Idea of progress

PLAN

I – In order for us to have a chance of changing our bad habits of consumption, we  first need to point out how consumerism is everywhere. ( advertising )

II – the effects of consumerism ( let’s go shopping )

III – what can we do about it ( the vlog guy  )

INTRODUCTION

This year in class, we talked about the notion “The idea of progress”. First, I would like to give a definition of this notion. The idea of progress basically consists in believing that the world could evolve and become better in terms of technology, sciences,  liberty and quality of life. When I think about progress, I think about moving forward. One of the many ideas of progress is consumerism. Consumerism concerns people who regulary spend money on materialistic things and services. Everyone knows that we live in a culture of consumerism, but few people understand the full extent of the problems it causes or how excessive it became or the effects that it has on each of us, and that is what I’m going to question. How does consumerism influence our daily lives ? First, I will point out how much power consumerism has and how it manifests itself in our lives, then I will explain the effects of consumerism in Western society, and last but not least, I will throw a light on what we could do to change our consumption habits.

DEVELOPMENT

I – Consumerism everywhere

Every day, every single one of us is exposed to a lot of advertisements. All these daily activities feature advertisements : reading the paper or a magazine, listening to the radio, watching tv, being on your phone or simply taking the bus ( where the advertisements are along the side of the bus).  We are exposed to advertising through a range of different sources.  Some of them we may be aware of (like the examples that I listed before), but others may be less easy to spot, such as product placement in films.

To illustrate what I just said, this is my personal document, it’s a movie scene from the 2004 american comedie film, Mean girls, which stars Lindsay Lohan, the girl on the left, and Amanda Seyfried. In this scene, and like most scenes in multiple movies, we can notice different brands like the Lacoste polo shirt, or the Diet cokes. I chose this as my personal document to really point out how our society pushes you, even when you don’t necesarilly pay attention, to want more and more and more. Despite occasional criticism, product placement remains widespread – in films, TV programmes, magazines and social media.  Commercial messages even affect how we are entertained.

This massive amount of advertising is now such a normal part of western society that most of us do not seem to realise just how pervasive it is in our lives. Although we may have stopped noticing just how much we are being bombarded by advertising, it is still affecting our decisions, our worldviews and our lives generally.

Advertising is just the tip of the iceberg.  There are many other influences in modern society that promote the ‘values’ of consumerism. For example, newspapers and magazines do not just contain pages of advertisements but also stories about new gadgets, new clothes, property, make up, travel and many other things, all suggesting that having them will make life more fun and interesting, or bring some other positive change to your life.  They may not promote an item directly like an advertisement but many will help to create desires and needs in the readers – some relating to specific products like cars or clothes and others relating to particular ways of life that require further money and consumption. 

A final example of a source of mental input is our family and peers, who can influence us in subtle ways.  Even sitting at home with one’s family chatting about holiday plans or in a restaurant with friends discussing someone’s new mobile phone can create new needs or feelings of pressure.  Mixing with people who have consumerist lifestyles can therefore be a powerful influence on us.  It can often seem as if this is the only way to behave and that these are the only aspirations to have. The influence of other people on us can go way beyond friends and family however.  If we look around and see that everyone is living consumerist lives  – from our neighbours to celebrities – it is likely that most of us will accept this as the only or the best way of life that is available.

II – EFFECTS OF CONSUMERISM 

It might be argued that we should have the mental strength to resist the influence of an advertisement or our friends, or that consumerism is nothing more than a minor detail in our everyday lives.  But that would be to underestimate its power.

When we are exposed to thousands of advertisements a day (and have been fsince our childhood), and consumerism is promoted in most aspects of our society, this can trap us within a consumerist bubble and can mould our entire worldviews – our aspirations, views, lifestyles and many other things.  And this trap is very difficult to escape from.  So, the real power of consumerism comes from its cumulative effect - the fact that it has seeped into every aspect of our lives, and that these elements of our culture continue to reinforce each other.

Some of the effects of consumerism on us are what one might expect from a culture that promotes consumption.  We slip into a cycle of wanting more things – whether it is the new iPhone or another holiday abroad or simply a particular type of food – and the pursuit of these things takes up our time, energy, stress and money (sometimes money we do not have). Just like in the Let’s go shopping document, which is a drawing of a woman and her daughter shopping together, with big smiles on their faces, which is particurely the problem. This document shows us that society relates shopping to happiness.

