Unlike 99% of people on Earth apparently I don't dislike consumerism, in fact I think it's quite good for society. Consumerism has a bad reputation because you only really notice it's worst aspects just like how you only notice air when there's carbon dioxide in it. When people think of consumerism they usually think of mindless, vapid, lethargic consumption for consumption's sake but in reality consumerism is mostly rather positive, consumerism is essentially the idea of individuals purchasing and using items the individually buy. If you look at early consumerism in England and France you see it wasn't just the consumption for the sake of consumption but the cultivation of beauty and art. Consumerism made aesthetics not privilege reserved for the few but in fact an essential for anyone who could attain it. And so, how do we reform consumerism to this original goal of cultivating individual aesthetics? I think a new consumerism should be a directed, productive consumerism that doesn't just drive up wealth but drives up human creativity and cultivates not just consumption but also creation, for example a consumer culture centered on art supplies and lessons in which people get the best tools to create their own art driving up both consumption as well as production. I think that consumerism if done well can only be a benefit to a country, but thats the thing it must be done well and so we cannot just allow capital to push it in any direction the market sees fit instead we as a society need to push it in a direction that works for us.

Productive-Consumerism
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BoredStiff
The act of saving + consumption is fundamental to human prosperity. The negative reaction to any and all consumerism seems to be a bit reactionary and almost anti-human to me.
I think you're a bit misguided when you mention the market though. "The market" is not some nebulous force to be hermetically sealed off from humanity; it is the result of voluntary human interaction. We already push consumerism in the direction consumers want it to go. Or at least we would if there weren't statist monopolies and such.
I didn't mean to come off as anti-market. I was more talking about state incentives for positive market dynamics, I'm more or less for a free-market so long as it's conducive to societal health. I think Singapore and Dengist China are great examples of what free markets can do when they're human oriented not just allowed to spiral like in America.
by lyon; ; Report