consumerism essay spm

Essay About Consumerism: Top 5 Examples Plus Prompts

Consumerism is the child of capitalism; Here is a list of essay about consumerism examples and prompts you can read to further your understanding.

The word consumerism can seem daunting to some, but it’s pretty simple. It is defined as “a preoccupation with and an inclination toward the buying of consumer goods.” In the consumerist theory, people’s spending on goods and services drives economic growth- their spending preferences and habits determine the direction a company will go next.

Many businesses practice consumerism. It is a common belief that you must adopt a consumerist approach to succeed in your trade. Consumerism refers to people’s prioritization of spending on goods and services. They have the drive to purchase more items continuously.

If you are writing an essay about consumerism, you can get started by reading these essay examples.

1. What You Need To Know About Consumerism by Mark Scott

2. long essay on consumerism by prasanna, 3. consumerism: want and new pair shoes by tony richardson, 4. my thoughts on being a blogger & consumerism by anna newton, 5. consumerism and its discontents by tori deagelis, 1. does consumerism affect your decisions , 2. opposing consumerism, 3. how does consumerism negatively affect mental health, 4. how does consumerism positively affect mental health, 5. do you agree with consumerism.

“Although consumerism drives economic growth and boosts innovation, it comes with a fair share of problems ranging from environmental and moral degradation to higher debt levels and mental health problems..”

Scott gives readers an overview of consumerism in economic and social terms. He then briefly discusses consumerism’s history, benefits, and disadvantages driving economic growth and innovation. It also raises debt, harms the environment, and shifts society’s values toward worldly possessions rather than other people. Scott believes it is perhaps most healthy to find a balance between love for others and material things. 

“Consumerism helps the consumers to seek redressal for their grievances against the unfair policies of the companies. It teaches the consumers about their rights and duties and helps them get better quality of products and services.”

In this essay, author Prasanna writes about the history of consumerism and its applications in India. First, it helps protect consumers from companies’ “unethical marketing practices.” For example, she cites policies put in place by the government to inspect food items, ensuring they are of good quality and prepared per sanitation standards. When used appropriately, consumerism serves the benefit of all. 

“Anything people see they buy without thinking twice and knowing that they already have brand new pair shoes they have not worn because there to focused on buying and buying till they see they no longer have space in their closet to put new shoes in.”

Richardson takes a personal approach to consumerism, recalling several of his friends’ hobbies of collecting expensive shoes. Advertisements and the pressure to conform play a big role in their consumerism, enticing them to buy more and more items. Richardson believes that consumerism blinds people to the fact that their standards and desires just keep increasing and that they buy shoes for unjustified reasons. Instead, society should be more responsible and remind itself that it needs to take importance above all.

“Take online creators out of the way for a minute, because the pressure to buy is everywhere and has been since the dawn of the dime. The floorplan of stores are set out in a way that makes you stomp around the whole thing and ultimately purchase more, ads on the TV, radio, billboards, in magazines discounts and promotions – it’s endless..”

In her blog The Anna Edit , Newton explains the relationship between blogging and consumerism. Bloggers and influencers may need to purchase more things, not only for self-enjoyment but to produce new content. However, she feels this lifestyle is unsustainable and needs to be moderated. Her attitude is to balance success with her stability and well-being by limiting the number of things she buys and putting less value on material possessions. 

“In a 2002 paper in the Journal of Consumer Research (Vol. 29, No. 3), the team first gauged people’s levels of stress, materialistic values and prosocial values in the domains of family, religion and community–in keeping with the theory of psychologist Shalom Schwartz, PhD, that some values unavoidably conflict with one another. ”

DeAngelis first states that it is widely believed that more desire for material wealth likely leads to more discontent: it prioritizes material things over quality time, self-reflection, and relationships. Increasing one’s wealth can help solve this problem, but it is only a short-term fix. However, a 2002 study revealed that the life satisfaction of more materialistic and less materialistic people is not different. 

Prompts on Essay about Consumerism

This is not something people think about daily, but it impacts many of us. In this essay, write about how you are influenced by the pressure to buy items you don’t need. Discuss advertising and whether you feel influenced to purchase more from a convincing advertisement. Use statistics and interview data to support your opinions for an engaging argumentative essay.

Consumerism has been criticized by economists , academics , and environmental advocates alike. First, research the disadvantages of consumerism and write your essay about why there has been a recent surge of its critics. Then, conduct a critical analysis of the data in your research, and create a compelling analytical essay.

Consumerism is believed to impact mental health negatively. Research these effects and write about how consumerism affects a person’s mental health. Be sure to support your ideas with ample evidence, including interviews, research data such as statistics, and scientific research papers.

Consumerism often gets a bad reputation. For an interesting argumentative essay, take the opposite stance and argue how consumerism can positively impact mental health. Take a look at the arguments from both sides and research the potential positive effects of consumerism. Perhaps you can look into endorphins from purchases, happiness in owning items, or even the rush of owning a unique item. 

In this essay, take your stance. Choose a side of the argument – does consumerism help or hinder human life? Use research to support both sides of the argument and pitch your stance. You can argue your case through key research and create an exciting argumentative essay.

For help with this topic, read our guide explaining what is persuasive writing ?

If you are interested in learning more, check out our essay writing tips !

MELICA PART 5: MORE MODEL GUIDED ESSAYS FOR HALUS/GALUS SPM 1119/2 CANDIDATES

The essay topic for Part 2 of SPM 1119/2 is wide. Candidates may have to write about a topic that falls under one of the four CEFR themes. Looking at the four themes closely may reveal that there could be eight themes and the essay topic can fall under any of these themes; people, culture, science, technology, health, environment, financial awareness and consumerism. That is a challenge for halus/galus candidates whom we know have limited vocabulary and perhaps general knowledge too.

Personally, I encourage teachers to list down words which are very common to all the four CEFR themes. For examples, they must know “consumerism”, “consumers” (Consumerism and Financial Awareness) and “environment”, “nature”, “forest reserve” (Health and Environment). Surely the list can be quite long. The point is, the candidates have no choice but to know the meaning of those words which could be alien to many of them.

MELICA PART 5 continues to help lower intermediate candidates. The more galus/halus/lower intermediate SPM 1119/2 candidates are exposed to model essays, the better it is. Frequent exposure to model essays which are specially composed to suit their proficiency and thinking ability should help the candidates in a number of ways. Through guided and focused discussion on each model essay that is conducted by the teacher, the galus/halus candidates could be inspired, motivated and convinced to do their best in writing essays in examination.

The following are practical activities that could be carried out with the weak SPM candidates based on the model essays:

i) Examine the ideas and details presented in each paragraph. Teacher may ask the candidates to highlight which part fulfils the first, second and third tasks. This focused discussion will guide the candidates how each task could be fulfilled.

ii) Revise with the students three different techniques of writing their introduction; listing (Model Essay 1), repetition (Model Essay 2) and flashback/personal experience (Model Essay 3). Let them apply the techniques on their own.

iii) Underline linking words, connectors or cohesive devices. They are also encouraged to suggest other additional connectors or cohesive devices in the model essay.

iv) In groups, the candidates can examine the ideas in the model essay. They discuss and suggest other possible ideas and details that can be included to fulfil each task.

1. MELICA stands for Model Essays for Lower Intermediate Candidates of SPM 1119/2.

2. The suggested activities may require teachers to adopt and adapt to suit their realities; needs, context, learning and teaching styles, availability of time and pupils’ readiness.

3. Other model essays for lower intermediate candidates will be shared in this blog from time to time in future. Do subscribe this blog so that you won’t miss any of the latest sharing of materials.

You must answer this question. Write your answer in 125-150 words in an appropriate style.

Your class has been discussing on the topic of saving environment. Your teacher asked you to write an essay on your opinion about an environmental project.

In your essay , you should write about:

* one gotong royong project to save the environment

* what volunteers can do in the project

* why it is important to protect our environment

Write your essay using all the notes and giving reasons for your point of view.

Port Dickson, Langkawi and Kuantan have many beautiful beaches. People love to go to beautiful beaches. However, people do not like to go to dirty beaches. Ketapang Beach in my village is dirty. I suggest a gotong royong project to clean the beach.

Maybe, we do the gotong royong project on Saturday. We can start at 9.00 a.m. I think, Pakngah Johari can be the leader. He is a good leader. Furthermore, he is a hardworking man. Many villagers like him.

There are many things that we can do. Children can collect rubbish. Women can help too. They can collect plastic bottles, boxes and old tyres. Teenagers can carry heavy rubbish. Moreover, some ladies can cook some foods.

We must protect Teluk Ketapang Beach. We must save our beaches, rivers and forests. If we do not protect our environment, it will be dirty. It will die. Furthermore, we must love our beaches, rivers and forests for our future generation.

In conclusion, we must support each other to protect our environment. Our environment is very important to us. [177 words]

Your class has been discussing on consumerism. Your teacher asked you to write an essay on your opinion about how to be good shoppers.

* what to do before going shopping

* how to save money when shopping

* how to be good consumers

Shopping, shopping ang shopping. Do you like shopping? Some people love shopping. It is very important for us to be good shoppers.

Before we go shopping, we must make plans. Firstly, we must plan what to buy. Next, we must plan how much money to spend. Then, we make a list. We write down what we want to buy.

I think we can save money when we go shopping. We must not bring extra money. If we plan to spend RM150, we should only bring RM150. If we bring extra cash, we may buy something we do not need. Moreover, we look for discounts. Last week, I bought Milo, Nescafe, Ovaltine and Horlick. I got 20% discount. I saved some money.

We must learn how to be good consumers. If we do not know, we must read. We can ask someone. Besides, internet is also good. We can search for information. Internet can offer us a lot of tips on how to be good consumers.

To conclude, we must be good shoppers. Yes, we can! [175 words]

Your class has been discussing on sports. Your teacher asked you to write an essay on your opinion about teenagers and sports.

* sports that teenagers enjoy

* why some teenagers do not like sports

* how to promote sports among teenagers

Yesterday, my friends and I played football. Fikri, Aidil, Pravin, Tan and Sanjeev played football with me. We enjoyed the game so much.

Besides playing football, teenagers also love badminton. They hope to be like Datuk Lim Chong Wei. I like to play badminton too. Some of my friends enjoy hockey, volleyball and rugby. I know, different people like different sports.

Some teenagers do not like sports. They are lazy to play. Amin, Joshua and Balbir are my friends. They say they do not like sports because it is not fun. I think they are wrong. Besides, some dislike sports because they do not know how to play the games.

I think parents can promote sports among teenagers. Parents can give advice. In addition, schools can also promote sports. Schools can have simple competitions. All students must take part.

To conclude, to me, life is boring without sports. All teenagers should love sports. [153 words]

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118 Consumerism Essay Topic Ideas & Examples

Inside This Article

Consumerism is a pervasive force that shapes our society and influences our behavior as individuals. It revolves around the idea of acquiring and consuming goods and services in large quantities, often driven by the desire for status, identity, and satisfaction. With its profound impact on our lives, consumerism has become a popular subject of discussion and analysis. If you are tasked with writing an essay on consumerism, here are 118 topic ideas and examples to inspire and guide your writing process:

• The rise of consumerism in modern society.
• The history and evolution of consumerism.
• The impact of consumerism on the environment.
• Consumerism and its relationship with capitalism.
• The role of advertising in promoting consumerism.
• The psychological aspects of consumerism.
• The influence of social media on consumerism.
• The connection between consumerism and materialism.
• Consumerism and its impact on personal relationships.
• The effects of consumerism on mental health.
• Consumerism and its impact on children.
• The role of consumerism in shaping identity.
• Consumerism and its impact on cultural values.
• The influence of consumerism on fashion trends.
• Consumerism and its impact on the global economy.
• The ethics of consumerism.
• Consumerism and its impact on education.
• The relationship between consumerism and happiness.
• Consumerism and its impact on social inequality.
• The influence of consumerism on food choices.
• Consumerism and the rise of fast fashion.
• The impact of consumerism on waste generation and disposal.
• The role of consumerism in the pharmaceutical industry.
• Consumerism and the rise of online shopping.
• The connection between consumerism and debt.
• The impact of consumerism on local businesses.
• Consumerism and its impact on the labor market.
• The role of planned obsolescence in consumerism.
• Consumerism and its impact on personal freedom.
• The influence of consumerism on leisure activities.
• Consumerism and its impact on body image.
• The role of consumerism in the entertainment industry.
• The impact of consumerism on urban development.
• Consumerism and its impact on sustainable living.
• The influence of consumerism on travel and tourism.
• Consumerism and its impact on healthcare.
• The role of consumerism in the automotive industry.
• The impact of consumerism on cultural heritage.
• Consumerism and its impact on social activism.
• The influence of consumerism on technology adoption.
• Consumerism and its impact on privacy.
• The role of consumerism in the beauty industry.
• The impact of consumerism on personal values.
• Consumerism and its impact on globalization.
• The connection between consumerism and overconsumption.
• Consumerism and its impact on personal finance.
• The influence of consumerism on housing choices.
• Consumerism and its impact on mental well-being.
• The role of consumerism in shaping political ideologies.
• The impact of consumerism on the fashion industry.
• Consumerism and its influence on body modification.
• The relationship between consumerism and social status.
• Consumerism and its impact on social media influencers.
• The influence of consumerism on cultural appropriation.
• Consumerism and its impact on personal values and beliefs.
• The role of consumerism in the gaming industry.
• The impact of consumerism on the music industry.
• Consumerism and its influence on artistic expression.
• The connection between consumerism and addiction.
• Consumerism and its impact on privacy in the digital age.
• The influence of consumerism on personal happiness.
• Consumerism and its impact on food waste.
• The role of consumerism in shaping political campaigns.
• The impact of consumerism on public health.
• Consumerism and its influence on decision-making.
• The connection between fashion trends and consumerism.
• Consumerism and its impact on social media platforms.
• The influence of consumerism on holiday traditions.
• Consumerism and its impact on personal well-being.
• The role of consumerism in the film industry.
• The impact of consumerism on the music streaming industry.
• Consumerism and its influence on cultural assimilation.
• The connection between consumerism and social conformity.
• Consumerism and its impact on the fast food industry.
• The influence of consumerism on dietary choices.
• Consumerism and its impact on the video game industry.
• The role of consumerism in shaping gender roles.
• The impact of consumerism on personal relationships with nature.
• Consumerism and its influence on cultural appropriation in fashion.
• The connection between consumerism and advertising ethics.
• Consumerism and its impact on personal well-being during the COVID-19 pandemic.
• The influence of consumerism on social media addiction.
• Consumerism and its impact on mental health during economic downturns.
• The role of consumerism in shaping beauty standards.
• The impact of consumerism on personal debt during economic crises.
• Consumerism and its influence on personal values during times of uncertainty.
• The connection between consumerism and social media influencers during political campaigns.
• Consumerism and its impact on personal values during times of social unrest.
• The influence of consumerism on personal well-being during natural disasters.
• Consumerism and its role in shaping personal values in multicultural societies.
• The impact of consumerism on personal debt during college education.
• Consumerism and its influence on personal well-being during retirement.
• The connection between consumerism and social media influencers during environmental activism.
• Consumerism and its impact on personal values during technological advancements.
• The role of consumerism in shaping dietary choices during health crises.
• The influence of consumerism on personal well-being during political campaigns.
• Consumerism and its impact on personal debt during holiday seasons.
• The connection between consumerism and social media influencers during mental health awareness campaigns.
• Consumerism and its influence on personal values during cultural festivals.
• The impact of consumerism on personal well-being during job insecurity.
• Consumerism and its role in shaping beauty standards during body positivity movements.
• The influence of consumerism on personal well-being during social isolation.
• Consumerism and its impact on personal debt during housing market fluctuations.
• The connection between consumerism and social media influencers during charity campaigns.
• Consumerism and its influence on personal values during technological dependency.
• The role of consumerism in shaping dietary choices during food scarcity.
• The impact of consumerism on personal well-being during natural resource depletion.
• Consumerism and its influence on personal values during political polarization.
• The connection between consumerism and social media influencers during wellness trends.
• Consumerism and its impact on personal debt during economic recessions.
• The influence of consumerism on personal well-being during social media comparison.
• Consumerism and its role in shaping beauty standards during aging populations.
• The impact of consumerism on personal values during technological privacy concerns.
• The connection between consumerism and social media influencers during educational campaigns.
• Consumerism and its influence on personal well-being during healthcare disparities.
• The role of consumerism in shaping dietary choices during climate change.
• The influence of consumerism on personal well-being during social inequality.
• Consumerism and its impact on personal debt during global economic crises.

