The Role Of Anti-Consumerism In America

Numerous social movements are interest of mine, as for the reason I enrolled in the class, but one thing culturally that bothers me the most nationally as a country is America’s consumerism culture. For this reason, I chose the movement of anti-consumerism that holds ties with other social movements locally, like environmental activism that I feel is very important as well. Anti-consumerism is a social movement and more specifically a reform movement because it is advocating for a change in the cultural norms found in the U.S. and other westernized cultures. It is less heard of among the public and more found in academic capacities. There are many educators and professionals writing and speaking on this specific movement, but less community …show more content…
Many common examples of this are child-targeted advertising, spam, large corporate campaign influences found in political elections, and the large cover-up of corporate corruption. As well, media has a lot to do with the way Americans consume because objects hold social value and give a status such as brand name items. This idea known as conspicuous consumption, which was termed in the 60s was viewed as a cultural and production issue. This term specifically describes the unfounded form of fiscal behavior for status display (Veblen, 1899). He explained this idea by saying, “people will undergo a very considerable degree of privation in the comforts or the necessaries of life in order to afford what is considered a decent amount of wasteful consumption” (Veblen, 1899) Media plays a huge role in displaying to communities what is valued and the source to happiness by adding quality and leisure to one’s life (Kasser, 2002). Also, media is believed to make the life of the upper-class seem natural and therefore capable by all means of society (Rumbo, …show more content…
Foremost, anti-consumerism is a group action or social movement for the reason that, by searching the internet or looking at your local library you find multiple valuable resources dedicated to the topic written by passionate activists on the topic relating to political and social problems. Because of this large number of people interested and working for this main goal, to resolve the issue to better society, you can find a community dedicated to this ideology, therefore showing a first sign of being a social movement by having that community working toward similar goals. Next, the anti-consumerism movement shows many signs of mobilizing resources with the plentiful amount of education found on the topic and how an individual can join the movement in their own community. Along with the education on the topic, are solutions to the issue at hand and answers to problems that one may ask or run into. The path to becoming an anti-consumerist advocate seems to be very thought out and explained so that one can be successful in their mission. Thus, making anti-consumerism a social movement of my and future generations in

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