Sociology 2172A/B Lecture Notes - Lecture 4: Consumerism, Consumer Debt, Diners Club International
13 Aug 2016
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Malls have become part of our landscape. Invention of credit cards, shopping malls have made consumerism more efficient. 1950: we spend money we"ve earned to buy things we need to impress people we like . 2000: we spend money we haven"t earned. (see slides) Preoccupation with the acquisition of goods to satisfy needs through material things. The more you acquire, the happier you will be. We will run out of natural resources. Look at the bigger picture of consumption and consumerism. It has become cheaper to buy something new than to repair something old. Mncs are getting us to buy more. 20% of the planet are using up 80% of the resources. Average american uses 30x the amount of goods than someone that lives in a developing country. Before the internet age, we were exposed to 35 ads a day this has increased considerably. Consumerism has replaced healthy social contact with one another.