We also constantly compare ourselves with other people), wanting to be like them or in their position.  This leads us into a state of constant dissatisfaction – we are never happy with what we have and are always on edge.  And this is just what the logic of consumerism wants, as it makes us more active consumers on a daily basis.  So, consumerism not only affects our behaviour (we spend more time on consumerist activities) but also our thinking.

Other effects are perhaps less immediately obvious but equally important.  For example, consumerism can affect our worldviews and confuse us - especially when we start feeling that our lives are not providing us with what we need to be happy.  From the Western perspective, we might have all the elements that constitute a good quality of life – job, car, house and other material possessions.  But we might nevertheless feel somehow dissatisfied and empty, feeling that the pursuit of more possessions and the pressure of having to earn more money or sink into further debt to pay for this lifestyle is bringing more costs than benefits to our lives. Which is almost kind of ridiculous, compared to other societies in countries that have much less than us.

But this situation can be extremely difficult to escape from. Any individual struggling with their consumerist lifestyle is therefore unlikely to receive understanding, guidance or support from mainstream society or their friends if they too are immersed within the mainstream society.   

There may well be millions of people who feel a sense of dissatisfaction in their lives but are not able to identify its cause or escape from it. 

There is not necessarily anything morally wrong in buying and selling things, nor even in promoting them (in an honest way and to a certain extent).  But the extreme form of consumerism that now dominates the Western world has a number of unpleasant and even potentially dangerous characteristics.

III – what can we do about it

Changes we can make to society

As we have seen, consumerism is a big aspect of our modern society.  To move away from a culture of consumerism, we will therefore need to challenge the philosophy and values of this current economic system.  Essentially, we need a cultural shift in our society and its values.  Perhaps, a financial crisis would give us the ideal opportunity to think about the direction in which we’re heading as a society, and to consider new ideas, like Mark Boyle, the irish activist who started to live without money. Like most individuals raised in a consumer driven society, Boyle didn’t think at first that it would be possible to stop spending or receiving money. But after talking with friends about how money creates a kind of disconnection between us and our actions, he stopped carrying and using money.

As consumerism builds ever greater demand for goods and services, it is easy to see how it plays an important role in the economic growth.

We need to move towards a society that has a much broader and nuanced view of what gives people well-being and happiness, and use the economic system simply as one of the means we employ to achieve this end, rather than as an end in itself. 

This is a system that sees real choices as a key aspect of the good life. It enables people to have real choices about the lives they want to lead, gives them the skills they need to make those choices, and encourages them to pursue the lives they really want.

So how might a system of new economics look?  It would seek to promote human happiness and well-being by equipping us with the basic material and non-material ressources we need in order to live the lives we want. It would include a basic level of material goods such as food, drink, shelter and money, plus nonmaterial goods such as the life skills we need to be truly self-determined and live happily.

Changes we can make to our own lives

These changes in society will not happen overnight.  There are however some immediate steps we can each take in our own lives to release ourselves from the grip of consumerism, and to start living the lives we really want.

• Exercise intellectual independence - be aware of how consumerism touches your life and when people or organisations are trying to manipulate you. Try to defend yourself from unwanted external pressures.  One effective way to do this is to simply ignore advertising – don’t let it affect you or take up any of your time or brain space.  Avoidance is one strategy, but it is also important to build up the intellectual independence to deal with consumerism.

• Consume less, live more - take some time to stand back from your life, away from influences like consumerism, and think about what really matters to you in life and how you want to live.  Then, try to live the life you want, not the one that others would like you to lead. For many of us, a life of consumerism and constantly striving to gain further material wealth is not the one we would choose upon honest reflection. Many of us will find that reducing our levels of consumption, caring less about materialism and refocusing our attention and time towards things that really matter to us will eliminate a lot of problems in our lives and give us a great deal of satisfaction, while also leading to a more sustainable and fair future for all.

CONCLUSION

I’m not saying that everyone who tries to sell things to others is deliberately manipulating them for evil ends.  Nor am I suggesting that consumerism was ‘invented’ by someone with evil intent - it is simply a cultural phenomenon that has emerged over time and happens to have a powerful influence in our societies and individual lives.  We are all born into it and raised with it, therefore it is difficult to blame those who are delivering what the norms of the system say is desirable. 

There are however many people who are escaping the hold of consumerism or are questioning the effect it has on our lives.  And we suggest that the modern form of consumerism has gone way too far and is taking our lives, hopes and happiness with it.