Role Of Consumerism In American Society

Consumerism and the American Society
Do you know that most homes in the US contain more TVs than they do people? People have been buying more and more things than they need to over consume for decades because of the current ideology that consumerism can help them reach the level of satisfaction they want. In the article “Spent” the writer Mr. Amitai Etzioni discusses the current view of the American society on consumerism. Mr. Etzioni explains that consumerism is becoming like a culture in the American society and is the one of the causes of the current economic problem. He describes that the current issue of consumerism has misguided the American society to believe that the things you own tell who you are. Moreover, he states that life was …show more content…
In their view consumerism is not seen as a problem of any issues that occur in the society because their mind is already preoccupied with the only thing they see as they buy things they think they will be satisfied. Consequently, I agree with the author’s diagnosis of American culture that it is suffering from the social disease of consumerism and his conclusion that people will do anything to acquire the goods they want to achieve the level of satisfaction they want because the American society’s obsession of acquiring goods has increased and its results are shown in people adding up more debt resulting in health problems, destruction of environment with fast growth of production of goods, the rise of crime with people losing self-confidence and consumerism placing itself as a social disease in the American society. People are being obsessed with acquiring more things like houses and cars without looking out for their financial status simply because the banks provide them with different types of advertisement to expand their credit limit. In the article Mr. Etzioni explains that people are spending beyond their means to acquire the things they are obsessed with. He says, “They will also buy homes beyond their means …show more content…
Consequently, those effects will limit the production of goods by the factories resulting in depletion of the economic activity of the country. Therefore, the negative impacts of consumerism outweigh the contributions it can make to a country. In conclusion, it is obvious to see that the author’s explanation of the American society as a society that is suffering from the social disease consumerism and his conclusion on people will do anything to acquire the things they want is correct because the American people have been preoccupied with acquiring goods in order to achieve the level of happiness and major part of the society is suffering from the effects of it. I agree with his diagnosis and conclusion of the American society because all of these reasons explain that people will do anything to acquire the goods they want because consumerism has positioned itself as a social disease across the American society blinding the people that they will have the satisfaction they want if they acquire goods. The issue of consumerism needs a great attention because it is