Consumer Society

Consumer Society

    Throughout history, there have always been traces of luxury and symbolic consumption but, in contrast, today’s consumer society in which mass consumption becomes the source of identity represents a much newer design of lifestyle. Our satisfaction is measured in quantities of goods and services we consume: enough is not enough! The world is consuming at an unsustainable pace but we often do not take the serious consequences for people and the planet into consideration. Therefore, the values are far from ideal. The mentality of today’s consumer society is going to lead us into an impasse.  
    With enormous speed, the inventions and new technologies more enabled mass production to come into existence and turned people into consumers. Since then, mass consumption has become an essential ingredient of our culture and encouraged an unhealthy lifestyle. Advertisement in radio, TV, and magazines suggests that buying things is the root of all happiness and, consequently, supports the affluent society. Also, the selection of food changed in the last decade of years. An increasing number of fast food restaurants can be recognized where over-sized menus contribute to the declining health of people by causing overweight. In addition, sweetened cereals, candy, salty snack foods, and unhealthy drinks as well as the trend towards more inactive entertainment, such as the increasing popularity of computers and videogames, cause alarming health problems. Our behavior concerning consumption, therefore, supports an unhealthy lifestyle with various consequences in regard to our personal well-being.
    In order to make mass consumption available to our affluent society and to satisfy our shopping desires, we have to make sacrifices. While hunting items on sale or looking for dumping prices, we often forget (or better want to forget because it is more comfortable) the origin of the products. With the rise of globalization, many companies have moved on to...