Consumption—the shortcomings of affluence

My first main theme is consumption, which is the focus of this chapter and the next. However, since consumer culture also has a clear imprint on the other themes covered in this book—education, working life, and organizations— consumption orientations and logics make themselves felt throughout. Consumption development is strongly characterized by zero-sum games and the cultivation of grandiose notions and illusion tricks. And maybe such features are typically most marked in the consumption area (in its more restricted, traditional sense). Consumption is about the satisfaction of needs, desires, and wishes, but of course also about the generation of those orientations. All this involves complicated construction processes. Given the enormous increase in consumption, at least in economically advanced countries, one would expect people to have become more and more satisfied. And perhaps feel saturation. But this is simply not the case. An interesting question is whether economic growth and increased consumption are satisfaction-creating projects? If they are not, and many indicators suggest they are only marginally so, the meaning of increased consumption in the world’s most affluent societies and groups deserves exploration. I start with a discussion of consumer culture, the increasing scope of consumption, and the apparently insatiable demand for additional goods and services, even in the richest countries. Subsequently, I examine some common views about consumption and consumers. The consumer may be regarded as everything from a heroic political figure to an undiscerning fool, from an active creator of meaning to a passive victim of market ideologies, fashion trends, and consumer manipulation. Next, I demonstrate that a massive increase in consumption is paralleled by a continual growth in demand, without any corresponding increase in satisfaction. The question then arises as to whether consumerism can be viewed as a major failure or at least a somewhat unsuccessful political and individual project. This chapter also addresses the significance and effectiveness of efforts to control consumers and consumption. The analysis of consumption continues in Chapter 3, addressing how consumption involves so many aspects and logics other than meeting needs, demands, and wishes, and can only, to a limited degree, be viewed as an ultimately satisfaction-raising enterprise.