In the 1930s and 1940s, the United States was in crisis. A Great Depression afflicted the nation and millions suffered in poverty. Real needs were not met in the market. Today, the United States is in crisis again. However, it is a different kind, one that ultimately affects our civic institutions and democracy. In Consumed, Benjamin Barber examines this state of affairs and makes a compelling argument that the rise in consumerist capitalism has stunted social growth and is leading down a path toward an unstable and unsustainable future.
In today’s America, companies no longer face the prospect of being unable to meet production needs. As Barber makes abundantly clear, theirs is a crisis of overproduction. This makes for the necessity to manufacture markets where they ordinarily wouldn’t exist. One of the ways this is achieved is through a technique in advertising called branding. Such branding, Barber argues, has contributed to a lifestyle whereby individuals selfishly cling to material goods without considering the consequences of compulsive consumerism. He goes on to argue that this mode of thinking stands in stark contrast to the mode of living of past generations. In its earlier days, the engine of capitalism was fueled by what Max Weber termed The Protestant Ethos. This way of life is centered on hard work, long term thinking, and investment. Today this system has been replaced by what Barber calls the Infantilist Ethos, a regiment which aims at keeping adults and children perpetually youthful. This is useful because it keeps them chasing after created desires, like iPods and brand name clothing. Such an ethos now drives our economy.
The most troubling aspect of this ethos is how it affects our civic culture. If people are pursuing created wants in a consumerist economy masquerading itself as the very essence of freedom, how can people engage meaningfully in their society and contribute to the growth of democracy? As we have seen, the very same marketing techniques used by Coke and Pepsi have been employed by political campaigns. Politicians are packaged and branded for consumption by the American public. But as with most products, do we really know what we are getting? In a democracy the duty of citizens is to make informed choices in electing their leaders but this is becoming increasingly difficult amidst the omnipresence of advertisements showing the package and not the substance. It is not so much that obtaining the information is impossible but that it is “drowned in a sea of irrelevance,” to quote the late social critic Neil Postman. The result is a grave threat to the level of discourse in this country which ultimately could lead to the deterioration of our precious institutions and our democracy.
Fortunately, there are ways to challenge this trajectory, and Barber discusses a good many of them in the book. For example, the segment devoted to culture jamming makes the point effectively. This refers to a technique whereby the meaning of the symbols corporations use to lull us into a consumerist sleep are hijacked and neutralized. A great example of this is a spoof of a Calvin Klein ad by Adbusters, which features a hairy chested male and the text reads “Reality.” This is not without danger, for these techniques can be co-opted by the nefarious forces that Barber rightfully identifies. Barber concludes that we as citizens have to revamp capitalism and get it to address real needs, not manufactured ones. He lauds the concept of micro-credit practiced by Muhammad Yunus of the Grameen Bank. This is a means of getting the poor to pull themselves out of the swamps of misery and poverty and develop the self-sufficiency that is embodied within the Protestant Ethos.
If you want to find out how American culture developed into itself, read this book. It raises many important issues and poses possible solutions. Although seemingly not as urgent as the Great Depression, the consumerist culture we inhabit may unravel our democracy. Barber’s words may someday be considered prophetic if we don’t heed his call.
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