The New Politics of Consumption

Where are we now?

• In contemporary American culture, consuming is as authentic as it gets. Advertisements, getting a bargain, garage sales, and credit cards are firmly entrenched pillars of our way of life. We shop on our lunch hours, patronize outlet malls on vacation, and satisfy our latest desires with a late-night click of the mouse.

Juliet Schor, “Towards a New Politics of Consumption,” 446.

Schor notes that “the gains of the top 20 percent have jeopardized the well being of the bottom 80 percent” (447).

• What is the relationship between – consumerism and work– consumerism and social inequality– consumerism and war– consumerism and environmental degradation

• "The average American now finds it harder to achieve a satisfying standard of living than 25 years ago. Work requires longer hours, jobs are less secure, and pressures to spend more intense. Consumption-induced environmental damage remains pervasive, and we are in the midst of widespread failures of public provision. While the current economic boom has allayed consumers' fears for the moment, many Americans have long-term worries about their ability to meet basic needs, ensure a decent standard of living for their children, and keep up with an ever-escalating consumption norm.“

Juliet Schor, “Towards a New Politics of Consumption,” 447

“The new consumerism, with its growing apirational gap, has begun to jeopardize the quality of American life” (450).

• “[A] collective, not just an individual, response is necessary” (452).

• Are consumers “rational, deliberative, and in control”? (452).– How, then, do we explain the “whole industry of

advertisers, marketers, and consultants whose research on consumer behavior tells a very different story”? (455).

• Schor writes that “what we buy is deeply implicated in the structures of social inequality” (457).

– What does she mean? What do you think?

Voluntary Simplicity• Live simpler lives• Make conscious choices• Take care of the planet

• “If we do not delay but act with decision and determination, then humanity need not face a future of poverty and sacrifice. The earth can sustain a moderate and satisfying material standard of living for the entire human family.”

Duane Elgin, “Voluntary Simplicity and the New Global Challenge,”399.

Efficiency, Peace, Equity“To live sustainably, we must live efficiently - not misdirecting or squandering the earth's precious resources. To live efficiently, we must live peacefully for military expenditures represent an enormous diversion of resources from meeting basic human needs. To live peacefully, we must live with a reasonable degree of equity, or fairness, for it is unrealistic to think that, in a communications-rich world, a billion people will except living in absolute poverty while another billion live in conspicuous excess.” Duane Elgin, “Voluntary Simplicity and the New Global

Challenge, ” 406.

Essential Values that Characterize Voluntary Simplicity

• Appreciation of the interconnection and interdependence of all the earth's inhabitants and systems.

• Personal authenticity, integrity, healthy autonomy, self-reliance.

• Sufficiency, minimalism; anti-consumerism; deliberate reduction of consumption . . . and superfluous ornamentation.

• Mindfulness/Spirituality. Practitioners of Voluntary Simplicity value a consciously mindful and appreciative approach to living.

San Diego Voluntary Simplicity Group, founded 1996http://www.simplesandiego.org/pages/what_is_vs.html

Essential Practices that Characterize Voluntary Simplicity

• “Deliberate reduction of material possessions and consumption”

• Develop “environmentally sustainable forms of transportation, food production, housing and entertainment”

• “Holistic approach to personal health”

• Build “non-violent and compassionate relationships with family, friends, and community and contribute to the . . . common good”

• Develop “spiritual, intellectual, emotional, physical, interpersonal and aesthetic potentials”

• Develop “conscious, intentional, deliberate approach to living rather than unconscious impulsiveness”

San Diego Voluntary Simplicity Group, founded 1996http://www.simplesandiego.org/pages/what_is_vs.html

Taylor and Tilford: Is voluntary simplicity enough?　

• “[O]ne fifth of global population living in the highest-income countries account for 86 percent of private consumption expenditures” and the “poorest fifth account for a little over 1 percent” (468).

• “We are engaging in the ecological equivalent of running up a very substantial credit-card bill, hoping that tomorrow will take care of itself. It is misguided and dangerous, however, to spend beyond our means or to treat the natural world as a bank that does not have to be paid back.” (466).

• “Globalization and the marketing of the American consumer lifestyle provokes millions of global consumers to suddenly “need” sport utility vehicles, big-screen TVs, and closets of stuff – something the already overburdened planet can ill-afford” (470).

http://www.newdream.org/

Greenwashing and Simplicity and Corporate Strategies

A new form of co-optation?

What Is Greenwashing?

Chevrolet, “Spaceship Earth”

More greenwashing commercials• Greenwashing by NR400CSU:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7PdEcmy0924&list=PL21EB5ABDE956F3D2