In his book The End of Work, Jeremy Rifkin notes that until the 20th century the word consumption evoked negative images; to be labeled a "consumer" was an insult. (In fact, one of the deadliest diseases in history, tuberculosis, was often referred to as "consumption.") Twentieth century merchants realized, however, that in order to prosper, they had to convince people of the need for things not previously needed. For example, General Motors made annual changes in its cars so that people would be discontented with the cars they already owned. Thus began consumerism. Today consumption describes the U.S. lifestyle in a nutshell. We consume twice as much today per person as we did at the end of World War II. The amount of U.S. retail space per person is vastly greater than that of any other country. It appears we live to shop.
That's from my accounting textbook, of all places. Depressing stuff, huh?
1 comment:
Jeremy Rifkin wrote Beyond Beef, I mentioned it to you not long ago. You said it sounded positively depressing. It's good, and interesting, that your accounting book gives him props.
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