The Consumer Society

Abstract

The liberal democracies are, clearly and proudly, societies of consumers. Members of the public are described as consumers as often as they are called citizens. Wherever consumption has replaced production as the determining economic activity, a great deal of energy must be spent on production solely for the purpose of satisfying an artificially stimulated consumption. Economists pay formal homage to the idea of consumer sovereignty, while advertising and business trade journals endlessly debate the needs, demands and motivations of consumers. Society flatters and honours those who consume much, and slights those who consume little. Yet it is worth recalling the original connotations of the term, not just as an etymological curiosity, but because the development of meaning reflects a transformation in the status of the activity itself. The word had, in the beginning, a wholly negative reference. In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries to consume’ meant to waste, to squander, to use up, to destroy entirely, and especially to destroy, often with fearful consequences, what prudence would have preserved. Even today, consumption remains a common term for the wasting disease, pulmonary tuberculosis. But it is the great triumph of modern capitalist ideologists that, while consumption still means to use up, or to squander, the negative connotations have been diverted. It is now socially, morally desirable to consume. It is even economically beneficial. According to popular wisdom, it is better to discard and purchase anew, than to save, repair, or re-use. Contemporary capitalism equates social progress with expanding personal consumption.