These essay topics provide a wide range of perspectives on consumerism, allowing you to choose an area that aligns with your interests or concerns. Remember to conduct thorough research, provide evidence-based arguments, and present a well-structured essay to effectively convey your ideas. Good luck!

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Consumerism Essay | Essay on Consumerism for Students and Children in English

February 14, 2024 by Prasanna

Consumerism Essay: The word consumerism means the economic order by which the public demands the acquisition and consumption of goods and services in a social setup. While discussing consumerism, the first thing that strikes one’s mind is the word ‘consumption’. In economics, consumerism means economic plans and policies that emphasize consumption. Consumerism affects the production and manufacture of goods and services to a greater extent, depending on the consumer’s choice. A consumer is well aware of what to purchase and how much to purchase, which encourages the manufacturing units to produce according to the choice of the consumers. It is rightly said that the choice of the consumer should match the choice of the producer.

Sometimes the consumers do not get what the seller promises them. In that case, they are being deceived by the seller or the manufacturer. Consumerism is their combined efforts of the consumers seeking redressal and remedy for their dissatisfaction with the product.

You can also find more  Essay Writing  articles on events, persons, sports, technology and many more.

Consumerism, in short, is the process of seeking redressal against sellers who deceive the consumers. It is a social effort whereby all the consumers seek remedy against the products and services that have dissatisfied them or realises a much less value from the product than promised by the seller.

Long and Short Essays on Consumerism for Students and Kids in English

Long Essay on Consumerism is helpful to students of classes 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 and 12. Short Essay on Consumerism is helpful to students of classes 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6.

Short Essay on Consumerism 300 Words in English

Consumerism can be simply defined as the effects of equalizing the level of satisfaction with purchasing worldly possessions. The world we live in is much controlled by the choices and the preferences of the consumers. Without consumers, it would have become difficult for manufacturers to survive in a highly competitive market. A consumer prefers those products that provide them with utmost satisfaction. When a consumer is deceived by a seller and seeks redressal, it is called consumerism. The word consumerism emphasizes the consumers’ satisfaction level and their tastes and preferences.

Consumerism has existed from the beginning of the industrial age. It gives utmost importance to the prevention of the public from illegal and deceiving marketing practices. It is considered as a social movement and not just a protest by an individual customer. Consumerism is never against the idea of companies making profits, but it is a movement against those who make profits by deceiving consumers.

Consumerism first came to effect during the early 1900s when the sellers were least concerned about the consumers. The concept of consumerism became very popular when the meat vendors packed the meat in an unhealthy manner. It affected the health of most of the consumers, and thus, consumers went to seek redressal against the unfair practices of the meat sellers. This was how the concept of consumerism came into existence.

Consumerism will not exist if the business houses follow the norms of product delivery and conduct legal marketing practices in the areas in which they operate. Consumerism directly affects the goodwill and reputation of the company and makes it difficult for the company to survive in the market. All the companies should take a proper step for the consumers who seek redressal and see to it that their products satisfy the consumers as promised in their advertisements.

Long Essay on Consumerism 400 Words in English

Consumerism is not a concept that has arrived in the modern age. Instead, consumerism has existed for ages. The false agendas of the sellers have deceived people from the beginning of the industrial era. People have become more friendly with the term and concept of consumerism in recent times. Consumerism is a simple concept that helps prevent consumers from the unethical marketing practices of private and public companies.

With the rapid change in the way of doing business and industrialism, the importance of the term consumerism grew more. The concept came into existence in the early 1900s when the meat vendors packed and sold meat in an unhygienic manner. During the 1960s the importance of consumerism grew more as people by that time were more educated and wanted a good quality of products. They were more concerned and enlightened by the standard of goods and services being delivered to them by the sellers.

In the year 1962, the government passed legislation to protect consumers against unfair trade practices and advertising. Consumerism proliferated when issues regarding the unsafety of automobiles, causing the death of people increased in the United States. With this, the government passed different legislation that asked automobile companies to adhere to the safety norms of vehicle production.

After a few more years, the companies, after being heavily criticized for their unfair policies, set up a few customer care cells to attend to the customers’ disputes and allegations. These cells made it easier for companies to communicate with the consumers and help them with their problems. It also protected the reputation of the companies by providing on-time redressal of the customer’s problems.

In India, consumerism has been for the past few years. A few years ago, under the Food Adulteration Act, the government set up inspection departments in each state of India to ensure that the food items are free from adulteration and are prepared in a healthy and hygienic environment. The primary reasons that gave a push to consumerism in India are a short supply of products, increasing prices, inferior product and service quality, etc.

Consumerism helps the consumers to seek redressal for their grievances against the unfair policies of the companies. It teaches the consumers about their rights and duties and helps them get better quality of products and services. Lastly, it can be said that consumerism is good when it is used in an appropriate manner.

Very Long Essay on Consumerism 500 Words in English

Consumerism is a simple word, yet it has a deep meaning and keeps utmost importance for the consumers. It deals with the rights of the consumers and helps to protect them against unlawful marketing and trade practices. It is the most delicate issue of today. As consumers today are well educated, and they know what they need for their consumption. The people have become more advanced and well-informed, and they know how to protect themselves from unfair product advertisements.

The word consumerism came into existence in the early 1900s, when the concern about the unhealthy meat supply came to public notice. By the beginning of the 1930s, the consumers became more enlightened and educated about their rights. This led to the increasing importance of consumerism. Even during the year 1936, the government came up with certain acts and regulations to control the marketing mal-practices made by certain companies.

With the growth and development of industries, the importance of consumerism grew even stronger among consumers. It became a social-movement in many developed countries in the mid-1960s. The government of many countries came up with different legislations to protect the rights of a consumer. They also set up courts to punish corrupt business houses and protect consumer rights.  The companies were strictly ordered to adhere to the regulative norms of product manufacture and delivery. Many companies even had to set up customer care cells to help the customer with their grievances.

In India, Consumerism is still in the infancy stage, and therefore the consumers need more support from the government to protect their rights as a consumer. In India, the shortage of essential commodities occurs more often, which leads to black-marketing and corruption. Most of the sellers advertise their products to sell off their finished products at a good profit. They don’t advertise with the view to serve the public. Most of the consumers are not well aware of their rights, making them easy victims of these black-marketers and corruptions.

Customer orientation should be made compulsory in countries like India to make the people aware of their rights and duties as consumers. This will also help them to safeguard themselves from unfair trade practices.

The act for consumer protection was passed in the year 1986 in India. This act helps to seek redressal for consumer grievances. The Consumer protection act of 1986 is applicable to all types of goods and services in India. Under the act, the government of India has set up courts in each state to listen to the problems and grievances of the common people and provide justice.

Consumerism is never against monopoly markets or profit-making. It has nothing to do with the foreign exchange control measures, but it is only there for the protection of the consumers. Lastly, to conclude, It is the duty of the government and the businessman to provide good service and quality products to the consumers. And consumers should also be aware of their rights and duties to stay protected from unlawful marketing.

Conclusion on Consumerism Essay

In conclusion, it can be said that consumerism is a vast concept, and it helps to provide the customers with their desired products and services. It also helps them to seek redressal for their grievances. It makes them aware of their rights as consumers and helps them raise their voices against corrupt sellers.

Consumerism is a vast concept that includes not only consumer protection but also environmentalism. It protects the wastage of natural resources that are scarce. It states that the natural resources of a country must be well conserved for its economic stability and growth.

In simple words, consumerism is a boon as well as a curse to society and to companies operating in society. If used in a rightful manner, it will act as a blessing for both the company and the consumer. But if the consumers misuse it, it can take a dramatic turn and ruin the name and fame of a company. The government has to take the right initiative for the benefit of both consumers and businesses.

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IELTS Writing Task 2: Why Ethical Consumerism is Crucial for Sustainability

Ethical consumerism and sustainability are increasingly prevalent topics in IELTS Writing Task 2. Based on an analysis of past exam questions and current global trends, it’s highly likely that these themes will continue to appear frequently in future tests. Let’s explore a relevant question that reflects this important subject matter.

Some people believe that consumers should avoid buying products from companies that are known to use unethical practices. Others argue that this responsibility lies with the government and businesses themselves. Discuss both these views and give your own opinion.

Table of Contents

• 1 Analyzing the Question
• 2 Sample Essay 1 (Band 7-8)
• 3 Sample Essay 2 (Band 6-7)
• 4.1 Grammar and Vocabulary
• 4.2 Structure and Coherence
• 4.3 Task Response
• 5 Challenging Vocabulary to Remember
• 6 Conclusion

Analyzing the Question

This question addresses the role of ethical consumerism in promoting sustainable and responsible business practices. It requires candidates to:

• Discuss the view that consumers should boycott unethical companies
• Examine the perspective that governments and businesses should be responsible
• Provide a personal opinion on the issue

Let’s look at two sample essays addressing this topic, one aimed at a Band 7-8 score and another for a Band 6-7 score.

Sample Essay 1 (Band 7-8)

In today’s globalized economy, the ethical practices of businesses have come under increasing scrutiny. While some argue that consumers should take the lead in boycotting companies with questionable ethics, others believe this responsibility should fall on governments and the businesses themselves. In my opinion, a combination of consumer action and regulatory oversight is necessary to effectively address this issue.

Those who advocate for consumer-driven change argue that purchasing decisions can be a powerful tool for influencing corporate behavior. By voting with their wallets , consumers can send a clear message to companies that unethical practices will not be tolerated. This approach has seen success in various industries, from fair trade coffee to environmentally friendly clothing . Moreover, in the age of social media, consumer activism can quickly gain momentum and force companies to reconsider their policies.

On the other hand, proponents of government and business-led responsibility point out that individual consumers often lack the information or resources to make fully informed decisions. They argue that governments should enact and enforce stringent regulations on business practices, ensuring a level playing field for all companies. Additionally, businesses themselves should be held accountable for their actions through corporate social responsibility initiatives and transparent reporting .

In my view, the most effective approach combines both perspectives. While consumer activism can drive change, it must be supported by robust governmental oversight and corporate accountability. Governments should provide clear guidelines and enforcement mechanisms for ethical business practices, while also empowering consumers with information through mandatory labeling and disclosure requirements . Simultaneously, businesses should proactively adopt ethical practices, recognizing that long-term sustainability often aligns with ethical behavior.

In conclusion, addressing unethical business practices requires a multi-faceted approach. By leveraging the power of consumer choice, governmental regulation, and corporate responsibility, we can create a more sustainable and ethical global economy.

(Word count: 298)

Sample Essay 2 (Band 6-7)

The issue of unethical business practices is a big problem in today’s world. Some people think that consumers should stop buying from companies that do bad things, while others say it’s the job of governments and businesses to fix this. I will discuss both views and give my opinion.

Firstly, many people believe that consumers have the power to change how companies behave. If people stop buying products from companies that use child labor or damage the environment, these companies will lose money and might change their ways. For example, some clothing brands have improved their factory conditions because customers complained. This shows that consumers can make a difference.

However, others argue that it’s not fair to expect consumers to solve this problem. They say that governments should make strict rules for companies and punish those who break them. Also, businesses themselves should take responsibility for their actions and be more ethical. This view makes sense because not all consumers have enough information or money to always make ethical choices.

In my opinion, both consumers and governments have important roles to play. Consumers can choose to buy from good companies when possible, but governments need to make laws to protect workers and the environment. Businesses should also try to be more ethical because it’s the right thing to do and can help them in the long run.

To conclude, I believe that a combination of consumer action, government rules, and business responsibility is needed to solve the problem of unethical business practices. Everyone has a part to play in making the world more fair and sustainable.

(Word count: 262)

Key Points to Remember When Writing

Grammar and vocabulary.

For a Band 7-8 essay:

• Use a variety of complex sentence structures
• Employ advanced vocabulary accurately
• Utilize linking words effectively to enhance coherence

Example: “While consumer activism can drive change, it must be supported by robust governmental oversight and corporate accountability.”

For a Band 6-7 essay:

• Use a mix of simple and complex sentences
• Incorporate some advanced vocabulary, even if not always perfectly
• Use basic linking words to connect ideas

Example: “If people stop buying products from companies that use child labor or damage the environment, these companies will lose money and might change their ways.”

Structure and Coherence

• Ensure a clear introduction that addresses all parts of the question
• Develop each main idea in separate paragraphs
• Use a concluding paragraph to summarize and give a final opinion
• Use linking words and phrases to connect ideas within and between paragraphs

Task Response

• Address all parts of the question fully
• Provide relevant examples to support your arguments
• Clearly state your own opinion and justify it

Challenging Vocabulary to Remember

Ethical consumerism (noun) /ˈeθɪkəl kənˈsjuːmərɪzəm/: The practice of purchasing products and services that are produced in a way that minimizes social and/or environmental damage.

Sustainability (noun) /səˌsteɪnəˈbɪləti/: The ability to maintain or support a process continuously over time without depleting resources or causing environmental damage.

Corporate social responsibility (noun) /ˈkɔːpərət ˈsəʊʃəl rɪˌspɒnsəˈbɪləti/: A company’s commitment to manage the social, environmental and economic effects of its operations responsibly.

Transparency (noun) /trænsˈpærənsi/: The quality of being open, honest, and easily understood in business practices.

Accountability (noun) /əˌkaʊntəˈbɪləti/: The fact or condition of being responsible for one’s actions and decisions.

Boycott (verb) /ˈbɔɪkɒt/: To refuse to buy, use, or participate in something as a way of protesting.

Stringent (adjective) /ˈstrɪndʒənt/: Strict, precise, and exacting.

Proactively (adverb) /prəʊˈæktɪvli/: In a way that creates or controls a situation rather than just responding to it after it has happened.

The topic of ethical consumerism and its importance for sustainability is likely to remain relevant in IELTS Writing Task 2. To prepare, practice writing essays on related themes such as:

• The role of individual actions in addressing global environmental issues
• The balance between economic growth and environmental protection
• The effectiveness of consumer boycotts in changing corporate behavior
• The impact of social media on corporate accountability

Remember to structure your essays clearly, use a range of vocabulary and grammatical structures, and always support your arguments with relevant examples. Good luck with your IELTS preparation!

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Article Contents

Overview of the theoretical framework, ideological originations, consumption manifestations, ideological processes, cases illustrating the framework, future research programs on consumption ideology, data collection information, appendix: select critical theories on social categories.

