{"id":23,"date":"2017-09-12T15:47:34","date_gmt":"2017-09-12T15:47:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-plattsburgh-anthro\/?post_type=chapter&p=23"},"modified":"2017-09-12T15:47:34","modified_gmt":"2017-09-12T15:47:34","slug":"readings-and-resources-on-the-consumer","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-plattsburgh-anthro\/chapter\/readings-and-resources-on-the-consumer\/","title":{"raw":"Readings and Resources on the Consumer","rendered":"Readings and Resources on the Consumer"},"content":{"raw":"\"\"\r\n\r\nIllustration from<\/strong>\u00a0Adbusters<\/strong><\/a>\r\nwith permission<\/strong>\r\n\r\nThe consumer is essential for the culture of capitalism. Not only must consumers buy, they must buy more every year, and still more the year after that. Without perpetual consumption, the economy would either decline or collapse. The sign of a healthy national economy, after all, is measured by the Gross National Product (GNP), and the GNP is a measure of the quantity of goods and services people consume. This raises four questions that will be addressed in the following articles. First, historically how was the consumer constructed; second, why do members of the culture of capitalism feel compelled to consume as much as they do; three, what are some of the consequences of our levels of consumption; and, finally, how would you characterize your own commitment to consume\r\n\r\nREADINGS AND EXERCISES<\/strong><\/span>\r\n\r\nA. The History and Nature of Consumerism<\/strong>\r\n\r\nIn\u00a0Global Problems and the Culture of Capitalism\u00a0we suggest that the emergence of the consumer represents a unique development in the history of the human species. The following readings and resources discuss this development in the United States.\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\nReading 1.\u00a0The State of Consumption Today\r\nhttp:\/\/www.worldwatch.org\/node\/810#1<\/a>An overview of the material on global consumption contained in the Worldwatch Institute's publication, State of the World 2011.\u00a0 The overview contains information on the growth of global consumption, inequalities in production, and the social and environmental problems created by the growth in consumption.\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\nReading 2.\u00a0The History of Affluenza in America\r\nhttp:\/\/www.pbs.org\/kcts\/affluenza\/diag\/history.html<\/a> To accompany its documentary on the history of consumption, or affluenza, as they called it, PBS developed this timeline of the development of consumerism. Read each stage of the process and learn, not only about key developments in the history of consumerism in the United States, but also about the periodic resistance to it. Later you will have an opportunity to check the extent to which you are infected with affluenza.\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\nReading 3\u00a0\u00a0The Rise of American Consumerism\r\n\r\nhttp:\/\/www.pbs.org\/wgbh\/americanexperience\/features\/general-article\/tupperware-consumer\/<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0 As part of the American Experience series, PBS explored the Tupperware phenomenon that introduced the idea of home parties as a method of selling to consume (pragmatic spending).\u00a0 Read how women were enticed to leave the factory after WWII while still retaining the ability to earn money for consumption.\r\n\r\nB. Turning People into Consumers <\/strong>People have, of course, always consumed things, either making these things themselves, bartering or trading for them, or purchasing them at markets. But it is only in the past few centuries, and largely in the past 100 years, that mass consumption has become an essential ingredient of our culture. Furthermore, as we discuss in\u00a0Global Problems and the Culture of Capitalism people are not naturally consumers; consumers had to be created. The following articles discuss how people, particularly children, are transformed into consumers.\r\n\r\nReading 4.\u00a0Consuming Kids\r\n\u00a0https:\/\/youthspecialties.com\/blog\/consuming-kids-how-sellers-create-new-generations-of-buyers\/ \u00a0<\/a>Advertisers\u00a0are quite specific on who they target.\u00a0 This article discusses how different corporations target different youth groups,\u00a0summarizing\u00a0a number of different books on the exploitation of children.\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\nReading 5. From Savers to Spenders: How Children Became a Consumer Market\r\n\r\nhttp:\/\/www.medialit.org\/reading-room\/savers-spenders-how-children-became-consumer-market<\/a>\u00a0 James McNeal, Professor of Marketing at Texas A&M takes us through a discussion of how parents instill consumerism in children thus creating an ethical and moral obligation of parents and marketers to understand the inadequacies of the child consumer.\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\nReading 6.\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\nReading 7.\u00a0The Fast Food Trap: How Commercialism Creates Overweight Children\r\n\r\nhttp:\/\/www.mothering.com\/articles\/the-fast-food-trap-how-commercialism-creates-overweight-children\/<\/a> This article by Gary Ruskin discusses the rise of childhood obesity in America.\u00a0 Childhood, says Ruskin, has been redefined by American commercial culture to make children increasingly vulnerable to corporate marketing.\u00a0 The corporate redefining of childhood, says Ruskin, \"employed four main tools: television, the marketing of junk food, the commercial takeover of the schools, and the starvation of the public sector.