YOMAG - Money & Economy - Why do we consume so much?

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Why do we consume so much?

Appiano 25. 01. 2008

The European Union and the consumer

“We consume excessively, because consumer lifestyle has become such an important part of how we are defined and how we fit into socially differentiated communities .”

First of all, I would like to define the word consumption: it is the economic process which foresees the distribution of goods for the satisfaction of our needs.
For example: if we are using the telephone to dialogue with someone or eating pizza to satisfy our hunger, we are consuming.
In Economics we distinguish two types of needs: primary and secondary needs.
We live in a society, in which all those who think they have reached satisfaction of their fundamental needs, begin thinking of satisfying the superfluous ones.

“Every citizen is a consumer and the European Union takes great care in protecting their health, safety and economic well-being.” (1)

The EU has been working on a program for consumer’s information and protection since 1975.

“The European Union has an open market comprising 27 countries and over 490 Million consumers. This offers you the chance to access a huge choice of products , services and the possibility of buying goods at the most competitive prices without bothering about customs, taxes and, in the Euro-area, exchange rates.” (2)

Before beginning I should remember that I’m talking only of the rich part of the world, but we shouldn’t forget that there are also poor people who live with $1 per day. And now to the fatal question:
WHY DO WE CONSUME SO MUCH?
“Observers of consumption have answered this question in many ways: because it’s our human nature. Because ads tell us to consume with their “powerful images” which connect the product with being cool, young, vital etc. Because we can’t help ourselves; because our economic system needs us to; because we are trapped in a fruitless dynamic of desires, acquisitions and disappointments. Because he who dies with the most toys wins. Just because we can” (3) and because we love to. Also TV, media in general push us to follow the ever-changing trends- we have to be in. I would add because we live in the age of consumption where only the culture of excess is known and because, from the first time we open our eyes someone tells us that consumption is good and that it can make our life easier.
I’m sure that everybody, who is not rich, thinks that if he had more money, he could be the happiest person in the world.
But is this right?
Fact is, that today people spend more money: the number of cars per person has increased, some teenage girls have diamonds at home and babies wear designer clothes.
Is this useful?
Which baby cares if his bib is from Burberry or Prènatal?

Consumption contributed to human’s welfare, but now it can create problems: starting from ecological ones (for ex.: global warming) to another kind of problems: parents who work ten hours per day to guarantee their children “the standards”, kids who come to school with a Rolex only to show-off and then to speak badly about someone who isn’t so lucky, other kids become envious. But the big problem is that we begin to think that more is always better.
Furthermore consumption has become a social competition.
“We consume excessively, because consumer lifestyle has become such an important part of how we are defined and how we fit into socially differentiated communities .” (4)

My grandmother talks often about the past and she yearns for the old days:”…when everything was different, when men worked on the land and brought food at home, when women worked in the house, when nearly everybody was poor and money wasn’t the most important thing; when people had values,” she says.
Maybe it is a conservative and pessimistic thought, but I think it is really so: we are forgetting that it is not important whether you have a Mercedes or a Fiat, but it is important that, if you need a car, you have one, or not?

If everybody would take his time and ask himself: Why do we consume the way we do and why can’t we live differently ?
Wouldn’t this be a big step forward?

(1) www.europeanunion.com

(2) www.europeanunion.com

(3) Lecture by Dr. Juliet B. Schor

(4) Lecture by Dr. Juliet B. Schor