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Consumption Ideology

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Bernd Schmitt, J Joško Brakus, Alessandro Biraglia, Consumption Ideology, Journal of Consumer Research , Volume 49, Issue 1, June 2022, Pages 74–95, https://doi.org/10.1093/jcr/ucab044

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Ideology plays a central role in consumer decisions, actions, and practices. While there have been numerous studies of ideological formations in specific consumption contexts, an integrative theoretical framework on consumption ideology has been missing. The theoretical framework presented in this article integrates systemic, social group, and social reality perspectives from social theory with prior consumer research to conceptualize consumption ideology as ideas and ideals that are related to consumerism and manifested in consumer behavior. Consumption ideology originates from conflicts between consumer desires and the system of consumerism. It is reflected in consumers’ lived experiences and expressed in social representations and communicative actions related to status-based consumption, brand affinity and antipathy, performed practices, and political consumption. By adapting to the market, consumers confirm the system, but when they resist, they accelerate conflicts in consumer experiences unless resistance is ideologically co-opted by the market. Three illustrative cases—upcycling, Zoom backgrounds, and the commercialization of TikTok—exemplify how the framework may be used to analyze consumption ideology and generate new research questions. The article concludes with future research programs that move beyond micro-theorizations to illuminate the broader role of ideology in contemporary consumerist society.

There is no escaping the specter of ideology. In 2020, when diversity, equity and inclusion came to the forefront in US society, painting “Black Lives Matter” in big yellow letters on US streets (an idea conceived by Washington DC’s Mayor Muriel Bowser) was called a “patriotic statement” (by New York City Mayor Bill De Blasio), a “denigrating act” (by President Donald Trump), and a “performative distraction from real policy changes” (by the local chapter of the Black Lives Matter Global Network) ( Ries and Andrew 2020 ). What some called “protests,” others called “riots.” The looting of stores that some found “morally wrong” was seen by others as “reparations” ( Rahman 2020 ).

Conceptually, ideology has many facets and has been discussed from various perspectives in philosophy, political science, sociology, and cultural studies. Ideology has been viewed as the outcome of conflicts between oppressors and the oppressed, a struggle for meaning among social classes or groups, and as proclamations of “right” and “wrong” ( Faber 2004 ). Depending on one’s perspective, ideology may include distorted ideas to legitimize power based on social interests; a set of action-oriented ideas of a social group that provide values, meaning, and identity; or an indispensable part of social reality activated and shaped by individual desires and fantasies ( Eagleton 2007 ). Ideology has been described as deliberate and easily noticeable, or as operating in subtle ways at unconscious levels ( Jameson 1981 ).

Ideology also functions as a playground—and battlefield—in consumer markets. Some consumers seek ideology-laden products and brands that are biodegradable, organic, sustainable, non-genetically modified, vegan, and cruelty free. Consumers also monitor and hold companies accountable for their diversity and inclusion policies, social purposes, political stances, and sustainability initiatives. They blame and shame corporations on social media for social discrimination, oppression, greenwashing, and other aberrations. In turn, many companies pride themselves on their mindfulness and socio-cultural sensitivities by cancelling product lines, altering product ingredients, changing brand names, and redesigning logos. Appropriating feminist discourses on body politics, Dove’s “Campaign for Real Beauty” holds the entire beauty industry responsible for distorting the portrayal of women, and Patagonia promotes itself as the “Activist Company.” While these examples portray contemporary phenomena, ideology has always been prominent in consumer behavior, corporate and product branding, and marketing communications. In the 1970s, embracing the ideology of American consumerism and the hippie zeitgeist, Coca-Cola’s iconic mountaintop advertisement showed young people from all around the world singing, “I’d like to buy the world a Coke,” intended to be a song of “peace and harmony.”

In this article, we present a theoretical framework of consumption ideology that incorporates classic social-theory perspectives on ideology as well as prior consumer research. Ideology-related consumer research studies, by and large, ascribe to the “social group” perspective of social theory. This perspective assumes that ideological ideas of social groups (e.g., social classes or status groups) provide consumers with meaning and identity ( Arnould and Thompson 2005 ). The social group perspective follows social theorists like Bourdieu ( Bourdieu 1977 ; Bourdieu and Boltanski 1976 ), studying specific “ideological formations,” which are enacted in highly contextualized social behaviors ( Boudon 1989 ; Eagleton 2007 ). However, some consumer research has adopted a more systemic social-theory perspective ( Askegaard and Linnet 2011 ; Giesler and Fischer 2017 ). Systemic social theories analyze ideology as ideas and structures in society ( Althusser 1971 ; Horkheimer and Adorno 1944/2002 ; Marx and Engels 1848/2011 ), which are motivated by social interests to legitimize power ( Eagleton 2007 ; Freeden 2003 ). The systemic perspective was created originally by Marxist and neo-Marxist philosophers ( Althusser 1971 ; Horkheimer and Adorno 1944/2002 ; Marx 1848/2011), and, in part, by Foucault (1982) . Finally, consumer research has largely ignored the “social reality” perspective in social theory focused on individual desires, which is associated with the works of Deleuze and Guattari (1983) and, most importantly, Žižek (1989 , 1997 , 2012 ). This perspective advocates that ideology is an indispensable part of social reality ( Žižek 1997 ). Therefore, ideology should not only be viewed as being imposed on the individual as a class-based consciousness ( Marx and Engels 1848/2011 ) or through socialization as habitus of social groups and through power pervasive in everyday life ( Bourdieu 1977 ; Foucault 1982 ); ideology should also include activities that are shaped by individuals’ unconscious desires, which are expressed as fantasies ( Faber 2004 ).

After presenting the theoretical framework and its various parts (ideological originations, consumption orientations, and ideological processes), we illustrate the conceptualization with three contemporary cases (upcycling, Zoom backgrounds, and the commercialization of TikTok). These cases show how the framework can be used to explain consumer phenomena and generate new questions, thus providing new insights beyond existing studies. Finally, we highlight important research gaps and discuss future research programs arising from our conceptualization.

Following the notion of ideology as “a system of ideas and ideals” in the socio-political space ( Oxford English Dictionary 2012 ), we define consumption ideology as ideas and ideals related to consumerism, which are manifested in consumers’ social representations and expressed in their communicative actions in the marketplace. Consumption ideology, as defined, pertains to a specific set of ideas and ideals, namely those related to consumerism, which is an essential part of the capitalist system. Consumption ideology also entails specific forms of social representations and communicative actions (by an individual or collective), namely those that are pertinent to an individual performing the role of a consumer in the marketplace ( MacInnis and Folkes 2010 ). Our definition implies that consumers, knowingly or unknowingly, think and act as ideologues because they are living in a consumerist society.

People cannot escape ideology ( Eagleton 2007 ; Faber 2004 ). Accordingly, we posit that consumption ideology is present at all stages of the consumer journey—from search, choice, and purchase to usage and disposal of products. It is entrenched in the discourse on product sourcing, product selection, social signaling, privacy, and environmental sustainability. Consumption ideology occurs when the goal of consumption is acquiring possessions or using access-based objects as part of liquid consumption ( Bardhi and Eckhardt 2017 ; Belk 1988 ). Consumption ideology also occurs in “prosumption,” a process in which a consumer participates as a producer ( Humphreys and Grayson 2008 ; Ritzer 2014 ). Finally, we assume that consumption ideology operates both at the unconscious and conscious levels. We suggest that ideology is mostly unconscious when consumers go about their daily lives and feel positive about consumption. However, when their desires as consumers are not fulfilled, a conscious dissatisfaction with the system of consumerism may set in, which may lead to a deliberate motivation for change.

Figure 1 shows the theoretical framework. The left side of the figure (“ideological originations”) conceptualizes the sources (or originations) of consumption ideology. The right side (“consumption manifestations”) conceptualizes the phenomena (or manifestations) of consumption ideology in the marketplace. We posit that consumption ideology originates from conflictual relationships between the ideas and ideals of consumerism and consumer desires along dimensions of social class, status, and identity. Consumption ideology is reflected in the consumer’s lived experience, which leads to consumption manifestations in diverse consumption domains and consumption orientations. The theoretical framework represents four important consumption domains and a 2 × 2 scheme of consumption orientations as well as dynamics within the scheme along the dimensions of mode of articulation and mode of adaptation.

THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK OF CONSUMPTION IDEOLOGY

As figure 1 shows, the framework also includes processes that are important for understanding consumption ideology. As part of ideological originations, we distinguish the complementary processes of consumer subjectification and consumption sublimification. In addition, consumption orientations lead to market affirmation or market rejection, thus contributing to the dialectic progression of the market. Consumers’ affirmation of the market is usually appropriated by the system whereas market rejection leads to the symptomatic oscillation of the underlying desire unless consumerism ideologically co-opts this yearning. In the following sections, we describe the constructs and interrelations of the three parts of the theoretical framework: ideological originations, consumption manifestations, and ideological processes.

The framework postulates that consumption ideology originates from conflicts between consumerism and consumer desires. The consumer’s lived experience reflects these conflicts. We first discuss the key constructs (consumerism, consumer desires, and the consumer’s lived experience) and then the conflict dimensions (social class, status, and identity) of the framework. For each construct and the conflict dimensions, we provide an overview of the key ideas, discuss the theoretical basis in social theory and consumer research, and then further explicate each construct or the conflict dimensions.

Consumerism

Overview of the construct.

Associated with the constant acquisition of consumer products (goods and services), consumerism is the essential ideology of global capitalism ( Heilbroner 1985 ; Sklair 2012 ; Stearns 2006 ), and thus the key systemic construct in our framework. Consumerism constrains an individual acting in the role of a consumer by providing formal and informal rules and regulations about consumption. More generally, the system of consumerism assigns the role of a consumer to an individual (including norms and expected behaviors) through a process we call “consumer subjectification.”

Theoretical Basis in Social Theory and Consumer Research

In social theory, systemic analyses of ideology arise mostly from the Marxist perspective. Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels coauthored a series of classic texts, collectively referred to as Die Deutsche Ideologie (The German Ideology), in which they argued that dominant ideas of the ruling class, as the herrschende geistige Macht (the ruling mental power), obfuscate exploitation and operate as “false consciousness,” preventing the oppressed from realizing that they are being exploited ( Marx and Engels 1848/2011 ). Neo-Marxist critical thinkers of the Frankfurt School argued that the uniformity of mass media induces docile conformity among the masses and demand for capitalist products while inhibiting pluralism and independent thought ( Horkheimer and Adorno 1944/2002 ). Neo-Marxist philosopher Louis Althusser (1971) analyzed the social institutions (police, the court system, schools, and family) that guarantee the survival of an ideology and guide the lives of social subjects. Finally, according to Foucault (1982) , who took a Marxist stance in his early but not in his later writings, “power-knowledge” permeates everyday life. That is, power, which is widely distributed in the system, is imposed on the individual as knowledge. An individual adopts this knowledge through a process referred to as “subjectification” ( Foucault 1982 ). Subjectification processes and effects are far from being crystallized; they are constantly dismantled and reproduced with the possibility of contradictions and reversals. Those who cannot be aligned with the system are ostracized ( Foucault 1977/1991 ) 1 .

Consumer researchers have alluded to systemic theorizing in a few studies and analyses. Hirschman (1988) refers to neo-Marxist thought, in part, to analyze ideology in popular American TV shows ( Dallas and Dynasty ), and Peñaloza (2001) refers to Marx and the Frankfurt School in an ethnography of a cattle trade show and rodeo. Murray and Ozanne (1991) propose an emancipatory research program inspired by the Frankfurt School. Relatedly, transformative consumer research advocates a pragmatic change of consumerism to improve the general well-being of society and provide consumers with information for more socially responsible choices ( Mick 2006 ). Consumer research has also adopted Foucault’s notion of power-knowledge. For example, a study of advertising shows how the discourse of power mythologizes products and brands ( Thompson 2004 ). Research has also analyzed how moralistic governance influences consumer subjectivity through the active management of consumers as moral subjects ( Giesler and Veresiu 2014 ). A study of financial credit illustrates how the marketplace—as “a panoptic apparatus” ( Foucault 1977/1991 )—controls and punishes consumers “who break the rules” ( Bernthal, Crockett, and Rose 2005 ). Finally, a study of casinos demonstrates that casinos deny employment to “undesirable” individuals ( Humphreys 2010 ).

Further Explication of the Construct

We posit that the system of consumerism includes objectives, normative doctrines, and social institutions that induce people to consume, thus guaranteeing the effective operation of the system and its survival. The objective of consumerism is spending: to get consumers to constantly buy and consume goods and services and to increase consumption over time ( Heilbroner 1985 ). Consumerism evokes normative doctrines that facilitate spending, such as the free choice of goods and services, fair distribution of goods and services based on supply and demand, equal access to commercial resources, and new product innovation ( Stearns 2006 ). The development of brands plays a prominent role in enticing consumers to spend their money ( Sklair 2012 ). Most doctrines of consumerism originate from neoliberal thinking, which supports economic liberalization policies as a means to achieve well-being ( Harvey 2007 ; Veresiu and Giesler 2018 ).

Historically, consumerism started in the middle of the twentieth century triggered by a transnational elitist capitalist class and has progressed to inventions like the shopping mall and credit cards, and the cultural dominance of globalized media (movies, radio, and television) as well as advertising and marketing ( Sklair 2012 ). Consumerism resulted in a new global system for distributing goods and services, including global brands and mass media ( Sklair 2012 ). In the United States, a “Consumers’ Republic” emerged to create a fairer democracy and a better society ( Cohen 2004 ). The “consumerist lifestyle” became a dominant theme, and Hollywood and Madison Avenue further pushed this systemic ideology in the interest of capitalist globalization. Consumption emerged as a personal indulgence. The mantra of buying “more, newer, and better” continues unabated and digital media and e-commerce reinforce this mantra ( Cohen 2004 ).

In line with Althusser (1971) , the ideological system of consumerism appropriates and establishes rules and regulations for consumption either informally or formally. These rules are enforced through social institutions such as governmental organizations, private firms, entrepreneurs, and consumer agencies. For example, in the food and drink category, products are labeled as healthy, addictive, and containing too much or not enough of a certain ingredient (e.g., caffeine, fat, sugar, gluten, vitamins). Consumerism also structures knowledge in consumers’ minds (e.g., about desirable bodies) in such a way that this supports products, brands, and entire industries (e.g., dieting and weight, plastic surgery, fitness and wellness, and self-help). In our theoretical framework, following Foucault’s (1982) notion of subjectification, we refer to this “top-down” process that constrains an individual acting in the role of a consumer as “consumer subjectification.”

Consumer Desires

In a capitalist–consumerist marketplace, internal needs are transformed instantly into desires for specific products and brands because the market offers an endless variety. Consumer desires are powerful and pleasurable but also discomforting emotions of longing for particular products and brands ( Belk, Ger, and Askegaard 2003 ). Through the expression of their desires and a process that we call “consumption sublimification,” consumers participate in the ideological system and, in part, offset the structural coercion of the system.