\"\u00a0 These factors, combined with the decreasing influence of parents over their children has resulted in, among other things, the fattening of American children.\u00a0 At the end of the article, Ruskin lays out some actions that parents and others can take to deal with the problem.\u00a0 You also need to be aware that the food industry has its own campaign to convince people that \"food freedom\" is under attack, and that scientific studies that indicate that obesity is a problem are flawed.\u00a0 Check out the website for the\u00a0Center for Consumer Freedom section on\u00a0food police<\/a>.\u00a0 The website is a good example of how industry responds when their interests are threatened,\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\nReading 8:\u00a0Children as Consumers\r\nhttp:\/\/www.globalissues.org\/article\/237\/children-as-consumers<\/a>\u00a0Anup Shah's Global Issues page on how kids are targeted as consumers.\u00a0 Excellent articles and some basic facts about consuming kids.\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\nReading 9:\u00a0$14 Trillion Spent Annually On Trying To Look Cool\r\nhttp:\/\/www.theonion.com\/articles\/report-14-trillion-spent-annually-on-trying-to-loo,17125\/<\/a>\u00a0A report on how much American spend on looking cool.\u00a0 Great spoof from The Onion\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\nC. The Consequences of Consumerism <\/strong>One of the essential features of the culture of capitalism is masking from the consumer the effects of his or her consumption patterns. Yet the effects are far-reaching; our patterns of consumption influence virtually every facet of our lives, from the way we allocate our time, to the nature of our social relations, to the state of our environment, even the meaning of our bodies. The following articles discuss some of these effects.\r\n\r\nReading 10.\u00a0Waste a Lot,Want a Lot: Our All-Consuming Quest for Style\r\nhttp:\/\/www.irfanerdogan.com\/cultureideology\/wastealot.htm<\/a> \u00a0\u00a0How do you drive people to consume? One way is to ensure that they are dissatisfied with what they have, make them, in effect, slaves to style. In this article, Stuart Ewen traces the history of style in America, and discusses some of the consequences of this for our society.\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\nReading 11:\u00a0Blood Bones and Organs: The Gruesome \u2018Red Market\u2019 http:\/\/www.npr.org\/2011\/06\/10\/136931615\/blood-bones-and-organs-the-gruesome-red-market?share=email<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 In the culture of capitalism virtually everything is available only as a commodity, that is something to be bought or sold.\u00a0 The necessities of life, for example, such as food, shelter, and health care, exist only as commodities; without the means to \"buy\" them, people starve, are homeless, or do without medical treatment.\u00a0 Even our bodies, as this article from\u00a0NPR\u00a0by Scott Carney illustrates, are becoming commodified.\u00a0 He describes the booming market in human organs, as increasingly impoverished peoples sell\u00a0 their body parts for transplants to rich buyers.\u00a0 The results are the reduction of the human body to bits and parts that can be bought or sold on increasingly globalized markets, and, in some countries, a terrified citizenry that fears they will be killed for their organs.\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\nExercise 1.\u00a0Reverend Billy and the Church of Stop Shopping<\/strong>\r\n\r\nhttp:\/\/www.revbilly.com\/<\/a> Reverend Billy and his Church of Stop Shopping is devoted to bringing the message of the dangers of consumerism to whoever will listen.\u00a0 At the site you can get all kinds information (and links).\r\n
    \r\n \t
  1. How Badly are you Infected with Affluenza?<\/strong>It is sometimes difficult for us to appreciate the extent to which our behavior is a consequence of what we really want to do, and how much is a consequence of our culture. In\u00a0Global Problems and the Culture of Capitalism<\/em>we use the analogy of the Navaho sandpainting to illustrate the extent to which our culture determines our behavior. This exercise is designed for you to discover the extent to which you are embedded in the sandpainting of the culture of capitalism.<\/li>\r\n<\/ol>\r\n
    <\/div>\r\nExercise 2.\u00a0Do you have affluenza<\/strong>?\r\nhttp:\/\/www.pbs.org\/kcts\/affluenza\/diag\/have.html<\/a>Take this test yourself and see to what degree you're infected with affluenza.\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\nFILMS FOR USE WITH PART 1<\/span><\/strong><\/span>\r\n\r\nFilm 1.\u00a0<\/strong>Big Ideas that Changed the World: Consumerism<\/strong>: a four part series that takes us through the creation of the ideology of consumerism and the resulting effects.\r\n\r\nPart 1 (10 minutes) https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=PZ29DQvopZo<\/a>\r\n\r\nPart 2 (26 minutes)\u00a0 https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=tJWYWKNdq4Y<\/a>\r\n\r\nPart 3 (9 minutes)\u00a0 https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=OFTjqzqZ3zU<\/a>\r\n\r\nPart 4 (minutes)\u00a0 https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=MyMvJ2giDmQ<\/a>\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\nFilm 2.\u00a0<\/strong>The Success and Price of Capitalism <\/strong>talks about the corporate mandate to maximize profits and the cost to society.\r\n\r\nhttps:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=M9Zkt7KYK8M<\/a>\r\n\r\n ","rendered":"

