Contemplate Consumptionism
Check out this compilation on consumerism from The Twenties:
http://americainclass.org/sources/becomingmodern/prosperity/text3/colcomconsumerism.pdf
Let’s recap some of the highlights:
“The American citizen has more comforts and conveniences than kings had two hundred years ago.” - Samuel Strauss, Things are in the Saddle (1924)
“The rise and spread of the dollar-down-and-so-much-per plan extends credit for virtually everything homes, $200 over-stuffed living-room suites, electric washing machines, automobiles, fur coats, diamond rings to persons of whom frequently little is known as to their intention or ability to pay.” - Robert S. Lynd & Helen Merrell Lynd, Middletown: A Study in American Culture (1929)
“We are urged deliberately to waste material. Throw away your razor blades, abandon your motor car, and purchase new.” - Stuart Chase, Prosperity: Fact or Myth? (1929)
Let’s read that last line again…
“Consumptionism is bringing it about that the… citizen’s first importance to his (or her) country is no longer that of a citizen but that of a consumer.”
Fast Forward 100 years…
In 2007, Annie Leonard released her groundbreaking documentary, The Story of Stuff, about our “consumption-crazed culture.”
An Invitation
How do we reclaim ourselves as citizens over consumers?
Join the Community Discussion
Share your reflections on Contemplating Consumptionism.
References
Check out more videos from Story of Stuff - they are fantastic!
And the full article, Things are in the Saddle by Samuel Strauss:
https://www.unz.com/print/AtlanticMonthly-1924nov-00577/
Copyright © 2021 Jen Lightwood