In social theory, the concept of desire is most closely associated with the works of Deleuze and Guattari (1983) and the extensive, contemporary work on ideology by Žižek (1989 , 1997 , 2006 , 2012 ). These authors study the influence of individual factors on systemic factors, thereby following, in part, the notion of voluntary participation in the ideological system, first proposed by Neo-Marxist Antonio Gramsci ( Gramsci 1951/1992 ). In the influential book Anti-Oedipus , Gilles Deleuze, a philosopher, and Félix Guattari, a psychoanalyst, specifically critique the neglect of desire, that is, the direct “libidinal investment” that individuals make into social structures ( Deleuze and Guattari 1983 ). To explain the relevance of desire for ideology, they relate their work to Reich’s (1933/1970 ) analysis of fascist ideology, thereby departing from Arendt’s (1953) more rational analysis of totalitarian systems. Following Reich (1933/1970 ), Deleuze and Guattari (1983) point out that one cannot understand fascism or any totalitarianism by arguing that people were tricked or fooled into believing a false social reality. Rather, one needs to understand the dynamics of desire in societal and economic production.

Philosopher Slavoj Žižek fuses Hegelian-Marxist dialectics and Lacanian psychoanalysis to understand ideology ( Žižek 1989 , 1997 ). Žizek’s contributions conveyed through books, films, and social media, cover many topics including popular culture and daily politics, as well as consumer-related phenomena (e.g., Starbucks, Google, Coca-Cola, product design, and “green” consumption). Žižek (1989 , 2012 ) describes contemporary socio-political issues and consumption as a dialectic progression, from thesis to antithesis to synthesis, which then becomes a new thesis for another dialectic cycle. Žižek (1989 , 21) also asserts that people are not conscious of ideology: “Ideology is not simply a ‘false consciousness,’ an illusory representation of reality, it is rather this reality itself which is already to be conceived as ‘ideological’—‘ideological’ is a social reality whose very existence implies the non-knowledge of its participants as to its essence.”

Following Lacan (1981) , Žižek (2006 , 61) argues that in their role as consumers, people fail to recognize the fact that “the most elementary desire is the desire to reproduce itself as desire (and not to find satisfaction).” For Lacan, a pre-social “real world” (simply capitalized as “the Real”) is not intelligible to a social subject; the “Real” is a void or an absence experienced as a lack. The desiring subject chases this lost other ( autre ) “object” in the form of jouissance (roughly, “enjoyment”) of an objet petit a (“a” stands for autre) . For Deleuze (1966) and Žižek (1989 , 1997 ), the objet petit a is the virtual embodiment of the void; it includes “a set of phantasmic features which, when they are encountered in a positive object, make us desire this object” ( Žižek 1997 , 53). As social subjects, people need an “ideological fantasy” ( Žižek 1989 , 1997 ), which includes the constant production and reproduction of desire as an enjoyable diversion. Consumption, which permanently pursues jouissance , becomes what Žižek (2012) calls a “symptom,” striving to satiate a neurotic desire that would not exist in the same form without an ideologically conceived (i.e., symbolic) “reality” such as consumerism. As Donahue (2002 , 7) notes, Žižek’s theorizing “seems to capture perfectly the workings of ideology in our post-ideological times” where traditional ideologies related to class and hierarchy have been largely dismissed in favor of ideology defined by identity (e.g., lifestyle experiences) and promulgated in commerce and pop culture.

The reception of Deleuze and Guattari’s and Žižek’s works in consumer research has been sparse, except for a few mentions in research on consumer desire ( Belk et al. 2003 ; Kozinets, Patterson, and Ashman 2017 ; Rose and Wood 2005 ). For example, following Žižek (1997) , Rose and Wood (2005) study how consumers seek authenticity through consumption of reality television. The authors argue that as long as viewers trick themselves into (falsely) believing that the program is not scripted, the show signifies “reality” and communication unfolds as a successful misunderstanding.

We follow Žižek (1989 , 1997 ) in considering consumer desire as a continuous force of yearning—a “desire to desire”—which is similar to Lacan’s concept of jouissance . Because the system of consumerism separates desire from real needs, consumers engage in fantasies for “sublime objects” that can never be fully satisfied. In this sense, consumer desires contribute to the operation and survival of the system. The system supplies objects of desire in the form of products and brands, and consumers transform them into sublime objects of their desires ( Žižek 1989 ). In a Kantian sense, transcending and stylizing an object makes it sublime. Similarly, the Freudian concept of sublimation refers to a process that turns ordinary, libidinous urges into more cultural and consumable forms. In the context of consumer behavior, we will refer to the process that turns consumption objects (product and brands) into sublime objects as “consumption sublimification.”

Consumption sublimification includes numerous forms of commodity fetishizing such as ascribing a “personality” or “relationship” to brands; revering some products and brands as “luxuries”; mythologizing the iconography of product designs; anthropomorphizing products and brands; and stylizing ads as art. When consumers turn products and brands into sublime objects of desire, they create ideological fantasies about the desire to consume (e.g., “I need this now”), about outcomes of consumption (e.g., “it will satisfy me; it will make me happy; I will gain recognition from others”), and about the presumed benefits of consumption (e.g., “it is healthy; it is sustainable; it elevates my social status”). Note that consumerism and its rules and regulations may change in response to consumer desires. Such change has occurred, for example, in relation to environmental issues, health and nutrition, trade, conspicuous consumption, consumer technology, and consumer vices ( Dinnin Huff, Humphreys, and Wilner 2021 ). When such changes occur, consumers render new consumer products and consumption activities as sublime (e.g., electric cars, juices without sugar, fair-trade products, minimalist consumption, social media, and cannabis). In other words, systemic consumerism and consumer desires are dynamically interrelated ( Baudrillard 1970/1998 ).

Consumer’s Lived Experience

We conceptualize the consumer’s lived experience as the unique relationship and the central meeting point between the system of consumerism and consumer desires. The lived experience is a dynamic concept, which as actionable knowledge subsequently affects the ideological manifestations (the consumption domains and consumption orientations) in our framework.

In philosophy, psychology, and consumer research, the concept of experience is associated with encountering and living through events. From Kierkegaard and Dewey to Husserl and Brentano, experiences have been characterized as the unique relationship an individual has with the world ( Schmitt 2010 ). Experiences are subjective yet referential (i.e., “of” or “about” something) and have intentionality. Habermas (1984) describes lived experience generally as an individual’s or group’s Lebenswelt (“life world”). Following Deleuze and Guattari (1987) , the lived experience may be viewed as an assemblage. Experience, in this sense, is complex, fluid, and subject to constant rearrangement through processes referred to as coding, stratification, and territorialization ( Deleuze and Guattari 1987 ).

Social theory within the social group perspective explicates how ideology enters and affects the lived experience. Bourdieu (1977) argues that cultural capital manifests itself in the habitus of societal groups and the development of taste. Cultural capital is ideological because an elitist, high-status group sets the rules of what constitutes taste and thereby augments its privileges over other social groups. Thus, habitus and taste continuously reproduce existing social divisions and ideologies ( Bourdieu and Boltanski 1976 ; Bourdieu and Wacquant 1992 ; Eagleton 2007 ). Bourdieu’s ideas as well as those by other classic social theorists (e.g., the neo-Marxists and Foucault) have been employed and further developed in critical theory on gender and feminism, queer theory, race theory, and post-colonialism. These latter ideas have culminated in the overall notion of the “intersectionality” of the lived experience, referring to social categories and identities combined to create unique modes of discrimination or privilege for certain groups (see Ger [2018] for a research curation). The table in the appendix provides key references for such inquiries, examples of consumer studies, and critical propositions.

Consumer research has studied the subjective nature of the lived experience in terms of sensations, cognitions, feelings, and actions ( Brakus, Schmitt, and Zarantonello 2009 ). Deleuze and Guattari’s (1987) theorizing on assemblages has been used to study the consumer’s lived experience in the contexts of family networks, brands, and technologies such as the internet of things ( Epp, Schau, and Price 2014 ; Hoffman and Novak 2018 ; Parmentier and Fischer 2015 ). Following Bourdieu, consumer culture research has also investigated how marketplace performance relates to status and cultural capital ( Üstüner and Thompson 2012 ), and how consumers signal their cultural capital, habitus , and taste through their aesthetic preferences (e.g., for visual arts or music; Arsel and Thompson 2011 ), lifestyles (e.g., members of less industrialized countries adopt Western lifestyles; Üstüner and Holt 2010 ), and choices of specific objects of consumption (e.g., craft beer; Maciel and Wallendorf 2017 ).

We suggest that the consumer’s lived experience is a form of actionable knowledge including sensations, cognitions, feelings and intended actions. The lived experience is ideologically entrenched because it is affected by the consumerist system through the process of consumer subjectification and by consumer desires and fantasies through the process of consumption sublimification.

We further propose that the consumer’s lived experience is, in part, socially constructed intersectionally ( Ger 2018 ). That is, the lived experience is partially constituted by class, status, and identity as well as correlated with social categories such as gender, race, nationality, and mobility, which altogether result in a socially determined consumer habitus and lifestyle ( Bourdieu 1977 ; Baudrillard 1970/1998 ). Viewing the lived experience as an assemblage, we propose that the content and forms of expression of the consumer’s lived experience are not static. Instead, they are frequently transformed through a process referred to in assemblage theory as reterritorialization ( Deleuze and Guattari 1987 ). New components (e.g., new values, mythologies, identities, and practices) are forged, resulting in a new assemblage of the consumer’s lived experience.

How the lived experience is affected by both consumerism and consumer desires may be further explicated by applying Hegel’s well-known dialectic from Phänomenologie des Geistes of Herr und Knecht (often wrongly, but tellingly, translated as “master” and “slave”), which both Lacan and Žižek consider a foundational text of social theory. Like a Herr and a Knecht , consumerism and consumer desires are dialectically bound in a subject-object relationship. While consumerism controls consumer desires through the process of subjectification, consumerism is also dependent on consumer desires, which are expressed through the sublimification of consumption objects. The consumer’s lived experience (expressed in consumer sensations, cognition, feelings, and actions) thus incorporates both the system of consumerism and individual desires, and the two are dialectically related. For example, consumerism instills desire for products and brands, but consumers may not be able to afford them, or may consider these products and brands as detrimental to the environment. Conversely, consumer desires for certain products and brands (carbon free, cruelty free, equitable, upcycled) may not yet be fulfilled by the system. The lived experience is the prime social construct in our theoretical framework where systemic demands and individual desires intersect and may conflict. Next, we discuss conflict dimensions.

Conflict Dimensions

Our framework proposes that consumerism and consumer desires have an endurable conflictual relationship. Specific conflicts characterize the consumer’s lived experience. These conflicts occur along three dimensions: social class, status, and identity.

Conflict is common to all social theories of ideology. According to Marxist theory ( Marx and Engels 1848/2011 ), society entails conflicts between social classes. The social group perspective, primarily associated with Bourdieu (1977) , theorizes about conflicts between societal groups of varying status. Finally, the social reality perspective ( Žižek 2012 ) prominently features values and identity conflicts about the “right” and “wrong” values and lifestyles.

Extant ideology-related consumer research illustrates conflicts across groups of consumers and between consumers and corporations, and how these conflicts occur and may be resolved in consumption domains ( Arsel and Thompson 2011 ; Crockett 2017 ; Crockett and Wallendorf 2004 ; Holt 2002 ; Izberk-Bilgin 2012 ; Klein, Smith, and John 2004 ; Kozinets and Handelman 2004 ; Luedicke et al. 2010 ). For example, Crockett and Wallendorf (2004) show how political ideology can shape shopping as an expression of social and political conflict between households confronting attenuated access to goods and services. In addition, Holt (2002) shows how postmodern brands give rise to conflicts and contradictions.

Further Explication of the Dimensions

Following social theory on ideology and extant consumer research, we propose that conflicts may occur along three dimensions. First, bringing to bear the Marxist notion of class conflict, we propose that one source of conflict is that oppressed, disadvantaged, or marginalized consumers may have a strong desire for certain products or brands but cannot afford or consume them. They may fantasize about possessions, or they may reconcile their desires by settling for less expensive products or brands. They may also actively resist the market and protest. We conjecture that the consumption behavior of upwardly mobile consumers also reflects a class conflict, which in this case includes the desire to overcome the conflict through possessions. Han, Nunes, and Drèze (2010) describe two groups of consumers (“parvenus” and “pretenders”) that seem to experience such conflicts. Similarly, middle-class African American consumers disavow racial stigma through ostentatious status-oriented displays ( Crockett 2017 ).

Second, the Bordieuan conflict between social groups occurs around displayed taste and is likely reflected in consumers’ desire for conspicuous consumption, for example, luxury brands as well as other aspirational products which signals status and prestige ( Berger and Ward 2010 ; Holt 1998 ). Selecting the right “tasteful” products and brands reflects this conflict and constitutes a core component of the consumer’s lived experience ( Arsel and Thompson 2011 ). Resolving the conflict requires considerable consumer knowledge about the social prerequisite of what constitutes taste.

Finally, arguably, the most relevant conflict related to contemporary consumption is the identity conflict theorized by Žižek (2012) . For example, the mandate of continuous spending may conflict with the desire to be socially and environmentally responsible ( Giesler and Veresiu 2014 ; Luedicke, Thompson, and Giesler 2010 ). This identity conflict is a permanent social reality in the lived experience of a “green consumer” who prefers organic or sustainable products and brands.

In sum, the framework postulates that three types of conflicts may occur between consumerism and consumer desires and may be reflected in the consumer’s lived experience. The outcomes of these conflicts affect the ideological consumption manifestations of our framework, which we discuss next.

On the right side of figure 1 , we portray the consumption manifestations of our theoretical framework. Consumption manifestations include the consumption phenomena (or “domains”) that are generally affected by ideology and, specifically, by the conflict reflected in the consumer’s lived experience. Consumption manifestations also include what we call “consumption orientations” within each domain that consumers hold based on these conflicts.

In principle, any consumption domain can be analyzed as an ideological manifestation. Consider the following very simple and ostensibly nonideological choice: a consumer considers buying a cup of coffee. While this choice may seem straightforward and nonideological, it involves a series of conscious and nonconscious choices that are implicitly ideological. Should the coffee be ordered with or without milk, with whole or skim milk or dairy-free oat milk, and with white or brown sugar? Should it be roasted coffee from a local coffee shop with its own roastery, or can it be from a global retail chain? These choices relate to consumer desires and fantasies, but they also support or oppose socially shared consumerist ideas and ideals regarding the desirability of product ingredients, the sustainability of coffee production, and local community or global engagement. Depending on the consumer’s choices, the lived experience may be characterized as supporting “indie” or global brands, as “hipster” or functional, or as ordinary consumption or consumption with a social concern. Coffee consumption, therefore, constitutes a manifestation of consumption ideology as part of an enacted discourse about how commerce affects health (through coffee ingredients), the environment (through the packaging), the community (e.g., the notion of “third place” appropriated by Starbucks), and fairness (e.g., high-end pricing of latte varieties). Regarding consumption orientations, consumers may feel reconciled and engaged with current ideology, or they may feel alienated from it and even become activists (e.g., protesting the “hegemony” of Starbucks) ( Thompson and Arsel 2004 ). Next, we further explicate consumption domains and consumption orientations.

