Consumption and the Consumer Society

KEY TERMS AND CONCEPTS
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REFERENCES
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DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
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CONSUMPTION AND THE CONSUMER SOCIETY
5
1. INTRODUCTION

 
The economic activity of consumption is defined as the process by which goods and services are 
put to final use by people. But this rather dry, academic definition fails to capture the multifaceted 
role of consumerism in our lives. As one researcher put it: 
For a start, it is immediately clear that consumption goes way beyond just satisfying 
physical or physiological needs for food, shelter, and so on. Material goods are 
deeply implicated in individuals’ psychological and social lives. People create and 
maintain identities using material things… The “evocative power” of material 
things facilitates a range of complex, deeply ingrained “social conversations” about 
status, identity, social cohesion, and the pursuit of personal and cultural meaning.
1
Until recently, most economists paid little attention to the motivations behind consumer behavior. 
Economic theory in the twentieth century simply assumed that the vast majority of people act 
rationally to maximize their utility. But as suggested in the quotation above, perhaps no other 
economic activity is shaped by its social context more than consumption. Our consumption 
behavior conveys a message to ourselves and others about who we are and how we fit in with, or 
separate ourselves from, other people. 
Modern consumption must also be placed in a historical context. When can we say that “consumer 
society” originated? Furthermore, is consumerism as experienced in the United States and other 
countries something that is ingrained in us by evolution, or is it something that has been created 
by marketing and other social and political forces? 
Finally, it is impossible to present a comprehensive analysis of consumption without considering 
its environmental context. Specifically, ecological research suggests that consumption levels in the 
United States and many other developed countries have reached unsustainable levels. According 
to one recent analysis, if everyone in the world had the same living standard as the average 
American, we would need at least four earths to supply enough resources and process all the 
waste.
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So any serious discussion of sustainability must consider the future of consumption 
patterns throughout the world.