The issue involving Consumerism and its many affects on our world is one topic on its own, but how about if we take into consideration every product line to surface publically and be advertised is one that, takes on extensive research; as there are roughly 4,000 articles pertaining to Consumerism which is only one side of the argument, as we consider the profession of Interior Design into the picture, on our very own J. Paul Leonard Library website. Amongst the many articles that were funneled to me in my web search, The Theory of The Leisure Class (1899), written by Thorstein Veblen stood out to me the most because of how much it covers upon the topic in its concise manner. This Economic study follows very closely with our issue of Consumerism. The profession of Interior Design is one of the many that allow for this trending lifestyle, that relies as heavily as it does on this construct called,Social-Class Consumerism. Thorstein Veblen is the author of The Theory Of The Leisure Class and was an American economist and sociologist from (1857-1929), as well as the leader of theInstitutional EconomicsMovement. Veblen goes over many aspects of Consumerism like the social split that is found in most any culture that separates “the hunter from the gatherer in the tribe”,Thorstein Veblen.
This is one way to look at how and why Consumerism is affecting our world and why we are allowing it to with such leniency. Veblen also mentions the role that Social Status plays in the efforts to fight the rate that we allow Consumerism to take over the world completely, because without that split between the neighborhoods and the cities, this would make it impossibly difficult for our kind to flock together. Thankfully we have never had a hard time with that, this natural instinct to find others like us, is how we created these neighborhoods, which might have been called tribes first.
In Veblen’s study, he introduces something called, Conspicuous Consumption, which is the “acquiring of luxury goods and services to publically display economic power”. This is the act of “attaining or of maintaining a given social status”, which describes the perpetrators in this issue, on the other hand is someone considered to be in thelower class which is discussed extensively in The Theory Of The Leisure Class. Velblen describes Conspicuous Consumption as the mechanics of how our consumerist culture is run.
Humans are defined and are known for being rational, clever and logical, even better, we are known for trying to maximize our pleasure. Carrying this reputation around with us that does not hold a clear [negative or positive] connotation, this is the part of our personal reputation that we share worldwide. Because this is something that we have felt before, a constant desire, it makes it very hard to create a lifestyle that does not cater to our wants and needs. The issue of Consumerism comes up so often in our personal life, as I ask myself “ do I really need this?” as I make a purchase. This topic is very detailed and convoluted when it all comes down to all of the mindless spending that goes into our everyday life, and the idea of spending money on things that will “display economic power”.
http://moglen.law.columbia.edu/LCS/theoryleisureclass.pdf
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Theory_of_the_Leisure_Class
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thorstein_Veblen
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conspicuous_consumption