Critiques of Consumerism in Sociology

This essay examines the usefulness of critiques of consumerism within the sociology of consumption. It begins by defining consumerism as a social condition where consumption becomes a central purpose in life, shaping identity and social interactions. The essay then explores several critiques of consumerism: the inadequacy of focusing solely on 'needs' due to the subjective nature of needs; the problematic materialism that prioritizes possessions over relationships; the addictive nature of consumerism leading to perpetual dissatisfaction; the inherent selfishness often driving consumption; and the misconception that happiness is found in material acquisition. The essay further discusses various sociological approaches to consumerism, including structural approaches, work-time and consumerism, new means of consumption, and theories of conspicuous and inconspicuous consumption, identity construction, social practices, ecological modernization, and taste. By analyzing these diverse perspectives, the essay concludes that the critiques of consumerism are valuable tools for understanding the complexities of consumption within sociological frameworks, highlighting the far-reaching social consequences of consumerist behaviors beyond mere fulfillment of basic needs.

How useful are critiques of consumerism in the context of the sociology of consumption
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The American Sociological Association formally recognizes the “sociology of consumption” and
it has two sections under it: one is the section on consumers and other is the section on
consumption. This essay tries to understand that how are the critiques of the “consumerism”
useful for the sociology of consumption. For this, firstly, the concept of consumerism shall be
understood in detail.
Consumerism is a social condition which occurs when consumption becomes important to the
lives of most of the people and it also becomes their purpose of existence (Karin M. Ekström,
Helene Brembeck, 2004). With consumerism, the people gets bound together due to the dilemma
that how they can channel their wants, desires, needs, longings and the pursuit of emotional
intelligence in the consumption of the goods and services (Tilman, 2006, pg. 99). Consumerism
is that ideology where the people are seductively bound to the system of mass production of
goods and services (Dunn, 2008). With this ideology, the consumption of the people gets
changed from the ‘means’ to an ‘end’. This makes the acquisition of the goods by people as a
basis of their identity and also a sense of self. (Goold, 2010, pg. 15) has said in his book that
consumerism is a social arrangement that occurs due to the recycling mundane, the regime
neutral human wants and desires, the longings in and the principal propelling force of the
society. The concept of consumerism acts as a force which helps in coordinating the systematic
reproduction, the integration of things socially, the social stratification and the making of the
individuals. This concept also has a role to play in the individual processes and in the self-
policies of the group (Bauman, 2007, pg. 42). In other words, consumerism is said to be existing
when the wants of people, their desires and the longings for the goods of consumers drives the
happenings in the society and when these things becomes responsible for shaping the complete
social system in which the people live. The factors that are responsible for consumerism are
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channeled through consumption and they are inspired and reproduced by the dominant
worldview, the culture of the people and the values of the society.
Under the concept of consumerism, the consumption habits of the people are defined in such a
way that the people or the consumers start to understand themselves, they start affiliating with
others and also they start understanding the extent to which the fit within the society and they are
valued by the society at large. But, the concept does not apply to all the people and in all
contexts. There are several critiques that are associated with consumerism which are useful in the
study of sociology of consumption. The practices of the consumer defines the social and the
economic value therefore, the consumerism becomes an ideology through which one sees and
understand the world, the people explore the possibilities in the world and they discover the ways
in which they can achieve their wants and desires. The manipulation in the probabilities of the
choices and conduct of the individuals is done by consumerism (Delucchi, 2002, pg. 102). But,
in this process, the people tend to become very materialistic as they see everything from the
perspective of the things that they buy and they forget to value the people around them. All the
wants, longings and the desires of the consumers are shaped by consumerism in such a way that
the people not only wish to acquire the goods due to their usefulness, but they want to get the
goods due to what the goods say about them, so they start associating themselves with the goods
and lose their individuality. The people look for those goods that are the newest in the market
and best in the fit; also the goods shall outshine the other consumers in the market which creates
an unhealthy competition and the feeling of hatred and jealousy arises. Thus, the experience of
consumerism is similar to that of grabbing the ever increasing volume and intensity of the
desires. The fuel to the consumerism in the society of consumers is given by the planned
obsolescence and the premises which are not only related to the acquisition of the goods, but it
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also related to their disposal (Warde, 2015, pg. 119). Under the concept of consumerism, it can
be understood that, the society of the consumers thrives on the inability of the mass production
and consumption system for meeting the needs and desires of the people. This system promises
to cater to the needs of people but for a short period of time. This concept has not been observes
to cultivate happiness among people, instead, it is observed to cultivate fears aiming people. The
fear is of not fitting in the product, not having the right product, not being or looking the right
type of person etc. So, the important critique of this concept is that it is a perpetual non-
satisfaction. Thus, consumerism functions upon and also reproduces an insatiability of desires
and needs.
