[용어] (mass) consumerism

자료 1: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Consumerism

 ( ... ) The term "consumerism" has several definitions.[n] These definitions may not be related to each other and confusingly, they conflict with each other.

 1. One sense of the term is to describe the ^efforts to support consumers' interests^.[n] By the early 1970s, it was the accepted term for the field and began to be used in these ways.[n]

• (1) "Consumerism" is the concept that consumers should be informed decision makers in the marketplace.[n] Pactices such as product testing make consumers informed.
• (2) "Consuermism" is the concept that the marketplace itself is responsible for ensuring social justice through fair economic practices.[n] Consumer protectin policies and laws compel manufacturers to make products safe.
• (3) "Consumerism" refers to the field of studying, regulating, or interacting with the marketplace.[n] The consumer movement is the social movement which refers to all actions and all entities within the marketplace which give consideration to the consumer.

 2. While the above definitions were being established, other people began using the term "consumerism" to mean "high levels of consumption". [n.5] This definition gained popularity since the 1970s and began to be used in these ways:

• (1) "Consumerism" is the selfish and frivolous collecting of products, or economic materialism. In protest to this some people promote "anti-consumerism" and advocacy for simple living.[n]
• (2) "Consumerism" is a force from the marketplace which destroys individuality and harms society.[n] It is related to globalization and in protest to this some people promote the "anti-globalization movement".[n]

In a 1955 speech, John Bugas (number two at Ford Motor Company) coined the term "consumerism" as a substitute for "capitalism" to better describe the American economy:[n]

The term "consumerism" would pin the tag where it actually belongs─On Mr. Consumer, the real boss and beneficiary of the American system. It would pull the rug right out from under our unfriendly critics who have blasted away so long and loud at capitalism. Somehow, I just can't picture them shouting: "Down with the consumers!"[8]

Bugas's definition was in line with Austrian economics founder Carl Menger's vision (...) of consumer sovereignty, whereby the economy is controlled entirely by consumer preferences, valuations, and choices...

Vance Packard worked to change the meaning of the term "consumerism" from a positive word about consumer practices to a negative word meaning excessive materialism and waster.[n.10] ...

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Consumerism as cultural ideology

( ... ) Leslie Sklair proposes the criticism through the idea of culture-ideology of consumerism in his works.

First, capitalism entered a qualitatively new globalizing phase in the 1950s. As the electronic revolution got underway, significant changes began to occur in the productivity of capitalist factories, systems of extraction and processing of raw materials, product design, marketing and distribution of goods and services. […] Second, the technical and social relations that structured the mass media all over the world made it very easy for new consumerist lifestyles to become the dominant motif for these media, which became in time extraordinarily efficient vehicles for the broadcasting of the culture-ideology of consumerism globally.[n.37]

As of today, people are exposed to mass consumerism and product placement in the media or even in their daily lives. The line between information, entertainment and promotion of products has been blurred so people are more reformulated into consumerist behaviour.[38] Shopping centers are a representative example of a place where people are explicitly exposed to an environment that welcomes and encourages consumption. ( ... ... )


자료 2: Mass consumption and Meaningful Democratic Politics (Luke Corden, Oct 2012)


자료 3: Consumerism – an Historical Perspective (Sharon Beder | Pacific Ecologist, Spring 2004)