Sociology 125 Lecture 8 Thursday February 9 2017
Sociology 125 Lecture 8 Thursday, February 9, 2017 Consumerism
Definitions Consumerism: The belief that personal well-being, happiness and status depend largely on the level of personal consumption, particularly the acquisition of material goods. Hyper-consumerism: the frenetic pursuit of consumer goods
Growth in median size of new home construction in the U. S. , 1963 -2007 2, 800 2, 400 2, 200 2, 000 1, 800 1, 600 1, 400 93 19 96 19 99 20 02 20 05 20 08 20 11 19 90 19 87 19 84 19 81 19 78 19 75 19 72 19 69 19 66 19 63 1, 200 19 Square footage 2, 600
Construction of small and big houses, 1973 -2012
What is wrong with consumerism?
What is wrong with consumerism? 1. There are big negative externalities from consumerism 2. Consumerism in fact does not make most people happy 3. There are systematic biases in the system which generate consumerism. If these system-biases were eliminated, many – maybe most – people would adopt a less consumerist life style.
What is wrong with consumerism? 1. There are big negative externalities from consumerism 2. Consumerism in fact does not make most people happy 3. There are systematic biases in the system which generate consumerism. If these system-biases were eliminated, many – maybe most – people would adopt a less consumerist life style.
What is wrong with consumerism? 1. There are big negative externalities from consumerism 2. Consumerism in fact does not make most people happy 3. There are systematic biases in the system which generate consumerism. If these system-biases were eliminated, many – maybe most – people would adopt a less consumerist life style.
Some negative externalities of consumerism 1. Negative externalities on the environment, especially for future generations. 2. Large cars, SUV impose costs on others: the “arms race” in car size 3. Urban sprawl because of low density housing, large houses, etc.
Money & Happiness
Money & Life Satisfaction How Satisfied are you with your life: 0 = worst possible life for you 10 = the best possible life for you
System bias #1: Market-failures in leisure
Number of hours more per year on average that Americans work than people in other countries, 2012 9. 8 weeks 7. 8 weeks 3. 4 weeks 1. 1 weeks
From Juliet Schor, The Overworked American, p. 130
Average actual weeks of paid vacation for full time workers
System bias #2: Profit maximizing strategies and consumerist culture
2 weeks of time 1 week of time
Alternative views of the impact of advertising: 1. Advertising mainly provides information about what is available: consumers are “free to choose; ” their preferences remain autonomous (“consumer sovereignty”). 2. Advertising creates shared desires and dissatisfactions: consumer preferences are not autonomous.
System bias #3: Changing reference group for consumption norms
System bias #4: Credit cards
Credit Cards & Consumer Debt • Consumer debt grew from $898 billion in 1980 to $2. 4 trillion in 2011 • Average credit card balance for families with a balance grew from $3, 312 in 1989 to $7, 100 in 2010 (in 2013 inflation adjusted dollars) • U. S. households received a total of 7 billion credit card solicitations in 2006 (just before the Great Recession), falling to 2. 6 billion in 2012.
System bias #5: Rising inequality increases consumerism: positional goods
System bias #6: Abandonment of public consumption by the affluent
- Slides: 24