    \"\"<\/p>\n

    Illustration from<\/strong>\u00a0Adbusters<\/strong><\/a>
    \nwith permission<\/strong><\/p>\n

    The consumer is essential for the culture of capitalism. Not only must consumers buy, they must buy more every year, and still more the year after that. Without perpetual consumption, the economy would either decline or collapse. The sign of a healthy national economy, after all, is measured by the Gross National Product (GNP), and the GNP is a measure of the quantity of goods and services people consume. This raises four questions that will be addressed in the following articles. First, historically how was the consumer constructed; second, why do members of the culture of capitalism feel compelled to consume as much as they do; three, what are some of the consequences of our levels of consumption; and, finally, how would you characterize your own commitment to consume<\/p>\n

    READINGS AND EXERCISES<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

    A. The History and Nature of Consumerism<\/strong><\/p>\n

    In\u00a0Global Problems and the Culture of Capitalism\u00a0we suggest that the emergence of the consumer represents a unique development in the history of the human species. The following readings and resources discuss this development in the United States.<\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n

    Reading 1.\u00a0The State of Consumption Today
    \n    http:\/\/www.worldwatch.org\/node\/810#1<\/a>An overview of the material on global consumption contained in the Worldwatch Institute’s publication, State of the World 2011.\u00a0 The overview contains information on the growth of global consumption, inequalities in production, and the social and environmental problems created by the growth in consumption.<\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n

    Reading 2.\u00a0The History of Affluenza in America
    \n    http:\/\/www.pbs.org\/kcts\/affluenza\/diag\/history.html<\/a> To accompany its documentary on the history of consumption, or affluenza, as they called it, PBS developed this timeline of the development of consumerism. Read each stage of the process and learn, not only about key developments in the history of consumerism in the United States, but also about the periodic resistance to it. Later you will have an opportunity to check the extent to which you are infected with affluenza.<\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n

    Reading 3\u00a0\u00a0The Rise of American Consumerism<\/p>\n

    http:\/\/www.pbs.org\/wgbh\/americanexperience\/features\/general-article\/tupperware-consumer\/<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0 As part of the American Experience series, PBS explored the Tupperware phenomenon that introduced the idea of home parties as a method of selling to consume (pragmatic spending).\u00a0 Read how women were enticed to leave the factory after WWII while still retaining the ability to earn money for consumption.<\/p>\n

    B. Turning People into Consumers <\/strong>People have, of course, always consumed things, either making these things themselves, bartering or trading for them, or purchasing them at markets. But it is only in the past few centuries, and largely in the past 100 years, that mass consumption has become an essential ingredient of our culture. Furthermore, as we discuss in\u00a0Global Problems and the Culture of Capitalism people are not naturally consumers; consumers had to be created. The following articles discuss how people, particularly children, are transformed into consumers.<\/p>\n

    Reading 4.\u00a0Consuming Kids
    \n    \u00a0https:\/\/youthspecialties.com\/blog\/consuming-kids-how-sellers-create-new-generations-of-buyers\/ \u00a0<\/a>Advertisers\u00a0are quite specific on who they target.\u00a0 This article discusses how different corporations target different youth groups,\u00a0summarizing\u00a0a number of different books on the exploitation of children.<\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n

    Reading 5. From Savers to Spenders: How Children Became a Consumer Market<\/p>\n

    http:\/\/www.medialit.org\/reading-room\/savers-spenders-how-children-became-consumer-market<\/a>\u00a0 James McNeal, Professor of Marketing at Texas A&M takes us through a discussion of how parents instill consumerism in children thus creating an ethical and moral obligation of parents and marketers to understand the inadequacies of the child consumer.<\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n

    Reading 6.<\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n

    Reading 7.\u00a0The Fast Food Trap: How Commercialism Creates Overweight Children<\/p>\n

    http:\/\/www.mothering.com\/articles\/the-fast-food-trap-how-commercialism-creates-overweight-children\/<\/a> This article by Gary Ruskin discusses the rise of childhood obesity in America.\u00a0 Childhood, says Ruskin, has been redefined by American commercial culture to make children increasingly vulnerable to corporate marketing.\u00a0 The corporate redefining of childhood, says Ruskin, “employed four main tools: television, the marketing of junk food, the commercial takeover of the schools, and the starvation of the public sector.”\u00a0 These factors, combined with the decreasing influence of parents over their children has resulted in, among other things, the fattening of American children.\u00a0 At the end of the article, Ruskin lays out some actions that parents and others can take to deal with the problem.\u00a0 You also need to be aware that the food industry has its own campaign to convince people that “food freedom” is under attack, and that scientific studies that indicate that obesity is a problem are flawed.\u00a0 Check out the website for the\u00a0Center for Consumer Freedom section on\u00a0food police<\/a>.\u00a0 The website is a good example of how industry responds when their interests are threatened,<\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n