Consumption Domains

While our framework is applicable to a wide range of domains, prior consumer research indicates that consumption ideology seems to manifest itself primarily in certain domains. These central domains emerged among the topics in a textual review and analysis (“topic modeling”) of ideology-related consumer studies, which we conducted as part of this project. Web appendices A and C provide the methodological details of the topic modeling analysis and our interpretation of the topics. Using multi-dimensional scaling, web appendix B shows visually how the topics are related to each other. Table 1 displays the eight topics revealed in the analysis, the relation of the topics to our theoretical framework, and representative articles. The first four topics in the table concern how ideology affects consumer thoughts and behaviors in four consumption domains: status-based consumption (topic 1), brand affinity and antipathy (topic 2), performed practices (topic 3), and political consumption (topic 4). Research on status-based consumption investigates how consumers signal their cultural capital, habitus, and taste through their lifestyles ( Üstüner and Holt 2010 ), status-oriented displays ( Crockett 2017 ), mass-cultural artifacts ( Holt 1998 ), and even apartment décor ( Arsel and Bean 2013 ). Research on brand affinity and antipathy studies brands as ideological icons ( Holt 2006 ), and why, based on ideology, consumers endorse or reject brands ( Shepherd, Chartrand, and Fitzsimons 2015 ).

TOPICS, RELATIONSHIP TO THE THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK, AND REPRESENTATIVE ARTICLES

NOTE.— Each representative article loaded most strongly on the topic with which it is associated.

Studies in the domain of performed practices investigate how consumers (and other market stakeholders) mythologize or demythologize other market participants to negotiate and manage various marketplace tensions ( Arsel and Thompson 2011 ; Brunk, Giesler, and Hartmann 2017 ; Crockett and Davis 2016 ; Thompson 2004 ; Tumbat and Belk 2011 ). Finally, studies on political consumption show how ideological values affect the behavior and choices of liberal and conservative consumers ( Fernandes and Mandel 2014 ; Jost 2017 ; Kaikati et al. 2017 ). As Crockett and Wallendorf (2004) posit, contemporary consumption is a primary domain in which political ideology is constructed and expressed.

The remaining four topics shown in the table relate to other parts of the framework. Topic 5 (consumption as a socio-economic accord) and topic 6 (resistance to dominant forms of consumption) relate to consumption orientations (e.g., conformity and resistance), which we will discuss next. Topic 7 (communities and consumption movements) and topic 8 (legitimation processes of consumption practices) align with market process dynamics of the framework, which we will discuss after the section on consumption orientations.

Consumption Orientations

Ideology can result in different orientations in each consumption domain. We distinguish four orientations based on a 2 × 2 analytical scheme along two dimensions: mode of adaptation and mode of articulation. Echoing Merton (1938) , prior research related to topics 5 and 6 addresses the dichotomy of conformity vs. resistance as two modes of adaptation. The articles in topic 5 demonstrate that conforming to the market is often the dominant consumption orientation in contemporary society ( Firat and Venkatesh 1995 ). Consumers frequently manage tensions in their lived experience in accord with the market ( Holt and Thompson 2004 ; Schouten and McAlexander 1995 ; Thompson and Tambyah 1999 ). Topic 6 presents the opposite orientation: some consumers resist dominant consumption norms ( Izberk-Bilgin 2010 ; Mikkonen and Bajde 2013 ). Regarding mode of articulation, some of the studies that we analyzed as part of topic modeling (i.e., mostly articles on social status and brands) analyze manifestations at the social representations level. Other studies (i.e., mostly articles on performed practices and political consumption) focus on actions and behaviors. Next, we first explain the two dimensions (mode of adaptation and mode of articulation) further as part of a 2 × 2 matrix and then discuss our theorizing regarding consumption orientation types and dynamics.

The 2 × 2 Consumption Orientation Matrix: Types and Dynamics

The first dimension, mode of articulation, includes social representations and communicative actions. Moscovici (2000 , 13) defines social representations as “systems of values, ideas and practices which … enable communication to take place among the members of a community.” Social representations are not simply mental schemas that process information. They are constructed through discourse, action, and interaction and play a key role in the ideological construction and contestation of reality ( Moloney, Hall, and Walker 2005 ). Social representations are the outcome of “battles of ideas” and “ways of world-making” ( Moscovici 2000 ). Importantly, they enable communicative actions by providing members of a community with a code for social exchange ( Habermas 1984 ; Moscovici 2000 ). Following Habermas (1984) , we propose that when people engage in consumption, they communicate their Lebenswelt or lived experience, including their desires and stance toward consumerism. The second dimension, mode of adaptation, includes Merton’s sociological distinction of conformity and resistance. Merton (1938) defines conformity as a capability to pursue goals through socially approved means. Alternatively, people can also reject goals and means. These individuals are “strictly speaking, in the society but not of it” ( Merton 1938 , 677). While resistance may be maladaptive, individuals may also actively react, and by reacting, they reduce their frustration and promote change.

The 2 × 2 matrix depicts four core types of orientation: reconcilement , a conformist mental stance that embraces existing consumerist ideology; alienation , a resistive, anti-ideology mental stance; engagement , a conformist communicative action; and activism , a resistive communicative action against mainstream consumerist ideology. We briefly illustrate each type and then discuss the dynamics in the matrix.

Reconcilement

Most consumers seem to accept and embrace consumerism. That is, at least prima facie , they reconcile with the existing ideology. They have their favorite products and brands that they like or are attached to. Reconcilement is an unreflective way of going about one’s daily life as a consumer. From a critical perspective, reconcilement has been viewed through the lens of lacking alternatives. Holt and Thompson (2004) observe that for certain US men, the only way to assert masculinity is to be reconciled with the market. These men rely on the class-dependent ideology of heroic masculinity to construct themselves as man-of-action heroes through the specific choices they make as consumers. Information-processing studies often cite reconcilement based on political ideologies. For example, conservative (vs. liberal) consumers are less likely to complain or dispute ( Jung et al. 2017 ). Neoliberal reforms in developing markets often lead to shared, socio-ideological sensibilities that inform consumer reconcilement with the market ( Kravets and Sandikci 2014 ). Arnould (2007) makes a positive case for reconcilement by illustrating the dangers of market exclusion with a marginalized African community deprived of the means of consumption.

Instead of reconciling with existing ideology, some consumers feel alienated from consumerism or certain facets of it. They experience dissatisfaction with consumption and the image that certain products, brands, and lifestyles convey. As a result, they may unconsciously experiment with alternatives or consciously consider alternatives. In the social movements of the 1960s, “hippies” took a decidedly anti-capitalist, anti-consumerist stance. Recently, “hipster” consumers attempted to relive the revolutionary spirit as a lifestyle alternative by adopting anti-mainstream commercial approaches that prioritize sustainable consumption or handcrafts ( Larsen and Kahle 2019 ).

This orientation is a positive, conformist communicative action, such as when consumers purchase mainstream products and brands, upgrade consumption over time in aspirational ways, or buy what is expected of them by a group. It may be unconscious or conscious. Consumers with a strong desire to belong to a particular social class or group use overt consumption to signal their achievement ( Han et al. 2010 ; Kozinets 2001 ; Luedicke 2015 ). Conservatives differentiate themselves in a vertical social hierarchy by purchasing products that signal that they are better than others; liberals differentiate themselves horizontally through products that signal that they are different from others ( Ordabayeva and Fernandes 2018 ). Finally, Scaraboto and Fischer (2013) show how “fatshionistas” (i.e., plus-sized consumers) collectively engage so they have more options from fashion brands.

To resolve the conflict between unfulfilled desires and consumerism, some consumers become activists. They consciously avoid certain product categories, seek alternatives, or pursue minimalist, simple consumption. They might also protest or boycott specific brands and corporations (and even participate in the destruction of products or corporate property), or they could invent new forms of consumption as forms of resistance and rebellion against capitalism. Kozinets and Handelman’s (2004) study of “adversaries of consumption” investigates spiritual and religious identities and how they make individuals commit to movements that seek to transform consumerism. Klein et al. (2004) study consumers who decide to boycott a firm after it closes factories and they find that digital media facilitates mobilization and recruitment of activists. Dormant networks of cultural groups who share common interests can be mobilized by meso-level online actors, such as encouraging them to protest restrictions on illegal downloading ( Odou, Roberts, and Roux 2018 ). Stigmatized‐identity threat cues also might prompt anti‐consumption including boycotts ( Chaney, Sanchez, and Maimon 2019 ).

Dynamics in the 2 × 2 Matrix

Consumption orientations usually do not fall neatly into one category. Consumers may hold one orientation toward one consumption object and a different orientation toward another. Orientations may also differ by context and change over time. In short, consumption orientations are flexible, malleable, and dynamic. These dynamics are represented by arrows in the 2 × 2 matrix in figure 1 .

To illustrate, a consumer who initially attended the Burning Man festival out of alienation (e.g., resulting from ennui with mainstream consumption) may find reconciliation with the alternative ideology promoted at the festival and, ultimately, may permanently engage by regularly attending the festival ( Kozinets 2002 ). Over time, however, the festival may re-alienate the attendee because of its increased commercialization. Conversely, a reconciled consumer may become alienated through excessive “over-consumption” of food ( Kjellberg 2008 ), for example, but ultimately reconcile again when embracing the ideas of the “body-positivity” movement. As another example, the initial engagement with a lifestyle brand may turn into activism against it when the company’s focus on profit clashes with the consumer’s environmental concerns ( Kozinets and Handelman 2004 ). Conversely, activism can turn into positive engagement when a company seems responsive to the consumer’s desire ( Scaraboto and Fischer 2013 ), or when the firm placates the consumer with a corporate social responsibility campaign.

In addition to these vertical and/or horizontal movements, there are also diagonal dynamics between alienation and engagement, and between reconcilement and activism. Thompson and Haytko (1997) illustrate this dynamic between alienation and engagement as follows: consumers can simultaneously feel alienated from but also engage with the fashion system and ultimately conform to the dominant system. Information-processing research has also demonstrated that ideological values drive engagement with some brands and alienation from other brands ( Shepherd et al. 2015 ). Consumers who engage with specific brands while simultaneously rejecting others often portray supporters of brands they reject in moralistic tones ( Luedicke et al. 2010 ). Consumers also establish moral norms depending on the use (or misuse) of specific brands ( Muñiz and O’Guinn 2001 ).

Arsel and Thompson (2011) illustrate the dynamic between reconcilement and activism in the context of indie consumption. To protect their identity (and worldview), consumers who are reconciled with indie consumption insulate their cultural capital from potential devaluation by demythologizing unwanted (“commercial”) consumption practices by hipsters, whom they consider unwanted imitators who were late to engage with their preferred music. Indie consumers employ subtle forms of activism such as buying unpopular brands, ostracizing hipsters as illegitimate imitators, and invoking an alternative system of symbolic meaning. Moreover, Kozinets (2008) illustrates the dynamic between reconcilement and activism regarding technology. Consumers may see technology in a reconciling mode as a myth to worship and as a positive force (what Kozinets refers to as “techtopia”) or, from an activist’s perspective, as a destroyer of nature (“green luddite”). Notably, consumers use and combine different elements of ideology fluidly and shift from one ideological element to another in their speech acts and practices.

Žižek (1989 , 2012 ) describes contemporary socio-political issues and consumption as dialectic progression, from thesis to antithesis to synthesis. Our theoretical framework reflects this dialectic thinking by proposing that a consumerist–capitalist marketplace changes constantly in a similar manner. That is, a specific manifestation of a consumption ideology at a given time is a thesis that can lead to an antithesis, which may evolve into a synthesis that becomes a new thesis, and so on. In our topic modeling, this dialectical progression is captured by two closely related market process topics: topic 7 (communities and consumption movements) and topic 8 (legitimation of consumption practices) (see table 1 ).

Using the previous coffee consumption-manifestation example, one might view the centuries-old practice of home-brewed coffee consumed at home as an original thesis. An antithesis is consuming instant coffee instead, which stems from the consumerist ideology of convenience demanded by a faster pace of modern life. A synthesis occurs when consumers seek quick but still well-brewed coffee (e.g., from Starbucks), which also relies on the logic of consistent quality delivered by a global chain. Independent cafés offer consumers, especially hipsters, a new thesis as local (vs. global) places that provide roasted and brewed coffee in a nostalgic way. This was the state of affairs when Thompson and Arsel (2004) conducted their study on the “Starbucks Brandscape.” Since then, the market has again moved on. By incorporating hipster and indie elements, Starbucks began to co-opt the new thesis and created yet another synthesis (e.g., Starbucks Reserve Roastery). As the hipster lifestyle is becoming a fad of the past, a new thesis is likely to emerge. In sum, from a consumption ideology perspective, coffee consumption in its various forms over time must be understood in terms of dialectic progression.

Similarly, in fashion, prêt-à-porter (mass-produced “ready to wear” apparel) is an antithesis to hand-made, haute couture luxury; yet the two are dialectically related, as well-illustrated in the Cerulean Monologue in The Devil Wears Prada . Dialectic conflicts also occur in the adoption of new technologies. To be digitally connected and to be part of a hyper-connected world, individuals must share personal information (including very private aspects) ( Swaminathan et al. 2020 ). At the same time, they may challenge the dominant view, e.g., boycotting social media such as Twitter and subscribing to alternative social media platforms.

Dialectic progression is a “hyper-process” that can lead to three other processes, which we refer to as “systemic appropriation,” “symptomatic oscillation,” and “ideological co-optation.” When consumers conform to the market ( Hirschman 1990 ; Schouten and McAlexander 1995 ), such conformity affirms the market, and the behavior is appropriated by the system of consumerism by offering “more of the same.” In contrast, when consumers resist, market rejection may lead to “symptomatic oscillation,” following Žižek (2012) . Consumers are calling for an antithesis to the popular thesis to fulfill their desires. The lack of fulfillment of the desire may result in an oscillating crisis of desires and fantasies and quasi-existential questions about consumerism related to issues such as sustainability, poverty, and injustice. However, the system may also respond and incorporate the anti-thesis, thus guaranteeing the market’s dialectic progression. Co-optation theory views the latter process as an ideological force that assimilates the symbols and practices of countercultures into dominant norms ( Hebdige 1979/2012 ), acting as a countervailing market response ( Giesler 2008 ; Thompson and Coskuner-Balli 2007 ).

To summarize, we have developed and presented a theoretical framework of consumption ideology that integrates social theory and prior consumer research related to ideology. This new framework posits that ideas and ideals related to consumerism are part of a consumer’s lived experience and manifest themselves in consumption. We propose that consumerism and its institutions prescribe how consumers satisfy desires, and, conversely, how consumers evoke marketplace fantasies. Consumption ideology is present in various consumption domains and affects consumption orientations, thereby contributing to the dialectic progression of markets.

Next, we illustrate the consumption-ideology framework with three contemporary consumption cases—upcycling, Zoom backgrounds, and TikTok. We then identify research gaps and lay out mandates for future research programs on consumption ideology.

The following three cases are not meant to be complete studies of consumption ideology. Rather, to illustrate the value of the framework, we discuss how contemporary consumption phenomena may be approached and studied using the framework.

From Trash to Fifth Avenue: Upcycling

Upcycling is the transformation of waste materials or discarded products into new materials or products ( Wilson 2016 ), for example, by making flowerpots out of old car tires, furniture out of empty oil barrels, or jewelry from skateboards. Some companies have capitalized on the commercial opportunities of this new consumption phenomenon generated in response to the overproduction of waste. For example, Swiss company Freitag sells one-of-a-kind bags and accessories made from recycled truck tarps; Gucci sells fishnet bags; and Adidas in a collaboration with Stella McCartney sells upcycled sneakers and clothing.

Upcycling originated as a class-based phenomenon in developing countries among the poorest segments of consumers who re-use and transform old materials and items because they lack the fundamental resources for the products they need ( Goldsmith 2009 ). In developed countries, upcycling has taken the form of an active resistance to consumerist pressure to always buy new products (e.g., purchasing new clothes every season or changing home accessories frequently without a real need to do so).

