Consumerism and Faith

Since the onset of consumerism, the major growth of consumption has caused society to improve their daily life. With new innovations such as washing machines, dishwashers, automobiles, and cell phones society is able to eliminate hard work and progress forward. The inventions and innovations created have enhanced the quality of many lives. The everyday labor around the house is reduced, we can talk to anyone from around the world at any time, and look up any kind of information without having to read a book. However many of these time saving and efficient innovations are purchased by people who have no need for these devices and purchased them un- necessarily as luxury items. There have been many essays written about the positive and negative

Consumerism leads to self-gratification and the loss of life’s important values such as friendship, love and religion; this is an ever-growing issue that manipulates and deceives society and has done so since the beginning of the technological age.

Consumerism describes the rising want and need for goods and services. People then find the need to consume and buy and keep on buying. This makes stores continue on opening, finding great opportunities to sell and gain money from people who are obsess over consuming. This is only great for marketers, but for other business as well. People usually don’t carry a great deal of money in their pockets every time they purchase. That’s when business decided to make credit cards. Money inside a card that fits in a wallet easily. This made other business like PayPal and Bitcoin continue improving their

Through the Cold War, America was transitioning in various ways such as the way messages were shared, consumerism, and the constant race against the Soviet Union. During the years 1959-1964, Rod Serling, a New York writer and playwright began using one of the newest inventions, the television, as a way to share his opinion about controversial topics. The rise of the television allowed Serling to access to a larger audience whom he could share his opinion in the form of science fictional episodes in the show The Twilight Zone. Although the show seems ominous and a horror related TV show, it allows us to understand the effects and feeling towards topics such as a possible nuclear war, consumerism, space exploration.

Throughout his book, Tillich references faith as an ultimate concern to emphasize the importance of faith in the personality of individuals. Furthermore, Tillich believes faith is a vital part of human nature and that even the rejection of faith is, in itself, an act of faith. This displays Tillich’s understanding that faith will never disappear from society because it is a piece of the puzzle in what makes up humanity (Tillich).

The United States department of commerce found out that the nation is becoming weaker. Economy had increased how consumers blow their paychecks on unnecessary items. For example, many Americans are not able to pay their rent, yet still buy play stations 4 and a 52 inch plasma TV. Most Americans spend money when going to a gas station, in game purchase or paying full price for clothes. People who pay for items in full price should be more responsible with their money. However, Alyssa Battistoni

Consumerism appears to gain a larger role in our country every year. First off, the United States was never meant to be the land of the free and home of the brave. Actually, when Columbus saw this land mass back in 1492 all he thought about was money and the raw materials there. Well, Columbus was right, but raw materials and money have become the root of the problem within this country. National debt grows larger every day because of the need to buy goods from other countries because consumers in the U.S. require more than they actually need. The saying, “There are kids starving in Africa,” has become a common saying through this high need to consume and then wasting it, throughout this nation. Materialism in America is a whole other story.

Some people argue that it is acceptable for people in the United States to consume at high levels because their consumerism keeps the world economy going. What are the weaknesses in this idea? Although America’s consumerism may seem to help the economy of less fortunate countries, this rampant depletion has become financially and ecologically unsustainable. Globally, 86% of consumption expenditures comes from the 20% of the world’s people in first world countries, while the poorest 20% account for only a meager 14%. It seems that consumption has become a function of our culture. Only by generating and selling goods does capitalism currently work; and the more produced and purchased the more we have progress and prosperity.

The dominance of capitalist countries has facilitated the conformity of global civilization and cultural environments resulting in an increase of consumer cultures (Sarmela, 1977; Chaney, 2004). As capitalism experiences a natural and unavoidable expansion, consumers engage with consumer culture creating invisible products such as social status, identity, cultures, and ethical relationships (Sternberg, 2017). There are two sides to consumer culture that are the values held by society; those who conform and those who rebel (Turow & McAllister, 2014). All participants of society align with either submission or resistance to dominant ideas, values, and social structures. However, as a result of continued progressive diversity and fragmentation, the distinction between submissive and resistance are blurred. Nevertheless, those who resist and rebel are still participants of consumer culture. Instead they instead form sub cultures in society with alternative beliefs, values and ideas that challenge the mainstream (Chaney, 2004). In order to better understand the relationship between consumption practice and the resistance of consumer culture, theories of reflexive project of self, prosumers, lifestyle commodification, and incorporation will be analyzed in relation to the vegan movement.

According to Wilkins and Sanford (2009), there are several elements of a consumerism worldview; accumulating and using things brings fulfillment, money is power, we need just a little bit more, people are viewed as objects to consume, and if something ceases to fulfill me or meet my needs it should be discarded. With the idea that by accumulating and using things brings fulfillment, whether it be fulfillment of material things or fulfillment of emotional needs, this worldview neglects to fulfill our deepest emotional needs leaving us always desiring more to fill that void. Money is power leaves people always striving to accumulate wealth so they can have power and control over situations, because you are only important or significant if you have wealth. Also with the consumerism worldview, we always feel that we need a little bit more, because what you already have is never enough, due to material

Consumerism is the center of American culture. Americans tend to confuse their wants with their needs. With new advances in technology, as well as the help of advertisers, people are provided with easy access to new products that seem essential to their everyday life, even though they have survived this long without them. People cannot live without food, clothing, and shelter. But realistically, according to people's different lifestyles, more than food, clothing, and shelter are needed. Most people need to work to survive. Unless a job is either in their own home, or within walking distance, a means of transportation is needed. Whether it be a vehicle, money for a taxi-cab, or a token for a ride on the subway, money must be spent

“The average American owns 3.5 credit cards and $15,799 in credit card debt… totaling consumer debt of $2.43 trillion in the USA alone.” (Beckner). Debt forces many people into depression and worrying lives. People struggle to discover happiness through financing goods, but struggle even more to find a way out of debt. Through consumerism, people lose their finances in department stores, car dealerships, and much more. Most of the possessions people buy with credit cards become impractical within a few months. The void they search for is never really filled. Consumerism is just a way to get the economy going, without thinking of a person’s individual finance

Consumerism is damaging to our society, in our North American society consumerism is often portrayed to be a negative aspect of people’s lives. However, one can also argue positive effects that result from consumerism, or emphasize on the negative effects of consumerism and how it can be a constraining force in one’s own life. Consumerism is an idea of an economic policy that the market is shaped by the choice of the consumer and continues to emerge to shape the world’s mass markets. Some of the negative effects of consumerism that many critics may argue and that will be further emphasized on are the overexploitation of consumerism which has lead to economic poverty, and increase

Thus, it is impossible to have faith in something without it being your ultimate concern. What is not completely clear from Tillich is whether all people have some ultimate concern. It is clear that to some people it

Consumption, we describe as the act of meeting basic needs with material goods and the practice of consuming as a way of life is ‘consumerism’ ( Kennedy 173). The ideology that the meaning of life is found in buying things has really caused majority to spend almost their monthly salary on goods and services in search of utility. This excessive recreational spending also plays a part in increase of inflation, also has made more money in circulation.