Now, the role of sociology in consideration of consumerism will be discussed in this section.
Traditionally, the sociology has focused on the causes of consumerism at the societal and the
individual levels. A unique perspective related to the study of consumerism has been brought by
the environmental sociology concept. It focuses on the impact of the natural system on the
humans and the impact that humans have on the environment. In this, the explicit attention is
paid to the social beliefs, the behaviors and the collective actions of the humans. The sociology
approaches to the concept of consumerism in many different ways.
When we talk about consumerism and sociology of consumption, one must understand that how
sociology views the concept of consumerism and how the two are related to each other. One of
the sociological approaches to consumerism is the structural approach where the large social
structures place an influence on the process of consumerism (Kennedy, 2008, pg. 180. Then,
another approach is the work, time and consumerism approach in which the leisure time gets
reduced when a person spend more hours in working and this results in increase in the level of
productivity. When the more hours are spent on the work, then the productivity rises and the
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consumers are able to get more number of goods. This means that the increase in the hours of
working have interesting consequences for the consumerism process (Lupton, 1997, pg. 379).
But, the increased working hours may be relevant to the degradation of the environment. This is
because when the working hour rises, it may lead to reduced hours that people spend in spending
the money and in buying the gods. Thus, their quality of life decreases. Also, the leisure goods
that are expensive and symbolize a self-identity and good lifestyle are bought by the high income
earners who have little leisure time (Miles, 1998). The third approach talks about the new means
of consumption in which the substance of consumption, the amount spent on consumption and
the ways in which consumption happens have changed so that the consumption can become a
ubiquitous process and the focus on the social life has been normalized. The next approach talks
about the consumer society and the society of discarding. In this approach, the functioning of the
objects as a code of signs has been described. In this approach, the objects are regarded a signs in
which the objects get related and associated with the instincts of people (Warde, 2016, pg. 40).
The next approach is the human agency approach where the psychological and social
mechanisms are focused upon and they promote certain kinds of the consumption behaviors.
This approach talks about the social drivers of the consumption behavior (Kramer, 2014, pg. 14).
Then the next approach is the conspicuous consumption approach in which the status in the
materialistic society is conferred and the command of the people on the environment, and control
over the life represents and enviable position of the people (Binkley, 2014). This approach
focuses on the fact that people consume because they want to enhance their status in the eyes of
others. Another approach in extension for this one is the approach of inconspicuous
consumption. This tries to find the reasons behind the consumption of the people and their reason
for the consumption at a certain level. This is because the approach believes that when people
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consume more and in unspecified quantity, then they put unsustainable strains on the
environment (Kennedy, 2008, pg. 178). To encourage consumption at the individual level, the
people can be encouraged to carry put the social comparisons in which they compare that how
they can be better off in comparison to others. The people do this by displaying their possessions
and make people look at them. This gives them a feeling of prestige and they feel valuable. But,
these items are for rare use of the people; this makes the freedom of choice gratifying and
propels them to buy the specialized equipment that they rarely use. Also, this equipment can be
rented out for the rare occasion and then the people can use it. Thus, the concept of consumerism
makes the conspicuous consumption inconspicuous. The consumption become ordinary and it
became difficult to convey the status and prestige through the consumer goods (Kennedy, 2008,
pg. 182). The eighth approach of the sociological approaches to consumerism is the approach of
identity construction. Here, the consumers choose what they should do and what they have to
buy as a part of the project that is being given to them or they take up themselves. They also
chose that with whom they have to complete this project and who will help the person in
becoming the kind of person which is thought by the society as being the best one. This approach
invokes the logic of social practices where the diversity of consumption practices is
acknowledged and it is considered as putting broader effects on the choices of the consumers.
The next approach is the social practices approach where the dimensions of the structural and the
individual identity are incorporated so that the daily actions and the long-term social changes can
be understood. This approach emphasize on the role of the people and the role of the social
structures in shaping the social practices. Another approach is the ecological modernization
theory where the ways are addressed in which the habits of the people influence and they are
influenced by the physical and the social structures. Final approach is the theory of taste. In this
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approach, the recursive relation between the actions of the individuals and the class structure is
studied. The tastes are influenced by the class position and the class position is reinforced by the
taste.
Since there are several ways by which sociology of consumption approaches to the theory of
consumerism, therefore, the critique of consumerism is useful for the sociology of consumption.