Drawing on the relevant constructs, and their relationships in our theoretical framework, we conceptualize upcycling as a manifestation of consumption ideology resulting from conflicts in the consumer’s lived experience between the consumerist objective of constantly buying new products and consumers’ desire to reduce consumption. Following our framework, while certain consumers conform to the idea of constantly acquiring new and original products and thus enforce the systemic appropriation of consumption, other consumers resist consumerist pressures. The rejection of the market leads consumers into an oscillating crisis: they want to fulfill their desires and maybe acquire new products, yet they are concerned about the environmental impact this outcome can have. We propose that consumers attempt to resolve the symptomatic oscillation through participation in the creation of new objects by reusing materials and products they possess. While some consumers do so for their personal use, others sell them on specialized platforms (e.g., Etsy.com), thereby moving from activism against the market to engagement with it. Such a path may lead to an ideological co-optation by the market that incorporates the upcycling manifestation into consumerism. As companies start producing upcycled items on their own, they subjectify the desiring and fantasizing of individuals in their role as consumers. Hence, the product is not just “upcycled” (and therefore sustainable), but “upcycled by Freitag” (or Gucci, or Adidas and Stella McCartney), thereby turning the product into a sublime consumption object. Consumers are prepared to pay a higher price for it after this sublimification; they can also use the product or brand in status games (e.g., as a luxury upcycled product) and as an identity or lifestyle symbol (e.g., as a niche subcultural brand).

As consumers accept or reject the market, they socially represent an upcycled item as an expensive and elitist product, a must-have object, or an outrageous attempt to capitalize on an environmental issue. Consumption ideology inherent in upcycling may then enter another cycle of the dialectic process. Consumers can affirm the market by reconciling with the idea of upcycling as a new form of fashion. Conversely, they may reject this proposition and find alternatives to the ones the market offers.

Examining upcycling through the lenses of our theoretical framework may also generate future lines of enquiry. For example, future studies should investigate whether the commercialization of upcycled goods generates new forms of consumer entrepreneurship, and even counterfeiting, by consumers seeking economic opportunities. As our framework implies, consumers who think that big corporations capitalize on the re-use of waste may cease to recycle—a new form of boycott—, paradoxically going against the pro-environmental ideas of upcycling in the future. Alternatively, consumers may engage in upcycling for progressive reasons—to help disadvantaged groups. For instance, an initiative is making rounds on WhatsApp among parents whose children attend private primary schools in well-off districts in central London. The campaign asks the parents to financially support “a worthy eco-project,” aimed at producing upcycled goods for the homeless (e.g., waterproof sleeping bag covers).

“Masking” Reality: Zoom Backgrounds

The global Covid-19 pandemic has forced millions of people to safeguard their health by staying at home and working remotely. Such a measure has led to the proliferation and vast use of online communication platforms for video-telephony such as Zoom. As a result, homes have been transformed, in part, from private into public spaces.

We propose that the background spaces behind the meeting participants constitute a manifestation of consumption ideology. From curated bookshelves to abstract paintings, from exotic plants to precious souvenirs from vacation trips, from sophisticated technological equipment to minimalist furniture and Peloton exercising gear, these backgrounds provide a plethora of ideological objects to showcase consumption fantasies and dreams. Zoom calls are thus transformed into glamorous activities, with specific social prescriptions and netiquettes depending on the occasion ( Kaysen 2020 ). Virtual bookshelves have become arenas where consumption sublimification reaches its peak: Das Kapital or Capitalism and Freedom ? The Holy Bible or On the Origin of Species ? Experiential Marketing or No Logo ?

Following our framework, the backgrounds become sublime objects of consumption rather than mere masking devices ( Canniford and Shankar 2013 ). Once the Lacanian Real is concealed, consumers can freely desire to be somewhere else (on vacation at a remote Pacific atoll) or even be someone else, for example, someone with a different status (posing in front of a Lamborghini) or with a different identity (sitting in a library representing human knowledge). The background, therefore, abandons its original relegated role of a mere contour of the call experience to become the core of the experience itself: a sublime object that is ready-made for consumption itself. At the same time, institutions including corporations and universities subjectify users by recommending—or demanding—the adoption of plain and opportune backgrounds that may at once safeguard the institution’s reputation, achieve equity objectives, or protect individual privacy ( Fosslien and West Duffy 2020 ). Platforms such as Zoom support such systemic efforts by providing individuals with default virtual backgrounds that can be used to mask their real private or public settings. Consumers, in turn, may conform by reconciling and engaging with such prescriptions, thereby affirming and perpetuating what the market has to offer. Consumers may also contribute by creating their own settings based on their desires and fantasies, and the most popular backgrounds may be analyzed and commercialized by service providers. However, consumers may also reject the adoption of backgrounds. As our framework suggests, this rejection may engender an alienation that may turn into activism, namely, refusing to turn on webcams during meetings.

By examining the Zoom background phenomenon from a consumption-ideology perspective, our framework contributes new insights into consumer-market processes in the realm of technology adoption and diffusion. As our analysis shows, the market can profit from consumers’ fantasies and desires. As other virtual objects such as emojis or apps ( Ge and Gretzel 2018 ), virtual backgrounds can be co-opted and transformed into profitable products. Niche websites like hellobackground.com and even mainstream companies like Penguin Random House have begun to sell packages of professionally edited backgrounds. Similarly, new professional figures like “background advisors” or “bookshelves curators” have emerged to help consumers stylize their Zoom backgrounds.

Future research questions may emerge from the application of our theoretical framework to Zoom backgrounds. Scholars may study how consumers seek to fulfill their desires of being somewhere else or someone else once they leave their secure and controllable household environment. For example, the return to “reality” (a life not staged in the front of a Zoom background) may impact consumer well-being, luring consumers toward engaging in conspicuous consumption or overconsumption of certain goods (including, perhaps, addictive ones), which may constitute new masking devices that consumers may turn to.

The Commercialization of TikTok

Launched in China in 2016, the social media platform TikTok has rapidly grown in popularity, with 500 million monthly active users by the end of 2020. Beyond its “outsider” origins (the first major social media platform created outside the hegemony of Silicon Valley), the nature and features of TikTok have revolutionized the consumption of social media. By applying our theoretical framework to analyze the TikTok phenomenon, we can unveil the processes that characterize TikTok as an example of consumption ideology.

Aimed mainly at a 14- to 24-year-old target audience, TikTok focuses on creating entertainment content. Users can upload their own one-minute videos, for example, comedy sketches, dancing, music performances, often imitating famous singers (with the lip-syncing function being one of the major selling points of TikTok). Following our framework, such features enable individuals to redirect their desires and fantasies and transform their lived experience. Some consumers may want to just have fun while pretending to be comedians, dancers, or singers. Others may experience a symptomatic oscillation: they desire to showcase their talent and fantasize about success while protesting the systemic apparatus of show business. For example, singer Lyn Lapid started a TikTok account to express disappointment with a greedy music producer who had turned the singer down ( Smith Galer 2020 ). The account rapidly hit over 64 million followers, turning Lyn Lapid into a celebrity. Since TikTok heavily relies on algorithms to provide users with content they may like, some have argued that the app almost mimics a democratic society. Allegedly, users have the same baseline opportunity for their content to become a hit, regardless of the current number of followers or likes. However, TikTok, like other platforms, also subjectifies users with several regulations about the content. Such prescriptions entail, among others, a restricted length of the content (one minute or less), the preference for certain genres and styles, as well as a ban on and control over content that may be considered “dangerous.” Hence, even if multifaceted, the cultural capital of the content on TikTok is still indirectly controlled and filtered. Furthermore, from a systemic perspective, other agencies may interfere in the proliferation of content. Private companies may dictate which content is worth sponsoring, or national governments may impose bans or restrictions based on political, religious, or other ideological grounds.

Applying our framework to this scenario, consumers may interact with TikTok in various ways: they can reconcile with the idea of this new form of entertainment by only watching the provided content without creating their own videos. Interestingly, even if this mode of articulation may seem passive, it still contributes to feeding the algorithms and in determining what the dominant trends are. Consumers may also engage in the production of their own content, thus perpetuating the system. Alternatively, consumers may reject TikTok, and even actively protest it (by boycotting the platform and the content it promotes). Notably, consumers may shift back and forth among these modes over time. Consumers who were initially alienated from such platforms may gradually become interested in them and reconcile with the idea, ultimately becoming content creators. Conversely, content creators who are dissatisfied with the platform may actively contest it or abandon it and move toward other entertainment platforms.

As TikTok becomes increasingly commercialized, new content could arise from user desires and fantasies, eventually becoming co-opted and integrated into TikTok. Brands are using the platform already for influencer marketing ( Swaminathan et al. 2020 ). However, our framework can also generate future research directions beyond influencer marketing. For example, future research may investigate how the platform co-opts other parts of the entertainment and cultural industries (beyond music) (e.g., micro-videos on arts, education, and politics). Researchers may also investigate whether new partnerships between the public and the private sectors generate more inclusive and accessible cultural resources or result in new form of cultural hegemonies. Simplicity and brevity may, for example, replace depth and thoroughness in determining consumer decisions and preferences. Finally, future research may investigate how new artists and con-artists, social influencers and political leaders can arise and be chosen through the platform, pushing it beyond the entertainment experience and kindling the dialectic process of consumption ideology.

Three cases—upcycling, Zoom backgrounds, and the commercialization of TikTok—illustrate how the consumption-ideology framework can offer valuable insights about these phenomena and their progression over time. As we illustrated, a consumption-ideology analysis should not only focus on parts of the framework—for example, class, status or identity conflicts, the lived experience, conformity or resistance orientations, or co-optation, as much prior research has done—but rather analyze ideological originations, manifestations, and processes jointly to do full justice to consumption ideology at play. Furthermore, by illuminating how ideologically mediated consumer desires make consumption objects and experiences sublime and contribute to market dynamism, we add theoretical clarity and nuance toward explaining how consumers and institutions engage in ideological co-work to sustain markets. Finally, the consumption-ideology framework can help researchers generate new research questions on consumption phenomena such as upcycling, Zoom backgrounds, and the usage of TikTok.

The framework presented here highlights several major research gaps. First, prior research has mostly examined manifestations in highly circumscribed consumption domains and at best alluded to ideological formation (specific constructs applied in that context such as habitus , responsibilization or governmentality). These studies amount to what Pham (2013) , in a critique of consumer research, has called “theories of studies,” that is, in this case, “micro-theorizations” of ideological manifestations in specific contexts. Because of the lack of a full-fledged theory of consumption ideology, few attempts have been made to integrate analyses at the group level (e.g., Bourdieuean work) with an analysis of the system (e.g., Foucauldian theories of governmentality and subjectification) and an analysis of individual desires (e.g., Lacanian and Žižekian theories of desire). Relatedly, much research has focused on manifestations without accounting for their ideological originations. Finally, with few exceptions (e.g., the work on co-optation and marketplace drama), ideology has not been studied dynamically as a dialectic progression over time. This critique, together with our theoretical framework, leads to three research mandates for multiple research programs on consumption ideology: (1) incorporating the system and desires into the consumer’s lived experience, (2) tracing consumption manifestations back to ideological origins, and (3) elucidating the dialectic progression of consumption ideology.

Incorporating the System and Desires into the Lived Experience

Research has primarily concentrated on social-group-based concepts to study the role of ideology in social values, meaning, and identity. We recommend more integration of this largely ethnographic perspective, which is centered on cultural aspects of the consumer’s lived experience, with a systemic, sociological perspective that focuses on social interests and a psychological/psychoanalytic perspective that considers ideology as an indispensable part of social reality motivated by desires and fantasies. Combining the intergroup perspective with the systemic and social-reality perspectives may result in research programs that examine the sociological, ethnographic, and psychological underpinnings of consumption ideology in a multi-disciplinary fashion, leading to the following exemplary research questions: How can systemic aspects related to consumerism (e.g., “buy more,” “buy new things,” or “signal your status through consumption”) stimulate consumer desires, be embraced as values, and become a part of consumer identity? Which institutions (e.g., sales channels like retailing or e-commerce, trade vs. consumer protection, advertising or social media) best represent consumerist ideologies? Finally, what new positive ideas, ideals, and institutions do consumers imagine as representing their desires (e.g., virtual assistants, empowering apps, or sustainability squads)?

A related research program should examine the complementary processes of consumer subjectification and consumption sublimification, as well as the conflict dimensions we identified. This research program would address several unanswered research questions: How are ideological, consumerist knowledge and power structures (e.g., the notion of consumer value, the importance of consumer choice, or the distinction of material vs. experiential consumption) systemically instilled into consumer desires? What processes are involved in turning ordinary marketplace artifacts (products and brands) into sublime objects of desire? How do consumers interpret and negotiate the information/prescriptions that come from institutions and may affect their lived experiences by constraining their desires such as when restrictive policies are introduced through “nudges” or in “politically correct” consumption?

Tracing Consumption Manifestations Back to Ideological Originations

Many studies that we reviewed focus on ideological formations in highly circumscribed consumption contexts such as buying halal burgers ( Johnson, Thomas, and Grier 2017 ), pursuing natural hair care practices in Kenya ( Ndichu and Upadhyaya 2019 ), or engaging in illicit consumption of rhino horns ( Truong, Dang, and Hall 2016 ). We propose that these highly contextualized, in-depth studies be supplemented by a broader consideration of explanatory factors. In other words, we propose a research program that traces consumption manifestations back to their ideological origins. This may address the following research questions: Do the types of consumption domains that we distinguished based on topic modeling (i.e., status-based consumption, brand affinity and antipathy, performed practices, and political consumption) show distinct origination patterns? How important are systemic consumerist factors relative to consumer desires in leading to these types? For example, are political consumption and performed practices more systemically determined whereas status-based consumption and brand affinity and antipathy reflect unfulfilled desires? In addition, do the orientations of reconcilement, engagement, alienation, and activism, which numerous studies have investigated contextually, relate more generally to conflicts or conflict resolutions between the system and consumer desires? Finally, future research should investigate how ideologies (e.g., neoliberalism, feminism, environmentalism, or postmodernism) interact with the ideology of consumerism to engender novel manifestations of consumption ideology in specific contexts.

Elucidating the Dialectic Progression of Consumption Ideology

Finally, we suggest research on dialectic progression and its related processes of systemic appropriation, symptomatic oscillation, and ideological co-optation. When are these processes likely to occur? How do dialectics and their related processes unfold over time? Longitudinal and even historical studies using a dialectic perspective may be instructive ( Arsel and Thompson 2011 ). For example, a research program on digital technologies may investigate how ideas and ideals about technology affect society, social life, and social reality dialectically over time. In this respect, Negroponte (1995) provides a core dimension—“atoms” versus “bits”—which seems to be relevant for investigating consumer experiences in stores versus online, with augmented versus virtual realities, and real money versus cryptocurrency. How does this dichotomy shape consumers’ ideological discourse and actions dialectically over time? Another dimension that is relevant to studying the ideological aspects of technology is “real” versus “fake.” In a Lacanian sense, is an anonymous “friend” online part of the “Real” or is the “friend” entirely a consumer fantasy? Finally, a third dimension that may dialectically progress is “human” versus “machine.” Technology invades consumers’ lives in the form of AI and robotics, but, conversely, consumers may technologically augment their bodies and minds via implants of non-human, technological parts or synthetic tissue and organs, for example.

