Does Consumerism Lead to Happiness? An Analysis

Today, the concept of happiness has assumed new importance and relevance as the United Nations' World Happiness Report continues to publish annual rankings of countries according to the quantified happiness levels of their citizenry (Chaudhary 2023). To determine the facts about this Report and its broad implications, the purpose of this paper is to develop informed and timely answers to the questions, "Will consumerism lead to happiness?" and "Is supply and demand the main problem of consumerism?" Although the concept of happiness is massively subjective and the answers to these questions will invariably depend on who is being asked, it is possible to answer them based on the objective criteria used to formulate the World Happiness Report and by operationalizing the terms "happiness," "consumerism," and "supply and demand." Following this analysis, the paper provides a summary of what was found in the relevant literature to develop an informed answer to these guiding research questions.

The Global Happiness Report is published annually by the United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network and ranks countries based on factors such as life expectancy, social support, gross domestic product (GDP) per capita, perceptions of corruption, and other variables. The top countries on the Report tend to have high life expectancy, income, social support, freedom, and trust in government. Conversely, the lowest-ranking countries often have economic and political instability, conflict, poor healthcare, and other challenges that impact individuals' quality of life.

In order to better gauge the quantified assessments of the largely qualitative construct of happiness, the relevant terms must first be operationalized. The following representative definitions are provided:

Happiness: The most common definitions of happiness — aside from "the state of being happy" — include factors such as contentment and satisfaction with one's station and circumstances in life. In this regard, one authority advises that "for most, the term happiness is interchangeable with 'subjective well-being,' which is typically measured by asking people about how satisfied they feel with their lives, how much positive and negative emotion they tend to feel, and their sense of meaning and purpose" (What is Happiness? 2023, p. 2).

Consumerism: A useful definition of this term is: "Consumerism is the idea that increasing the consumption of goods and services purchased in the market is always a desirable goal, and that a person's well-being and happiness depend fundamentally on obtaining consumer goods and material possessions" (Hayes, Clarke, and Schmitt 2023, p. 3).

Supply and demand: Of the three variables, supply and demand is the least culpable in contributing to or detracting from individual levels of happiness. In sum, the term "supply and demand" refers to the fundamental economic concepts that describe the relationship between the availability of a product or service (i.e., supply) and the desire or need for that product or service (i.e., demand) (Allen and Arkolakis 2023).

Taken together, the foregoing definitions are sufficiently straightforward to determine whether consumerism leads to happiness. Scholarly perspectives on marketing often portray consumerism as a movement focused on protecting consumers from unethical business practices. Influential thinkers in the field like Philip Kotler have linked consumerist ideals to neoliberal capitalist principles (Hemais, Wilcox, and Lais 2023). These views, however, do not engage substantially with the diverse experiences, concerns, and contexts shaping consumerism in other parts of the world beyond the West (Hemais et al. 2023).

Nevertheless, as applied to the United States and similarly situated nations that rank higher on the World Happiness Report, optimally implemented and administered consumerism does in fact provide a valuable framework that serves to protect consumers from unscrupulous marketers present on every media platform. Taken to its extreme, however, even the most well-intentioned and benign consumerism will invariably run up against an accelerating "keeping up with the Joneses" dynamic that characterizes modern life for many Americans. Indeed, based on recent social media content, many influencers are advocating ever-increasing displays of material wealth with little regard for cost.

Notwithstanding the adage that "money won't buy happiness," the above-stated definitions of happiness underscore the fact that people are always subject to the Maslovian hierarchy of needs, and there are likely few people in the world who are truly happy while starving or in desperate circumstances. On the other hand, being a subjective construct, happiness may or may not depend on the amount, quality, or type of material possessions an individual enjoys. The historical record is replete with examples of wealthy people who died alone and miserable, while a goat herder in rural Siberia with a large family and a healthy flock may rate his life as first-rate and his happiness level sky-high.