The criticism of the consumerism is common. It has been debated for a long time now. The
concept of consumerism involves the people in buying those goods that they don’t even need. It
also embodies a materialism which is undesirable. The consumers get addicted to buying goods
and services. This concept of consumerism stems from the selfishness of people and finally, this
is an irrational and misguided concept which embodies the presumption that happiness can be
acquired when more and more goods are acquired. Now these criticisms will be discussed in
detail.
Consumerism is criticized on the basis of ‘needs’ of people. This criticism arose because people
were found to consume more than their needs. If the people could resist themselves and they
bought only those things that are actually needed by them, then the feeling of content will be
more in them (Campbell, 2015, pg. 279). But in reality, the people spend the money recklessly
and then they run into debt which is bad for them. If the resources that the people have are
devoted to those activities that keep them more filling and the resources are spent in those
activities that are more worthwhile, then the danger to the exploitation of the planet will be less
and there will be more balance between the needs of the people and the fulfillment of those
needs. The people buy the products that are not really needed and they could live without these
things easily. Also, the people poses many things that serve almost the same purpose which
prompts that these things were not needed and they were purchased not because the need was
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there, but due to some other reason, may be prestige, boredom etc. But, the definition of need is
very broad and it cannot be applied to all the consumers in the world. Need is different for
different people. For some of them, comfort is also a need and they buy goods due to the level of
comfort that they get from them. Hence, it is very difficult to apply a common concept of need to
the various people.
The second criticism of the concept of consumerism in the sociology is the materialism issue.
The behavior of the consumers is influenced by the materialistic things. They are observed to
attach undue importance to the things that are materialistic in nature (Gabriel, 1995, pg. 93). The
common objects that are included in that are the clothes, jewelry, cars, houses etc. these things
takes the place of the loved ones in the life of people. They get attached to these things so much
that they even forget their family, friends and other relationships. With the expansion in the
goods and services market, there has been expansion in the likes and dislikes of people too. They
might like a materialistic thing today and they might reject it tomorrow if they see it in someone
else’s hand or they see something better than that. The main reason for this is that all the
consumers’ wants to stand out in today’s world. They want to possess something which is more
valuable and unique than what others have. But, the criticism that consumers have become
aligned towards materialistic things does not apply to all the things. Some of them include the
artistic works, the works that have a historical significance and the aesthetic works. This is
because, their value increases with their uniqueness and the likeness of people towards these
things cannot be regarded as materialistic liking.
The third critique in the concept of consumerism is the addiction critique. The fashion is
characterized by the style, the aesthetic characteristics, the style of the products, the changes etc.
Since the people keep on buying new things, they just intend to walk with the fashion. People are
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no longer satisfied with what they have; instead they are just dissatisfied with what others have.
So, they seek for the better and new products. This can be linked to the previous criticism where
it has been argued that people buy things without the need. The addiction to the buying of things
has made the lives of people very unstable (Carrington, 2016, pg. 33). They just keep on
searching for things and they feel that they never get the right ones. They always believe that
whatever they have is outdated and not in fashion so they do not use one product many times and
they get bored from it. The consumers need to understand the fact that when goods are consumed
in an endless fashion, they leave the people empty and pointless. Their addiction is just useless
when it comes to exhibiting the compulsive behavior.
The fourth critique is the selfishness critique. In this, it has been argued that the motivation of the
consumers drives them towards the desire to get the pleasurable experiences (Vergragt, 2014, pg.
9). They are not motivated by the fetishistic obsession. There are two types of consumers who
go for shopping. One is the category where the household requirements are fulfilled like when
the housewives go to buy the milk, groceries etc. The other one is when the people go for
shopping when they have to gift things to others. In the first category, the shopping is just
selfless because the goods are bought for the fulfillment of the needs of the family. But, in case
of the second category, the selfish behavior comes in picture. People buy goods according to the
person to whom they have to give a gift. If they gift something to their boss, they buy an
expensive gift or if they expect that they will get something good in return, and then they buy a
good one, otherwise they don’t. This clearly pictures the selfish behavior of the people.
The final critique is the happiness critique in which it is argued that the people try to find the rue
happiness in the goods that they buy. They acquire and use those commodities that they may not
require at all and they satisfy themselves with mere possession of those things. These things
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become overriding goals in their life and they mistakenly believe that it is the path of their true
happiness.
Thus, it can be concluded that the consumption of the goods and services are embedded in the
lives of the people both in ordinary way and in the everyday routine. This is useful for the
sociology because the day to day routine, interaction and activities are related to it. The theory of
consumerism has been analyzed in detail in this essay and there is little criticism to this theory
that is relevant to the study of sociology. It has been seen above that with consumerism, the
social consequences occur and many have them also lost their way. So, consumerism is beyond
the fact of just meeting the day to day needs of the people.
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