Digital technologies also create new ideological categories in terms of what is being sold and what is of value. For Marx, neo-Marxists, and Bourdieu, social reality is tied to and desire is triggered by the “material” (ownership of material possessions). In contrast, digital experiences are intangible and transient. They exist “in the void” as possibilities. Consumers have nothing to show for the cost of a digital product unless it is massively shared as part of an elusive network, creating a digital symptomatology in sharing selfies and “food porn” ( McDonnell 2016 ), as well as tagging shopping locations and joint app usage to gain commercial benefit.

There is no escaping the spectral hand of ideology. Ideology is omnipresent in people’s lives and manifests itself as a consumption ideology when consumers buy and use marketplace products, services, and experiences. That is, consumption ideology is part of any consumer’s social reality. Consumers are subject to the workings of ideology either consciously or unconsciously when they reflect and enact ideology through consumption. We have much to learn from research about the dialectic nature and effects of consumption ideology.

The data set comprises 168 abstracts of published articles. Based on all authors' instructions, a research assistant performed the search of relevant published articles based on ideology-related keywords. The initial total search was supplemented based on all authors’ decision to include additional articles suggested as part of the review process. The initial search was done in May and June 2019, and it was updated in May 2020. The topic modeling reported in the article was done from December 2020 to February 2021. The same research assistant wrote the code for LDA and ran the topic modeling based on the authors' instructions. The data, the R code, and the custom dictionary are stored in a project directory on the Open Science Framework at https://osf.io/cxk2g/?view_only=fb495bb0c63b4dbbab085c3a48c5d80e .

Bernd Schmitt ( [email protected] ) is Robert D. Calkins Professor of International Business at Columbia Business School, Columbia University, 3022 Broadway, New York, NY 10027, USA.

J. Joško Brakus ( [email protected] ) is a professor of marketing at Leeds University Business School, The University of Leeds, Maurice Keyworth Building, Leeds LS2 9JT, UK.

Alessandro Biraglia ( [email protected] ) is an associate professor of marketing at Leeds University Business School, The University of Leeds, Maurice Keyworth Building, Leeds LS2 9JT, UK.

The authors thank panel participants of the knowledge forum on consumption ideology at the Association for Consumer Research 2019 conference for inspiration; Nour Jedidi, Zipei Lu, and Kamel Jedidi for advice and help on topic modeling; and the editor, two associate editors, and five reviewers for their comments, help, and guidance. Supplementary materials are included in the web appendix that accompanies the online version of this article.

During the final review round of this article, major international newspapers (e.g., The New York Times, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, The Times) reported allegations of serial sexual child abuse and denigration of young boys, committed by Foucault when he held a position at the University of Tunisia ( Campbell 2021 ). (Tunisia is a former French colony.) Foucault was a proponent of “consensual” adult-child sex and in 1977 had led the signing of a petition to legalize such sexual relations ( Doezema 2018 ), which was also signed by Althusser, Deleuze, Guattari and other prominent French intellectuals, doctors, jurists, and psychologists. We believe these actions shed a dubious light on Foucault’s work on power and power-knowledge. The authors condemn Foucault’s positions and (alleged) sexual child abuse. Because Foucault’s ideas—the notion of subjectification in particular—inform our framework, we have included these ideas into our framework, but we have largely excluded the work on power per se . We wish to stress that in no way should the inclusion of Foucault’s ideas be construed as an endorsement of his advocacies and behaviors regarding adult-child sexual relations.

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One of the most powerful forces that contribute to the promotion of consumerism is the omnipresent advertising in capitalistic societies. Advertising is an essential component in the marketing strategy of any product, but at the same time, it affects the human mind. Advertisements portray products as necessary objects that are required to keep one’s social identity secure. Thus, they do not represent wants, but instead create a need for luxury goods. Numerous print and TV advertisements persuade potential customers that it is a Gucci bag, a Calvin Klein dress, or a pair of Jimmy Choo shoes that define their personality and character—not the personal traits they possess.

The youth are probably the most vulnerable target of advertisers. Grown-ups can often distinguish between what they need and do not need; however, young people tend to be less capable of critical thinking. Since their world is created by their aspirations to keep up with modern trends and acquire the most up-to-date gadgets, they are easier to manipulate (Schor, 2004, p.11). Quindlen (2008) provides a perfect example of this manipulation. She confesses that television advertising “made [her] want a Chatty Cathy doll so much as a kid that when [she] saw her under the tree [her] head almost exploded” (para. 3).

On the other hand, advertising is not the only phenomena responsible for the increasing numbers of people obsessed with the need to buy new items. Marketers have begun to compare consumers to roaches, “You spray them and spray them and they get immune after a while” (From Consumerism to Personal Bankruptcy, n.d., para. 10) . This refers to how advertisements hardly have an effect on most people anymore. While advertisements are beguiling, if they were that effective, people would be rushing to stores to purchase the advertised products in higher numbers than already present.

Another reason why the idea of permanent acquisition of goods has become dominant in the minds of many people, both adults and adolescents, is the lack of skills necessary to maintain their own resources. Since they did not earn it themselves, the youth are often unaware of the value of money; they demand that their parents satisfy the desires instilled in them by advertising. According to a survey designed to measure children’s knowledge about financial management conducted in the United States by the charity organization Jump$tart Coalition, survey-takers scored an average of 52 percent. This percentage indicates a weak awareness of the usage of money (From Consumerism to Personal Bankruptcy, n.d., para. 16). Even adults would rather spend their disposable income on a new suit or an extravagant holiday than save it. On the other hand, many university and high school students take part-time jobs as graders or professors’ assistants not only to broaden their knowledge, but also to learn to use their hard-earned cash capably. Adults’ earnings have hit an all-time low due to the recession, and many of them are now trying to control their expenditure and pay off their debts. These factors weaken the indirect link between poor financial management and consumerism.

Also worth considering is the yearly reduction in the number of people who want to save their money for the future. If consumers do not save their money, they will obviously use it to buy innumerable useless goods, resulting in consumerism. An article published in the Christian Science Monitor asserts, “Americans’ personal savings fell to -0.5% last year, the first time since the Depression that the savings rate has been negative for a year… it reflects how irresistible consumerism has become in the American psyche” (para. 3).

Another significant factor that plays into consumerism is the way that people’s priorities have recently changed. In the past, consumers were unable to purchase luxuries just because they wanted them. Due to insufficient funds, they had to focus on their needs rather than their wants (From Consumerism to Personal Bankruptcy, n.d., para. 18). Necessity forced them to choose what they needed most; thus, they developed the skills necessary to sort their needs by order of importance. This prevented them from experiencing the additional stress connected with paying off loans and debts. Nowadays, the advent of credit facilities allow consumers to have an almost unlimited possibility for purchasing what they wanted but could not afford. Credit cards allow buyers to have the impression that they have inexhaustible financial resources. The only choice people have to make now is what they want to buy first. This creates the illusion that desirable products are easily accessible; the world is perceived as one gigantic mall. In addition, according to the article “Dhamma in the age of Globalization” (2008), an average modern individual “sees oneself as the center to judge the world, treating others as mere tools to satisfy one’s goals.” This attitude has led to shaping a consumerist attitude towards life with its dire consequences.

The spreading of the consumerist ideology is facilitated by a combination of different factors, among the most significant being an overexposure to advertising, a lack of skills to maintain financial resources, and a global shift in people’s values. Logically, it therefore seems there are at least two ways to prevent, or at least slow down, the further expansion of this thoughtless attitude to life, money, and goods: supplying financial education to explain to various age groups how to plan a budget more effectively—additionally, teaching them to examine the psychological motives of their uncontrolled desire for acquisition, to see what tricks manufacturers and advertisers use to catch their audience’s attention, and to recognize how they also manipulate consumer’s wishes and point of view. The benefits of a critical attitude toward saving more money, therefore reducing stress, should be emphasized. Teaching the youth the value of money, along with the skill to distinguish their needs from their wants, would also contribute to forming a healthy attitude towards goods. A world without consumerism is highly unlikely to occur in the near future, as it is too complex of a issue to eliminate entirely. However, the recession that erupted a few months ago has had a colossal impact on consumer spending. If this trend of reduced spending continues for the next several years, it might reverse consumerism’s materialistic illusion of life.

References:

Quindlen, Anna. (2008). Stuff is Not Salvation. Newsweek.

Schor, Juliet. (2004). Born to Buy: The Commercialized Child and the New Consumer Culture. Scribner.

(2013). From Consumerism to Personal Bankruptcy: Its Causes & Its Consequences. Fong and Partners Inc.

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• IELTS Sample Essay 8 – Consumerism

It is widely believed that consumerism is vital for the economy well-being of a country. However others feel that consumerism has unacceptable social consequences on a society. Discuss both these views and give your own opinion

There have been many studies on how some economies are so successful while others are still struggling to survive. Many economists advocate consumerism on the grounds that it is the prime factor of a wealthy economy. However, socialists argue that consumerism would also cause adverse effects on a society. I am of the mixed opinion.

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Regarding the economic benefits, consumerism would help an economy to be more sustainable. Lessons learnt from recent financial crises such as the collapse of the Lehman Brothers’ bank or Greek debt crisis have shown that countries with a large domestic buying force would recover better. Nowadays, many governments have chosen to boost the internal spending as an important strategy to stimulate their economy. China, Japan and the United States are good examples. On the other hand, countries such as Singapore have a relatively small pool of local consumers and have to rely much on international trading. Those countries are more vulnerable to the health of the world economy.

However, in terms of social impact, consumerism would create societies that value commercial contributions over social contributions. In such societies, people who spend more money such as the rich would be considered to be more important than scientists or artists. As a result, despite some short-term economic success, the well-being of the society will suffer in the long term due to social issues such as the gap between the rich and the poor or lack of science and cultural development. People who live in those societies would have a more stressful life.

In conclusion, although consumerism has some economic advantages, it has negative effects on the society that should not be overlooked. Therefore, a balanced socioeconomic development strategy would be of great importance.

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[SPM Writing] E-mail on Buying a Birthday Gift for Someone (Making suggestions)

You received an email from your friend, Julia who needs your advice on what to buy for her mother as a birthday gift. Hey, My mom’s birthday is just around the corner. I would like to surprise her with a birthday gift. What present should I get her then? Why do you think I should get her that present? Where can I go to buy her the suggested present? I’ll be waiting for your reply. Bye! Love, Julia

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Hi Julia, I’m excited to hear that your mother’s birthday is coming up. A great birthday gift would be something that she would appreciate and find useful. I suggest getting her a nice piece of jewellery, like ha necklace or a bracelet. You can find some great options at local jewellery stores or online. Jewellery is a classic and timeless gift that she can wear every day to remember her special day. Hope this helps! Elroy

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What Is Consumerism?

Understanding consumerism.

• Economic Impact

Conspicuous Consumption

• Advantages and Disadvantages

The Bottom Line

Consumerism: definition, economic impact, pros & cons.

Adam Hayes, Ph.D., CFA, is a financial writer with 15+ years Wall Street experience as a derivatives trader. Besides his extensive derivative trading expertise, Adam is an expert in economics and behavioral finance. Adam received his master's in economics from The New School for Social Research and his Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in sociology. He is a CFA charterholder as well as holding FINRA Series 7, 55 & 63 licenses. He currently researches and teaches economic sociology and the social studies of finance at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem.

Consumerism is the idea that increasing the consumption of goods and services purchased in the market is always a desirable goal, and that a person's well-being and happiness depend fundamentally on obtaining consumer goods and material possessions.

Consumerism is related to the predominantly Keynesian idea that consumer spending is the key driver of the economy and that encouraging consumers to spend is a major policy goal. From this point of view, consumerism is a positive phenomenon that fuels economic growth.

Others view the drive to obtain more material possessions as problematic, causing individual anxiety and eroding the social fabric.

Key Takeaways

• Consumerism is the theory that individuals who consume goods and services in large quantities will be better off.
• Some economists believe that consumer spending stimulates production and economic growth.
• Economists view consumption as about fulfilling biological needs & wants based on maximizing utility.
• Sociologists instead view consumption as additionally about fulfilling socially-inscribed needs and wants via symbolic transactions.
• Hyper-consumerism has been widely criticized for its economic, social, environmental, and psychological consequences.

Investopedia / Matthew Collins

In common use, consumerism refers to the tendency of people living in a capitalist economy to engage in a lifestyle of excessive materialism that revolves around reflexive, wasteful, or conspicuous overconsumption. In this sense, consumerism is widely understood to contribute to the destruction of traditional values and ways of life, consumer exploitation by big business, environmental degradation, and negative psychological effects.

Thorstein Veblen , for example, was a 19th-century economist and sociologist best known for coining the term “conspicuous consumption” in his book "The Theory of the Leisure Class" (1899). Conspicuous consumption is a means to show one's social status, especially when publicly displayed goods and services are too expensive for other members of the same class. This type of consumption is typically associated with the wealthy but can also apply to any economic class.

Following the Great Depression, consumerism was largely derided. However, with the U.S. economy kickstarted by World War II and the prosperity that followed at the end of the war, the use of the term in the mid-20th century began to have a positive connotation. During this time, consumerism emphasized the benefits that capitalism had to offer in terms of improving standards of living and an economic policy that prioritized the interests of consumers. These largely nostalgic meanings have since fallen out of general use.

As consumers spend, economists presume that consumers benefit from the utility of the consumer goods that they purchase, but businesses also benefit from increased sales, revenue, and profit. For example, if car sales increase, auto manufacturers see a boost in profits. Additionally, the companies that make steel, tires, and upholstery for cars also see increased sales. In other words, spending by the consumer can benefit the economy and the business sector in particular.

Some economists view increasing levels of consumer spending as a critical goal in building and maintaining a strong economy, irrespective of the benefit to the consumer or society as a whole.

Others, however, have grown quite concerned about the negative societal effects of hyper-consumerism.

The Economic Impact of Consumerism

According to Keynesian macroeconomics , boosting consumer spending through fiscal and monetary policy is a primary target for economic policymakers. Consumer spending makes up the lion's share of aggregate demand and gross domestic product (GDP), so boosting consumer spending is seen as the most effective way to steer the economy toward growth.

Consumerism views the consumer as the target of economic policy and a cash cow for the business sector with the sole belief that increasing consumption benefits the economy. Saving can even be seen as harmful to the economy because it comes at the expense of immediate consumption spending. 

Consumerism also helps shape some business practices. Planned obsolescence of consumer goods can displace competition among producers to make more durable products. Marketing and advertising can become focused on creating consumer demand for new products rather than informing consumers.

As standards of living rose after the Industrial Revolution , conspicuous consumption grew. High rates of conspicuous consumption can be a wasteful zero-sum or even negative-sum activity as real resources are used up to produce goods that are not valued for their use but rather for the image they portray.

In the form of conspicuous consumption, consumerism can impose enormous real costs on an economy. Consuming real resources in zero- or negative-sum competition for social status can offset the gains from commerce in a modern industrial economy and lead to destructive creation in markets for consumers and other goods.

Sociologists view consumerism as symbolic consumption that may not maximize individual utility. Instead, it can serve as a signal to others and help establish one's identity. When it comes to being a consumer, social actors (e.g., peer pressure, in-groups, advertisers) limit your free choice.

Advantages and Disadvantages of Consumerism

Advocates of consumerism point to how consumer spending can drive an economy and lead to increased production of goods and services. As a result of higher consumer spending, a rise in GDP can occur. In the United States, signs of healthy consumer demand can be found in consumer confidence indicators, retail sales , and personal consumption expenditures . Business owners, workers in the industry, and owners of raw resources can profit from sales of consumer goods either directly or through downstream buyers. 

