Causal Analysis of Consumer Culture

Paper Summary:

This paper examines and compares the writings of two authors on the cause and effect of consumerism. The paper argues that, of the two books, Schudson's analysis in "Delectable Materialism" is more plausible than that of Schor's in "Work and Spend". The paper outlines Schor's work and then explains Schor's inability to establish cause and effect in her hypothesis. The paper then outlines Schudson's work and shows how he has established a cause-effect relationship in his hypothesis on consumer culture.

From the Paper:

"In developing the argument that capitalism and advertising have created a consumerist treadmill resulting in discontent, Schor traces the advent of consumerism as concurrent with the development of the market system and the growth of the middle class. As further support of her claim, she cites the historically relative absence of materialism prior to the advent of capitalism. Thus, Schor concludes that it was capitalism that precipitated the rise of a consumerist culture and the breakdown of historical values: "Thrift and sobriety were out; waste and excess were in in the midst of all this buying, we can discern the origins of modern consumer discontent" (Work and Spend). The key to Schor's hypothesis here is the apparent absence of materialism prior to the advent of capitalism. However, the seeming absence of consumerism could well have been a function of other factors such as lower incomes and more important, the absence of a wide range of consumer goods."

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