The Security Umbrella of Consumption- A Culture of Capitalism

Apart from the “American dream”, the social standard within the states relies on the premise of happiness. The pursuit of happiness has become the accumulation of goods in order to socially establish oneself as a successful individual.

 This culture of capitalism emerged around the end of the 19th century, where the marketing concept, as part of a consumer experience, came into play. Sut Jhally, in his commentary of the “Advertising and the end of the World” claimed that the advertising culture dominated the outstanding values of the American society. Normal arrangements between the consumer and the product no longer held, a drive for desire, eroticism and love became the newfound values in goods. Consumers believed in the magical powers of material items to bring them wealth, happiness, love, attraction—incredible powers. The public consciousness revolved around the desire of identity, falsely associated with accumulated goods.

The social values of life changed. “…change in spiritual and intellectual values from an emphasis on such values as thrift, modesty and moderation towards a value system that encourages spending and ostentatious display”(18, Robbins).

 The culture of capitalism flourished. The immense accumulation of commodities altered the society to work in immediately responsive stages: production, distribution and consumption. The government reaped benefits from a consumer based culture, and thereby instituted higher wages in turn of more buying power. Higher wages provided an incentive to work more, work harder—creating an overworked, over stimulated society. The culture became entirely based on accumulation: the capitalist‘s accumulation of profit, the laborer’s accumulation of wages, and the consumer’s accumulation of goods.

 But apart from the obvious strategies that marketing promotes, the religious efforts for commodity accumulation that the government encourages, and the over stimulated society that we reside in, the most frightening aspect is our individual value. What is our society, but just a bunch of individuals acting on their own? Advertising talks to us as individuals, about our own fantasies, pleasures and comforts. The same billboard, the same message can be viewed by a hundred people who view it a hundred different ways. And that’s the unfortunate outcome. Our society has become a capitalist culture due to the individual’s value. We expect a level of service when we walk into a store, we expect advertisements to appeal to us, we expect recognition for our solitary work—we are more concerned with our own accomplishments than our bands, our families.

 We are in a culture that discouraged packs, unions, groups, and generosity. Our government has created a society of greedy individuals, coming together based on material accumulation. And we fell for the security umbrella of consumer culture due to our own selfishness and falsely appropriated self worth. And because of our own privileged viewpoint we look past the issues that don’t concern us directly—poverty, healthcare, housing, homeless, and the environment.

Link to Advertising and the End of the World:

>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_8gM0Q58iP0

And an interesting read:

>http://news.ucsc.edu/2008/04/2121.html