Consumerism and Materialism in America Essay - 1467 Words

The economy is a very fragile thing; however it can have an enormous impact on people. Americans especially are affected because they are so greedy, they always want more. Because Americans are very materialistic, they can become overly arrogant and possessive since they are used to getting their way, on account of having money. Some people are never satisfied with what they have; they are always on the lookout for more money and more possessions. Man requires food, shelter, clothing and fuel everything else is superfluous. Luxuries lead to things like materialism and greed. People need to realize that everyone is the same on the inside. Our ancestors didn’t have technology or a ton of money and they somehow survived. â€Å"For the improvement†¦show more content†¦If a man were to wake up one morning and decide he wanted a new car it would not be unusual. However, if he decides he wants to upgrade his Toyota Camry to a Ferrari then he is being materialistic. Odds are that this man cannot afford this superfluous vehicle and his fantasies are getting the best of him. He is wasting money on unimportant things. Producers are always looking for a new way to make money. They research ways to produce their merchandise more cheaply. â€Å"...‘appliances’ designed to wear out quickly and be thrown away.† (Berry) If people were more concerned with function and not money then America would have a lot less waste and Americans would waste a lot less money. Producers also research new products they can make money from. â€Å"Consumer wants can have bizarre, frivolous or even immoral origins, and an admirable case can still be made for a society that seeks to satisfy them.† (Gailbraith). Producers encourage and scheme ways to get you to buy their product. Producers know that the economy controls everything. Producers are enablers. They encourage people to spend money on things they don’t need and aren’t necessities. Consumers are like drug addicts, they shop for things they don’t need and are constantly striving to acquire what they don’t have. â€Å"We Americans are beyond a simple, possessive materialism.† (Rose) Americans have developed a shopping problem. We buy things simply for theShow MoreRelatedConsumerism1100 Words   |  5 Pages 1.Whats consumerism ? Consumerism is defined by the preoccupation of society with the acquisition of consumer goods . Good morning/afternoon fellow classmates , today I’ll be discussing how the powerful images conveyed in Bruce Dawe’s texts Americanized and Abandonment of Autos, and a cartoon by Clay Butler, raise issues and concerns about consumerism. | 2. To start off, Bruce dawe’s text Americanized effectively portrays negative views on consumerism. Dawe uses an extended metaphor which involvesRead MoreEssay : Affecting The American Dream1061 Words   |  5 Pagesâ€Å"American Dream† America still to this day holds on to the idea of the â€Å"American Dream†. This is rather surprising in today’s society and the ups and downs that the nation is facing. The dream in the past was more about freedom and equality. Moving through the decades, this dream has morphed into something quite different. Instead of what America means for all of its inhabitants, the nation has become more individualized. Society has moved to interpret the dream of what America can do for the oneRead MoreThe Great Gatsby1327 Words   |  6 Pagesopportunity following the horrors the Great War. The decade is synonymous with wealth, materialism and unprecedented freedom. F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby provides an insight into the exciting and prosperous lives of the American people as they embark on the limitless potential of the American Dream and therefore it conveys a picture of 1920s American society. With reference to the novel and the context of 1920s Ameri ca, this analysis will consider to what extent The Great Gatsby is relevant to modernRead MoreThe Great Gatsby By F. Scott Fitzgerald1113 Words   |  5 Pagesa destructive force which puts people under a spell to maintain control over them. During the Jazz Age, America had an economic growth which swept americans to become part of a â€Å"consumer society†. Throughout this period of time, F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote many modernist novels, including The Great Gatsby, in which he critiques the downfall of the 1920’s society through religion and consumerism.†¨Ã¢â‚¬ ¨Ã¢â‚¬ ¨ Fitzgerald adresses the idea of spirituality and religion in a very subtle way: the characters’s actionsRead MoreAnalysis Of Aldous Huxley s Brave New World908 Words   |  4 Pagescountless rounds of production and consumption. In his third person omniscient novel, Brave New World, Aldous Huxley uses Juvenalian satire to create a fictional world which idealizes the streamlined assembly l ines of Henry Ford to warn readers that consumerism dehumanizes people. Brave New World, as a third person omniscient novel, is not limited to simple, chronological structure. In fact, Huxley routinely experiments with structure, amazing his reader by putting two different conversations adjacentRead MoreMaterialism vs Happiness in America Essay1206 Words   |  5 Pagesintensified overtime. The progression of materialism in the western world has caused a decrease in the happiness and overall well-being of the people that reside in the society. Materialism as defined by Merriam-Webster dictionary is â€Å"a doctrine that the only or the highest values or objectives lie in material well-being and in the furtherance of material progress†. Cuing Consumerism, an article by Association for Psychological Science, defines materialism as â€Å"as a value system that is preoccupiedRead MoreThe Young Adult Fiction Feed By. Anderson1682 Words   |  7 PagesNet† and â€Å"upcar† push the boundaries of suburbs even further, creating greater isolation between people. Isolation makes it easier to categorize identities, which ultimately, makes identity a commodified object. From the initial stages of Feed, America is described as â€Å"a libertarian [state] in which information technologies are aggressively promoted†. (Gooding 114) Despite information technologies, transportation technologies like the â€Å"upcar† are also fuels the expansion of future American suburbsRead MoreMarketing Apple Fanatics : Self Identity1307 Words   |  6 Pagesgoes beyond outward appearances, America today has become little more than a nation of consumers. Many view this new commercialized, consumer culture as beneficial, namely James B. Twitchell, author of Adcult USA: The Triumph of Advertising in American Culture and Lead Us Into Temptation: The Triumph of American Materialism. In his contribution to American Values, from the series Opposing Viewpoints, Twitchell argues that consumerism, and consequently materialism, is an integral characteristic ofRead MoreEssay on Economy vs. Environment1243 Words   |  5 Pagesthe most profound changes it had ever encountered, the Industrial Revolution. Not only were the systematic ways of production changing drastically, societies attitudes were under construction as well. Mass production, especially in America, led to the new age of consumerism, which redefined freedom during the late nineteenth century. If one did not have the economic status to consume, one was not free. Societies new ambition for ‘stuff’ further encouraged the industrialization of the world. Not onlyRead MoreK arl Marx s Influence On Society1149 Words   |  5 Pagessociety due to consumerism, religion, intersectionality. He saw this conflict and determined that hidden structures can benefit him and others by using the term of ideology which can rely on true or false consciousness. Marx was a unique sociologist who expressed his own ideas in various ways. Applying to Marx’s Theory towards slavery, it showed how the society use to be and how it impacted the slaves to be part of their culture to manifest the society. Slavery was based on consumerism through