetuation of the epidemic: the relentless race toward ever-greater affluence (Mack).

Works Cited

De Graaf, John, David Wann, and Thomas Naylor. Affluenza: The All-Consuming Epidemic. Berrett-Koehler Publishers, 2001.

Mack, W. "Book Review: Affluenza." T+D, vol. 55, no. 7, 2001.