    Reading 8:\u00a0Children as Consumers
    \n    http:\/\/www.globalissues.org\/article\/237\/children-as-consumers<\/a>\u00a0Anup Shah’s Global Issues page on how kids are targeted as consumers.\u00a0 Excellent articles and some basic facts about consuming kids.<\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n

    Reading 9:\u00a0$14 Trillion Spent Annually On Trying To Look Cool
    \n    http:\/\/www.theonion.com\/articles\/report-14-trillion-spent-annually-on-trying-to-loo,17125\/<\/a>\u00a0A report on how much American spend on looking cool.\u00a0 Great spoof from The Onion<\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n

    C. The Consequences of Consumerism <\/strong>One of the essential features of the culture of capitalism is masking from the consumer the effects of his or her consumption patterns. Yet the effects are far-reaching; our patterns of consumption influence virtually every facet of our lives, from the way we allocate our time, to the nature of our social relations, to the state of our environment, even the meaning of our bodies. The following articles discuss some of these effects.<\/p>\n

    Reading 10.\u00a0Waste a Lot,Want a Lot: Our All-Consuming Quest for Style
    \n    http:\/\/www.irfanerdogan.com\/cultureideology\/wastealot.htm<\/a> \u00a0\u00a0How do you drive people to consume? One way is to ensure that they are dissatisfied with what they have, make them, in effect, slaves to style. In this article, Stuart Ewen traces the history of style in America, and discusses some of the consequences of this for our society.<\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n

    Reading 11:\u00a0Blood Bones and Organs: The Gruesome \u2018Red Market\u2019 http:\/\/www.npr.org\/2011\/06\/10\/136931615\/blood-bones-and-organs-the-gruesome-red-market?share=email<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 In the culture of capitalism virtually everything is available only as a commodity, that is something to be bought or sold.\u00a0 The necessities of life, for example, such as food, shelter, and health care, exist only as commodities; without the means to “buy” them, people starve, are homeless, or do without medical treatment.\u00a0 Even our bodies, as this article from\u00a0NPR\u00a0by Scott Carney illustrates, are becoming commodified.\u00a0 He describes the booming market in human organs, as increasingly impoverished peoples sell\u00a0 their body parts for transplants to rich buyers.\u00a0 The results are the reduction of the human body to bits and parts that can be bought or sold on increasingly globalized markets, and, in some countries, a terrified citizenry that fears they will be killed for their organs.<\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n

    Exercise 1.\u00a0Reverend Billy and the Church of Stop Shopping<\/strong><\/p>\n

    http:\/\/www.revbilly.com\/<\/a> Reverend Billy and his Church of Stop Shopping is devoted to bringing the message of the dangers of consumerism to whoever will listen.\u00a0 At the site you can get all kinds information (and links).<\/p>\n

      \n
    1. How Badly are you Infected with Affluenza?<\/strong>It is sometimes difficult for us to appreciate the extent to which our behavior is a consequence of what we really want to do, and how much is a consequence of our culture. In\u00a0Global Problems and the Culture of Capitalism<\/em>we use the analogy of the Navaho sandpainting to illustrate the extent to which our culture determines our behavior. This exercise is designed for you to discover the extent to which you are embedded in the sandpainting of the culture of capitalism.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
      <\/div>\n

      Exercise 2.\u00a0Do you have affluenza<\/strong>?
      \n      http:\/\/www.pbs.org\/kcts\/affluenza\/diag\/have.html<\/a>Take this test yourself and see to what degree you’re infected with affluenza.<\/p>\n

       <\/p>\n

      FILMS FOR USE WITH PART 1<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

      Film 1.\u00a0<\/strong>Big Ideas that Changed the World: Consumerism<\/strong>: a four part series that takes us through the creation of the ideology of consumerism and the resulting effects.<\/p>\n

      Part 1 (10 minutes) https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=PZ29DQvopZo<\/a><\/p>\n

      Part 2 (26 minutes)\u00a0 https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=tJWYWKNdq4Y<\/a><\/p>\n

      Part 3 (9 minutes)\u00a0 https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=OFTjqzqZ3zU<\/a><\/p>\n

      Part 4 (minutes)\u00a0 https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=MyMvJ2giDmQ<\/a><\/p>\n

       <\/p>\n

      Film 2.\u00a0<\/strong>The Success and Price of Capitalism <\/strong>talks about the corporate mandate to maximize profits and the cost to society.<\/p>\n

      https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=M9Zkt7KYK8M<\/a><\/p>\n

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