Consumers, in the “consumerism” worldview exist only to receive goods. It’s a primarily self-centered orientation to the world, and that’s why people sneer the word with such a moralizing tone.
Imagine the opposite of consumerism is producerism. Producing time-saving conveniences, building stuff, retaining walls and, heck, even trivial trinkets. Producing is a “nice thing to do.” An active life working and valuing the things you wished you valued while helping others in the small, tedious ways that the economy rewards a person for.
But a “consumerist” is a distracted, binge-watching, GrubHub couch potato perhaps sporting a part-time BS job. People are afraid of living in a “distraction/hedonistic/morally corrupt/selfish society”. And part of the reason this objection to society comes up so much is that (probably mistakenly) they think the following:
many jobs are BS
2a) much of what people purchase is not actually valuable, only perceived as such.
2b) much of what we buy, our best selves would not.
much of what society nudges us towards (in music, in carbon emissions, in social values) is not in our own or our collective best interests.
Consumers, in the “consumerism” worldview exist only to receive goods. It’s a primarily self-centered orientation to the world, and that’s why people sneer the word with such a moralizing tone.
Imagine the opposite of consumerism is producerism. Producing time-saving conveniences, building stuff, retaining walls and, heck, even trivial trinkets. Producing is a “nice thing to do.” An active life working and valuing the things you wished you valued while helping others in the small, tedious ways that the economy rewards a person for.
But a “consumerist” is a distracted, binge-watching, GrubHub couch potato perhaps sporting a part-time BS job. People are afraid of living in a “distraction/hedonistic/morally corrupt/selfish society”. And part of the reason this objection to society comes up so much is that (probably mistakenly) they think the following:
many jobs are BS 2a) much of what people purchase is not actually valuable, only perceived as such. 2b) much of what we buy, our best selves would not.
much of what society nudges us towards (in music, in carbon emissions, in social values) is not in our own or our collective best interests.