Crisis of consumerism in times of recession
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A second major global crisis, in the 1970s, shook the heavy-industrial basis of manufacturing, and with it the idea that governments should manage the economy. The 1970s produced a new model of sustaining consumption through individualized desire. Production was decentralized and focused on the creation of niche products for highly specialized markets. Consumption became primarily an individual phenomenon through which people could distinguish themselves.
In retrospect, the 1970s mark the end of an era dominated by mass production, and the beginning of the new consumer age. Sometimes the "age of productionism" is also called "Fordism", after Henry Ford, who supplied large quantities of cheap but identical cars. Rather unimaginatively, the consumer age is dubbed post-Fordism. In fact, it could be called "Tom Fordism," after the young American designer who realized the iconic potential of the Italian fashion house of Gucci.
What will replace the age of consumerism? The most obvious answer is that the shift to a service economy - already well under way by the beginning of the new millennium - will become more complete. Consumerism depended on a radical notion of individualism. We become indebted in order to consume because we are convinced that our utility schedule is more important than someone else's. If I see a beautiful piece of jewelry or a bright new car in a shop, I am convinced that it should be mine, and that it can be more usefully employed in my possession than in someone else's. In that way, greed feeds on a kind of pride or self-regard.
The empirical study of happiness has produced evidence that the satisfaction from buying objects is short-lived and depends on continued repetition. That is socially, morally, and environmentally wasteful. On the other hand, the consumption of experiences (rather than objects) produces a more sustained satisfaction.
The new service economy emphasizes human interaction more than individualistic consumption. In an extreme form, luxury hotels are now organizing service in local community projects as a way of engaging the passions of their wealthy patrons. This service economy may generate higher levels of overall well-being if it emphasizes that humans do not exist as separate islands, but existentially depend on their relations with others.
The author is professor of history and international affairs at Princeton University and Marie Curie professor of history at the European University Institute, Florence, Italy.
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