The consumer society is one that is based on promoting the excessive and unnecessary consumption of goods and services offered by the market. One of the fundamental characteristics of consumer society is mass production, in which supply generally exceeds demand.
Although the consumer society offers several advantages - such as greater freedom of choice due to the great availability of goods and services in the market - it also has disadvantages derived from the irrational consumption of energy, food and other products.
Such consumption patterns impact the environment, destroying natural resources at a dangerous rate. Likewise, it generates a permanent cycle of indebtedness for individuals and families in order to keep the productive apparatus in constant activity.
The consumer society, or consumer culture, is a consequence of industrialization. It emerged with the development of the market and is closely associated with the marketing and advertising apparatus.
Through this, efficient and seductive techniques are used to induce the constant consumption of priority and non-priority goods.
Origin
The term consumer society was coined after World War II with the expansion of world trade. It served to describe the behavior of Western societies, oriented towards consumption as the main way of life.
However, there is enough literature documented by historians in which it is shown that consumerism was already a way of life long before.
By the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries, consumption had become a central element in the life of the aristocracy.
This new existential philosophy was already expressed on a daily basis in social practices and in political discourse. The goods that drove international trade undoubtedly played a very important role in increasing consumption and consumerism.
These products were tobacco, sugar, tea, cotton, textiles along with precious metals, pearls, among others, which helped to expand trade and consumption.
With the advance of the Industrial Revolution and the development of capitalism -which is essentially based on the increase in production and consumption-, consumerism was accentuated.
The consumer society found its zenith in the 20th century with the invention of the mass media (radio, television, press) and the development of modern advertising and marketing techniques based on persuasion.
characteristics
The main characteristics of the consumer society can be summarized as follows:
- The massive supply of goods and services is more or less similar and generally exceeds the demand. That is, the same products are offered with different brands to differentiate them. Companies must then resort to marketing techniques to induce the consumer to prefer this or that product.
- The production is not necessarily destined exclusively to the satisfaction of human needs, but to consumption; thus, needs are often artificially created to induce the consumer to buy.
- Most of the products and services offered in the market are intended for mass consumption, so production is also in mass.
- Likewise, programmed obsolescence strategies are used with the aim that the production-consumption cycle does not stop. Bulk products are generally disposable.
- Society is guided by patterns of mass consumption, in which consuming fashionable or fashionable goods is an indicator of well-being and satisfaction. It is also a form of social integration.
- The consumer develops a tendency towards impulsive consumption, sometimes irrational, uncontrolled and even irresponsible. Consumption is so aggressive and irrational that some people develop a shopping addiction; that is, they cannot control their desire to buy
- There is a high propensity to individual and collective indebtedness, in order to satisfy the needs of daily consumption.
Advantage
-Freedom of choice and variety of products and services. This of course favors the consumer by allowing them to choose based on variables of quality, prices, utility, etc. Contrary to socialist economic systems, where there is no freedom of choice or variety, as production is standardized because there is no competition.
- The competition that is generated in the developed capitalist economies, typical of the consumer society, allows a wide range of possibilities when buying.
- Businesses and the economy in general benefit because consumption stimulates increased production and economic growth. At the same time, this enables the productive apparatus to be activated, thereby generating more employment and well-being.
- Another benefit for companies is that, to stimulate consumerism, it is necessary to establish brand differentiation through marketing and advertising. The market is then segmented by prices, brands, age groups, gender, etc., giving the opportunity to sell to all companies.
- The consumer benefits from being able to satisfy their needs, whether they are real or not, thereby improving their living conditions and obtaining more comfort.
Disadvantages
- The consumer usually spends more than he actually earns. Highly wasteful and unnecessary consumption is encouraged for reasons of prestige and social status.
- Generally, you buy more than you need in food, clothing, footwear, transportation, etc.
- Almost no one escapes the desire to buy created by the marketing machinery to drive sales and impulsive consumption.
- Consumerism leads to an irrational increase in production; that is, to the overproduction of goods and services. This generates a dangerous overexploitation of energy resources, minerals, forestry, water, fishing, etc.
- The waste of a good part of the products and services produced generates millions of tons of garbage, as well as high concentrations of emissions and other polluting substances.
- Current consumption is undermining the base of the planet's existing natural resources, in addition to exacerbating social inequalities through the consumption-poverty-inequality dynamic.
Decline of the consumer society
The rise of the consumer society was supported by public policies based on trade liberalization and economic deregulation.
This boosted production growth and facilitated increased consumption by lowering costs; but this political consensus is leaking.
Great changes are currently taking place in economic, cultural, social, demographic and ecological trends in the world. Consequently, the consumer society is becoming very difficult to keep functioning as it has been until now.
There is a growing trend towards the search for an economic scenario of sustainability, which goes against the consumer society.
Innovations of various genres are being promoted in people's lifestyles, in attention to the preservation of the planet, health and the economy itself.
References
- Consumption Society. Retrieved May 5, 2018 from knoow.net
- Consumer society. Retrieved from dictionary.cambridge.org
- The Decline and Fall of Consumer Society? Consulted of greattransition.org
- What are the advantages and disadvantages of consumerism? Consulted from quora.com
- The Consumer Society Essay. Consulted from bartleby.com
- What is the consumer society? Consulted from prezi.com