Consumerist Culture

About the Author & Lesson

Cheriyan Alexander: An associate professor of English at St. Joseph’s College, Bangalore, Alexander is a keen observer of social trends and the impact of globalization on modern society.

The Lesson: "Consumerist Culture" is a critical essay that examines the "media-driven mania of mindless consumption" in the 21st century. Alexander explores how global advertising creates artificial needs for unessential goods, resulting in private prosperity at the cost of public resources. He argues that this current model of development is ecologically unsustainable and "suicidal," urging humanity to return to a more meaningful, spiritual, and sustainable way of life.

I. Comprehension Questions

a. What is the meaning intended by the advertisers?
Answer: The advertisers intend to suggest that shoppers should shop as much as they want, until they are exhausted, to find great bargains.

b. Why does the writer call this apt and ironic?
Answer: It is 'apt' because it sums up the media-driven mania of mindless consumption. it is 'ironic' because unrestricted consumerism will eventually lead to the destruction of the earth's resources.

c. Which word shows the writer is condemning consumerism?
Answer: The word "mania" or "mindless" indicates the writer's condemnation.

Answer: (b) he is very critical of them (shopping malls and mindless consumption).

Answer: Yes, because they have no nutritive value and have a damaging effect on the digestive system and bones.

Answer: Despite having no nutritive value and causing health damage, they are sold in even the remotest corners of the world, with revenues bigger than the combined GNP of nearly a score of the world's poorest countries.

Answer: The list refers to purveyors of unessential items like cigarettes, liquor, hamburgers, fried chicken, cosmetics, and fashion wear.

Answer: a. The phrase is "machinery of persuasion."
b. It aims to generate demand for a profusion of consumables and exercise "thought-control."

Answer: ...the chief form of entertainment and an end in itself.

Answer: They are thrilled by the "choice" that people in the West have enjoyed for a long time.

Answer: His dream was for India to have the same vast choice of flavors (like 83 flavors of ice-cream) and high-consumption lifestyle as the United States.

Answer:
a. "They" refer to: The upper middle classes in India.
b. "It" refers to: The high-consumption lifestyles of their First World counterparts.
c. "Like ducks to water" means: They adapt to this new lifestyle very naturally and easily.

Answer: a. The deep irony is that while private prosperity is growing, there is an inexorable impoverishment of the resources that belong to the public realm.
b. For example, there is an amazing variety of sleek new car models to choose from, but the roads in our cities are in pretty bad shape and getting worse.

Answer: a. The trend is to push even the most essential services (health, education, health care) into the private realm.
b. It benefits global business corporations and profit-making companies.
c. The poor are pushed into becoming consumers of increasingly expensive goods and utilities they cannot afford.

Answer: a. They dream of a day when all of India looks like the United States with two cars in every garage and McDonald/Pepsi signs along every highway.
c. It will lead to an "ecological holocaust" as the planet's resources are inadequate to sustain such a lifestyle for a population the size of India and China.

Answer: It is suicidal because it paves the way for total ecological destruction. The planet would run out of resources before the vision of global high-consumption is fully realized.

Answer: Local communities, cooperatives, civil societies, and democratic governments must take back the autonomy and initiative for their own development from global corporations.

Answer: He wants to re-awaken the enabling spiritualities and wisdom traditions of the various people of the world.

1. Shopping has become more than a need — Buying additional pairs of branded shoes because they are on 50% off sale.
2. It has become an obsessive compulsion — I was so impressed by this latest version of the smart phone that I bought it using my credit card.
3. Shopping is an end in itself — I enjoy shopping.
4. It has become a form of entertainment — I spend my weekend evenings in the nearby Mall.

II. Paragraph Writing

Answer: Enormous resources and vast amounts of money are spent worldwide to persuade people to become buying machines. Global advertising has become a sophisticated thought-control project. People are losing the ability to figure out how much they really need. Shopping has shifted from being a necessity to an obsessive compulsion and the chief form of entertainment. In the US, surveys show people spend their leisure time either watching television commercials or acting upon them in shopping malls. This trend has now reached India, where choosing between 83 flavors of ice cream or luxury goods is seen as the definition of a good life.

Answer: The writer calls the current model of development a "tragic comedy" because it celebrates private prosperity while destroying the public domain. We have sleek new cars but broken roads; luxury resorts but shrinking parks and playgrounds. Essential services like health and education are privatized for profit, making them expensive for the poor. The "vision" of development aims to turn India into a copy of the US, which would require three planets' worth of resources to sustain. It is a comedy of ridiculous "choices" and a tragedy of ecological holocaust, as it will run out of worlds before it is realized.

III. Vocabulary

1. lure: tempt, attract
2. abundant: plentiful, excessive
3. sprout: come up, develop
4. diverse: varied, different
5. advertise: broadcast, display
6. bewildering: perplexing, confusing
7. unprecedented: unheard of, singular
8. subsistence: existence, survival
9. aggressive: forceful, pushing
10. sustain: bear, support

1. the preoccupation of society with buying goods: Consumerism
2. goods for sale: Merchandise
3. borderless economic order: Globalized
4. foreign trading companies: Multinationals
5. anything that is meant for the public: Public realm

In a largely uncertain world, even with gold prices moving upwards, the craze for the yellow metal remains unabated. A key reason is the disenchantment with other investments. A large percentage of savings are held in unproductive gold assets and a lot of banks and non-banking companies are offering loans against gold. But the supply is sadly inadequate, in spite of unbridled mining. Gold attracts unwanted attention and is its major disadvantage. So, do you feel that gold is inessential?