Disadvantages

Consumerism is often criticized on cultural grounds. Some see that consumerism can lead to a materialistic society that neglects other values. Traditional modes of production and ways of life can be replaced by a focus on consuming ever more costly goods in larger quantities.

Consumerism is often associated with globalization in promoting the production and consumption of globally traded goods and brands, which can be incompatible with local cultures and patterns of economic activity. Consumerism can also create incentives for consumers to take on unsustainable debt levels that contribute to financial crises and recessions . 

Environmental problems are frequently associated with consumerism to the extent that consumer goods industries and the direct effects of consumption produce negative environmental externalities . These can include urban sprawl, pollution, resource depletion, and problems with waste disposal from excess consumer goods and packaging.

Consumerism is also criticized on psychological grounds. It is blamed for increasing status anxiety, where people experience stress associated with social status and a perceived need to "keep up with the Joneses" by increasing their consumption.

Psychological research has shown that people who organize their lives around consumerist goals, such as product acquisition, report poorer moods, greater unhappiness in relationships, and other psychological problems. Psychological experiments have shown that people exposed to consumerist values based on wealth, status, and material possessions display greater anxiety and depression. In other words, science shows that consumerism does not make people happy at all.

Consumerism and the American Dream

“ The American Dream ” has always been about the prospect of success, but 100 years ago, the phrase meant the opposite of what it does now.

The original “American Dream” was not a dream of individual wealth and consumerism; it was a dream of social equality, justice, and democracy for the nation.

The phrase was repurposed by each generation, until the Cold War, when it became an argument for a consumer capitalist version of democracy. Our ideas about the “American Dream” froze in the 1950s. Today, it is often associated with consumerism.

What Are Some Examples of Consumerism?

Consumerism is defined by the never-ending pursuit of shopping and consuming. Examples include shopping sprees, especially those that engage a large number of people, such as Black Friday sales on the day after Thanksgiving.

Another example of consumerism involves the introduction of newer models of mobile phones each year. While a mobile device that is a few years old can be perfectly functional and adequate, consumerism drives people to abandon those devices and purchase newer ones on a regular basis.

Conspicuous consumption is yet another example. Here, people buy goods to show off their status or present a certain image. This doesn't always have to have a negative connotation, as it can also signal pro-social behavior.

Is Consumerism Bad for Society?

While people need to be consumers in order to live and obtain their needs and wants, excess consumerism is widely thought to be a negative for society. Consumerism leads to negative externalities like pollution and waste. Moreover, consumerism begins to define people by what they own. According to some sociologists, mass culture popularized via the advertising industry creates consumers who play a passive role manipulated by brands, rather than as active and creative beings. There are systematic biases in the system that generate consumerism. If these system biases were eliminated, many people would adopt a less consumerist lifestyle.

How Does Consumerism Shape Social Class?

Tastes and preferences for consumption goods are stratified by social class, not only in terms of monetary cost but also appropriateness. Working-class individuals tend to consume certain types of food, media, dress, and pastimes that may differ from those in the top 1% or higher strata. Consumption defines both self and group identity: People aspire to “consume up” to “keep up with the Jones’," but people fear downward mobility.

Consumerism is the propensity to consume and keep consuming. It is the drive to buy and own more stuff and to define one's identity through what they own. Economists view consumerism as a positive for consumer spending and GDP growth. Others like psychologists and sociologists, however, see negative effects of rampant consumerism ranging from creating anxiety in individuals to social ills.

Kuhumba, Kevin Shijja. "Hyper-consumerism: Rethinking Virtue Ethics and Moral Solution in Contemporary Society."  Journal of Sociology, Psychology, Anthropology in Practice, vol. 2, 2018, pp. 114-124.

Association for Psychological Science, " Consumerism and Its Antisocial Effects Can Be Turned On—Or Off ."

Ivanova, Maria N. "Consumerism and the crisis: wither ‘the American dream’?."  Critical Sociology, vol. 37, no. 3, 2011, pp. 329-350.

Theodor W. Adorno and Jay M. Bernstein. " The culture industry: Selected essays on mass culture." Routledge, 2020.

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Consumerism-Effects on Society and Environment Essay

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Introduction

Effects of consumerism on the society, effects on consumerism on the environment, effects of consumerism on health, role of politicians and the media in promoting consumption, controlling consumerism.

Consumerism refers to the process by which individuals acquire new goods and services without making some important considerations. Some of these considerations that the consumers do not mind are their need for the product and the durability of the product. They also do not mind the effects of the manufacture and disposal of the product to the environment. Companies spend huge sums of money to advertise their products so as to create a desire for the product by the consumers. The advertisements convince the consumers that the products are very important and that it is very beneficial for them to acquire the products. Those who acquire the products are convinced that they have made an achievement. Consumerism leads to materialism where consumers are preoccupied with the acquisition of material objects, comforts and considerations and have no concern on the spiritual, intellectual, and cultural values. Consumerism has many effects on the society. The common trends of buying adequate supply of life’s necessities, community life, a stable family and healthy relationships changes to a situation where individuals have a great desire for new things and the money to buy them with little or no concern on the utility of the new products. The individuals and organizations that benefit from consumerism encourage individuals to discard old products either because they are not durable or because their fashion is old and outdated. Consumerism is the principle cause of many negative issues in the environment. It leads to pollution and depletion of natural resources. Consumerism has many effects on the health of consumers. The attitudes of the public to food and food supplements affect their health in a great way. Consumerism leads to the society demanding health services instead of accepting what is already available. Politicians and the media play great roles in promoting consumption. Consumerism has many effects on the society, environment, and the health of consumers and politicians and the media play a major role in promoting consumption.

Society is one of the fields that have heavily been affected by consumerism. Consumerism causes individuals to spend money on issues that are not necessary. Individuals tend to spend much money in buying goods of dubious value and little social return instead of spending the money in social capital such as education, housing, nutrition and others (Shukla 2). The consumer pays more money for the new products whose prices are higher so as to perceive the consumers that they are very important. Many individuals acquire the products on credit which is very expensive. When one purchases a new product like an automobile, he or she spends extra money in registration, insurance, repair, maintenance, and others. The increased demand for new products have increased competition among manufacturers and new products are emerging every day. The consumers on the other hand continue spending more money in buying the new products that are in fashion. Eventually, the rooms available in many homes are inadequate to hold all the products that the owners of the homes buy. New purchases lead to orphaned and unwanted things in many homes. This leads to wastage of good land can be used for farming. Warehouses are built in the land to store the extra products that the consumers do not use in their homes. As a result of consumerism, much money and other resources are wasted.

Consumerism affects the interaction between individuals in a society. The quest for more money to acquire material things preoccupies individuals to the extent that they have no time for other individuals in the society (Shukla 4). Spiritual values are underplayed where individuals no longer attend churches and to not see the importance of attending the money. Community gatherings have also been neglected for individuals go out to look for money to help them acquire material things. People have no time for their neighbors and do not even mind knowing their names because taking interest in them wastes time that could be used to acquire more money. Parents have no time for their children and end up employing baby sitters to cater for the children. Day care and rest homes have been charged with the responsibility of providing wisdom and tradition to the young children. Parents to the children are engaged in activities that can help them earn more money. The quality of products that individuals possess determines their class. They interact with those who belong to their class. This leads to discrimination of the less fortunate and those who cannot afford expensive products. As a result, personal relationships are affected and interactions reduce because everyone in the society is busy looking for money.

Consumerism has affected the lifestyles of people in society. People no longer focus on simplicity but concentrates on life that is more lavish and full of material comforts (Shukla 6). Individuals have come to believe that their lives will only be possible if they attain some products that they have not yet acquired so far. Instead of living in a healthy balanced society, individuals are turning themselves into human consumer goods. Many people are engaged in issues such as weight training, cosmetic surgery, breast reduction, diet centers, permanent eye make-up, collagen injections and others. Individuals spend a lot of money in trying to become what they are not.

Consumerism leads to an increase in crime rates. Today, a developed society is known by the material wealth of the individuals in it. This poses many dangers on the lives of many people. It leads to consumerism which in turn increases people’s desires and wants for goods. The people not only want to possess goods but expensive goods. Many cannot afford these expensive goods and they end up planning on how to illegally acquire them from the ones who have them. Theft cases and daytime robberies increase. Envy and jealousy are also likely to lead to crime (Shukla 9). Consumerism leads to a new form of business where criminals steal expensive products and sell them at lower costs to other people. This happens so that they can quest their thirst for money that can help them acquire other goods and services. As a result of consumerism, many individuals have purchased personal cars which they use in their activities. This has led to the erosion of public transport meaning that the individuals who earned their living in the department have lost their jobs. Such individuals may turn into criminal activities if they lack some other means of meeting their needs. In general, consumerism leads to criminal activities.

Consumerism has led to an increase in consumer demand leading to pollution of the environment (Chilongo 2). The first form pollution is the pollution of the water and the skies. Most of the products that consumers purchase are wrapped. Many companies wrap their products using plastic bags. When an individual buys a commodity that is wrapped with a plastic paper, he or she does mind the method of disposal that he or she uses but just thinks about the product itself. The plastic bags are thrown anywhere and they gat washed into the water ways. Animals that live in the waters may get caught up in the plastic bags and suffocate. The plastic bags in wrapping products take a very long period of time to decay. Disposing them into the environment affects the plants. Consumerism has led to the acquisition of many automobiles by individuals. A large percentage of individuals in the United States own personal vehicles. This is very dangerous to the environment. The automobiles use fuel that is a major cause of pollution. When the fuel burns, poisonous gas such as carbon monoxide is released into the environment. The gas is very harmful to the health of a human being and may even lead to death if taken in large quantities.

Consumerism causes depletion in the natural resources of a country (Chilongo 3). An increased use of automobile means an increased demand for fuel. The fuel that the machines use is extracted from the earth. The mines can run out of fuel leading to an economic downturn in the specific country. An increase in food consumption also affects the environment in that the amount of land needed to produce the foods is quite large and the land available may not meet the needs of the consumers. Farmers are at times forced to farm continuously without giving the land any breaks. The land deteriorates and the production keeps on reducing because it gets exhausted. The amount of water needed to farm and feed livestock so as to meet the needs of the consumers is a lot. Excessive use of water for farming and livestock may lead to a reduction of water supply in some places especially those individuals that live in the lower parts of sources of water. Digging of bore holes to increase the amount of water available for farming leads to drying of rivers that are major sources of supply. Natural resources keep on depleting as a result of consumerism.

Consumerism has negative effects on the ecology. So as to produce more goods and services that meet the demand of the consumers, natural habitat is being destroyed (Chilongo 3). The habitat is not being replaced but keeps on deteriorating. This affects the environment in general. The natural habitat is also destroyed when some space is needed for people to construct some buildings. This reduces the amount of land available for farming and also is a destruction of the natural environment. The industries that are being constructed to produce more goods not only consume space but emit gases that pollute the environment. Consumerism is a major cause of global warming.

Consumerism is a major cause of health problems to many individuals. As stated before, consumerism increases individuals’ desires and needs. Some individuals do not have the capacity to meet these needs regardless of their efforts. Some people work under great tensions but cannot meet their desires. This leads to situations of stress that eventually lead to depression (Mayell 4). The individuals who have enough money to meet their needs end up consuming fatty foods and in excess. They consume every type of food that is shown to have value and healthy. Such people get obsessed for accumulation of sugars in their bodies. In a bid to maintain good shapes and figures, people spend much money on injections, surgery, and others. These may cause cancer which leads to death. The more the goods produced to meet the demands of the customers, the more the emissions that are made in the industries. Consumption of these harmful emissions from industries and others by automobiles also affects the health of individuals. Consumerism affects the health of many in a negative way.

The media and politicians play a role in promoting consumption. The media promotes consumerism in its process of advertising for products. Many organizations spend much money to advertise their products in the media. This is done in newspapers, radios, newspapers, magazines, billboards, and many others. The media persuades the audience that the product is very effective and meets all the needs of the consumers (Micheletti, Follesdal and Stolle 45). The media gives the name of the product and shows the audience how the product or service could benefit the audience. This way, the media convinces potential customers to go for the specific brand. The media shows the audience that the product or service meets their demands. It also creates a picture in the minds of the consumer that this is the best brand compared to all other brands in the market. When the media convinces customers that a brand is of great value, potential customers will go for it regardless of whether they need it or not. They just want to possess new products that are of great value. Those who do not have money to purchase the product will start working hard so as to purchase it. The media also creates envy on the consumer which increases the demand for the product. This way, many individuals buy many goods and services that are not necessary in their lives. Politicians on the other hand promote consumption in that their views concerning a product are believed to be true by the consumers (Micheletti, Follesdal and Stolle 213). If a politician allows a product to be sold in his or her state or uses the product, the consumers will believe that the product is of high quality. They also would like to be associated with it. Many will go out looking for it even if they have other products which can address the issue that it will come to address.

Consumerism has become very common and something needs to be done so as to control it. The first important is educating individuals on the effects of consumerism on the environment and the society in general. Informing individuals on the dangers on consuming everything that they view being advertised would help them avoid buying them. Consumers should also be informed of the effects of buying new machines when they already have enough. It is dangerous to the environment. They should be encouraged to spend their money in a way that could benefit society rather than destroy it. Spending the money in social capital such as education would benefit the entire society. Consumers should be informed to avoid buying new products especially if they are not necessary in their lives. They should be informed that the picture of the products that the media portrays is not always the truth. Organizations make advertisements so as to increase their competitive advantage and revenue. When one really needs something, they should borrow or buy a used one so that the ones that are already in there can be utilized. The only new products that should be include hygiene products, utilitarian services, medicines, art supplies, and others. This way consumerism can be controlled.

Consumerism has many effects on the society, environment, and the health of consumers and politicians and the media play a major role in promoting consumption. This is because consumers buy the products just because they are new and not because they really need them. Individuals concentrate on acquiring new products and the money to acquire them. Beneficiaries of consumerism encourage individuals to discard old products and acquire new ones so as to keep up with fashion. Consumerism has many effects on society. Individuals spend much money buying goods that have dubious value and have little social return. It affects interpersonal relationships and interaction between individuals in the society because everybody concentrates in acquiring money. It changes lifestyles and leads to increased crime rates. Consumerism affects the environment in that it leads to increased use of machines and goods that pollute the environment. It also leads to depletion of natural resources and ecological imbalances. Consumerism affects the health of individuals negatively whereby it causes them to develop complications. The media promotes consumerism through advertisement where it persuades the consumers to purchase a product or service because it is of great benefit to them. Politicians promote consumerism by their views. Consumers need to be educated on the effects of consumerism in order to control it. They should also be encouraged to avoid new things where possible.

Chilongo, Menezes. The Effects of Consumerism on the Environment. 2010. Web.

Mayell, Hillary. As Consumerism Spreads, Earth Suffers, Study Says. 2004. Web.

Micheletti, Michele, Follesdal, Andreas and Stolle, Dietlind. Politics, Products, and Markets: Exploring Political Consumerism Past and present . New Jersey: Transaction Publishers, 2004. Print.

Shukla, Amitabh. The Effects of Consumerism. 2009. Web.

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IvyPanda . "Consumerism-Effects on Society and Environment." December 18, 2021. https://ivypanda.com/essays/consumerism-effects-on-society-and-environment/.