Anti-consumerism
[2] The ideology is opposed to consumerism, being a social and economic order in which the aspirations of many individuals include the acquisition of goods and services beyond those necessary for survival or traditional displays of status.
[3] Anti-consumerism is concerned with the actions of individuals, as well as businesses where they act in pursuit of financial and economic goals at the expense of the perceived public good.
[4] Anti-consumerism originated from criticism of consumption, arguably starting with Thorstein Veblen, who, in the book The Theory of the Leisure Class: An Economic Study of Institutions (1899), suggested that consumerism dates from the cradle of civilization.
"[6] Predictors of anti-consumerist attitudes and behaviors at an individual level include concerns about environmental pollution or disruption of ecological balance, a desire to live a simple life, and a belief that a search for happiness should come from internal factors.
[5] An important contribution to the critique of consumerism has been made by French philosopher Bernard Stiegler, arguing modern capitalism is governed by consumption rather than production, and the advertising techniques used to create consumer behaviour amount to the destruction of psychic and collective individuation.
[8] Examples of anti-consumerist works include the book No Logo (2000) by Naomi Klein, and documentary films such as The Corporation (2003), by Mark Achbar and Jennifer Abbott, and Surplus: Terrorized into Being Consumers (2003), by Erik Gandini.
In the context of protest art, Banksy, an influential British graffitist, painter, activist and filmmaker,[10] has created satirical and provocative works about the consumerist society.
[14] Degrowth, commoning and other movements aim to collectively address sustainability issues through practices and approaches that radically reduce consumption and replace consumer culture with new ethics and values.
Many activists, such as George Monbiot, emphasize that overconsumption is a root cause of global crises like climate change, biodiversity loss, and environmental degradation[17] Efforts like upcycling and reducing plastic waste are part of broader campaigns aimed at creating sustainable consumption patterns.
[18] To sum up, the modern anti-consumerism movement is driven by the urgent need to address the environmental crisis and the recognition that true sustainability requires changes at both the individual and systemic levels.
Anti-consumerists believe advertising plays a huge role in human life by informing values and assumptions of the cultural system, deeming what is acceptable, and determining social standards.
Therefore, advertising attempts to equate the social with the material by utilizing images and slogans to link commodities with the real sources of human happiness, such as meaningful relationships.
In a review of research on materialistic values and goals, Tim Kasser (2016) argues that the pursuit of material possessions can lead to short-term gratification at the expense of long-term well-being.
In an opinion segment of New Scientist magazine published in August 2009, reporter Andy Coghlan cited William Rees of the University of British Columbia and epidemiologist Warren Hern of the University of Colorado at Boulder, saying that human beings, despite considering themselves civilized thinkers, are "subconsciously still driven by an impulse for survival, domination and expansion... an impulse which now finds expression in the idea that inexorable economic growth is the answer to everything, and, given time, will redress all the world's existing inequalities."
[23] Supporters of anti-consumerism often accuse advertising of attention theft, i.e. they believe it unjustifiably invades public areas, thereby imposing itself on people who consider its presence unwanted.
American graphic designer Sean Tejaratchi expresses his resentment of this "ad creep" in a 1999 issue of his clip art zine Crap Hound: "Advertising increasingly invades my environment instead of letting me come to it on my own terms when I need it...
"[25] As a classical defence pertinent in this context, Austrian economic advocates focus on the entrepreneur, promoting a productive lifestyle rather than a materialistic one wherein the individual is defined by things and not their self.
[26] Certain economists have further rendered Keynesian notions of propagating increased consumption - in order to mitigate recessive impacts when the populace refuse to spend - as obsolete,[27] since numerous founding principles presume that minor adjustments are implemented via expansions and contractions, at least monetarily, are the reason behind business cycles,[28] given the distinct outcome from resulting interest rate changes on distinguished points within the structure of production, a theory Woods would endorse.
[30] Moreover, the Austrian School dictates that the determinative estimate of goods and services motivate the demand for these commodities in order for their prices to be influenced by consumers.
However, it has drawn attention to some limited degree in relation to production, with practitioners in the field having abused consumer rationality, as well as recognising their abstinence from market elucidation.
