Communication
Consumer culture is a social scenario wherein consumption, a kind of human behavior noticed at all situations and places, is governed by the consumption of commercial products. It is more often bound with the idea of modernity i.e., a world that operates on flux rather than on tradition. In other words, consumer culture represents an economy which is material satisfaction of needs minus the value. Citizenship on the other hand is the belongingness to a given political entity, displaying loyalty towards a motherland and paying due respect to the norms and civic duties while residing in a country. The best kind of consumer culture is one where mutual discussions between individuals trigger active citizenship participation by way of listening, acting and influencing each other to create a better consumer world.
Consumer culture is created by agents who participate in the economy directly as managers, marketers, brokers or even advertisers. These agents observe and condemn consumer products through media channels, politicians, public authorities etc. who publicize lucrative models for consumer behavior (Dempsey 98). Such a broad definitive structure makes consumer culture a set of interconnected cultural and economic organizations applicable to universal production of goods, commodities and services.
With the beginning of 20th century, consumer’s right to take part in the marketplace was essentially redefined with citizenship. Consumption converted into a political practice such that consumer choice could be related to freedom of rights and voting. Enormous research in this context reveals that modern day citizenship is closely entangled with consumer culture or mass consumption in the United States of America with advertising being the chief driving force in bringing about this transformation (Dickinson 578). However, not much is known about the consumers’ level of understanding about the socio-political aspects of consumer culture.
According to Historian Lizabeth Cohen (1988), just after the end of World War II, American citizens were asked to serve their civic responsibility of reconstructing the nation’s economy by joining the mass consumption movement. During that period, several business leaders, policymakers as well as ordinary American individuals laid emphasis on mass consumption in order to build a prosperous nation, post the end of World War II.
Further, in an economy driven by consumer’s demand, the responsibilities of a good citizen and a wary consumer go hand in hand. Scholars have proposed that besides the complexities of the post war America, it is the consumption behavior of the natives that allows nationalism to grow and prosper. Later, after the chaotic September 11 attacks, a strong vibe of patriotism spread across the nation and contributed towards strengthening the relation between being citizens and playing consumer roles. During that period, the connection between citizenship and consumer culture was evident to all and government officials, not excluding the then President George W. Bush declared that activities like resisting terrorism and enforcing citizenship depended solely on everyday consumption activities (Dickinson 578). Most corporate advertisers identified the relation between businesses and the health of the nation such that the health of Americans would define the health of corporations. Evidently, consumer culture then became an integral part of practicing nationalistic citizenship. Since then, the need of spending in the wake of patriotism to support the post war recovery and keep the economy flourishing while the nation still fights against national recession has been propagated.
However, too much emphasis on consumer culture other than devising long-term financial strategies may involve serious complications one of which is exponentially increasing consumer debt. A federal study (Federal reserve bulletin from 2006) revealed that almost 43% of US families spend more than their income earned. Usually, it is the people belonging to the lower income group who express concerns as they are more likely to be the victims of outsourcing. According to them, the concept of consumer expenditure to motivate economy applies to only those goods which are manufactured in the local environment.
Why is it important for us to examine this relation? What can we learn from this?
Consumption, or the process by which consumer goods or services are produced, purchased and sold is a universal good seen in today’s consumer world. Cross (2000) explains that consumption directly relates to human welfare and forms an integral part of modern consumer societies and the economical objective of a nation should be to increase consumerism resulting in material pleasure (Cross 59). It is critical to examine the relation between consumer culture and citizenship to ensure sustainable consumption in a consumer society. Several environmental, political, economic, personal and spiritual aspects in a society are also affected when it comes to excessive consumption by citizens. As consumerism is a creed that motivates people to utilize more than their actual share of the world’s assets, the consequences can be worse. Such a mind-set in a consumer driven society is anti-sustainability and needs due diligence.
The concept of consumer-citizenship can be interpreted as a consumer having an opinion in the organizing of the market structure and as of otherwise, a citizen is regarded as a responsible consumer, stays ahead in all society matters and is willing to sacrifice his personal pursuits for the well-being of the society or the community on the whole. Every individual develops a personal relationship with the world and economic marketplace and the way he/she maintains that relationship illustrates the nature of their participation in the society, the world and the market place (Cross 47). If every citizen looks upon himself as a consumer-citizen by making a wise utilization of the country’s resources, emerging as a common community and showing a sense of responsibility and empathy towards the human race, the global community will prosper. While democracy is rooted in active participation of citizens in activities inside and out in a government, the economy thrives on sustained consumer behavior. Where on one hand, citizen behavior affects the public life of a country, consumer culture on the other hand impacts the nature of marketplace, both globally and nationally. A good citizen would think a couple of times before acting in a way that hampers the social, economic or political well-being of the democratic process in rule. Conversely, a good consumer behavior wouldn’t call for any such action that would negatively impact the life of people in native as well as other countries (Dempsey 110). A balance between both these relations is a must, to achieve a sustainable development and a sound global economic trend. People should see themselves as citizens of the world first, and consumers second. Their sense of citizenship should be for the world as one nation.
Conclusion
Consumer culture and citizenship should be associated together to foster a nation where each individual is civically active and well-informed about his duties as a consumer-citizen. For some, “Consumer-culture and citizenship” might just be yet another slogan to address the participation and political involvement of consumers while for some others, it might be a deep rooted consumer-citizenship analogy. As explained in this paper, the concept also plays a critical role in achieving quality and integrity of commodities, solidarity among nations and an improved economy. Moreover, active participation of citizens in world’s consumer behavior would entitle the world to seek a better understanding of the global workplace and acquire a safe/risk-free decision climate.
A UN study indicates that a great deal of potential lays in a country’s youth to kick start the journey towards being consumer-citizens and be the soul drivers to this journey to its zenith. In a survey conducted by the UN Environment program, it was evident that almost 70% youth agreed that the toughest nuts to crack for the world community are improving health standards, entitlement of human rights to one and all and fight environmental pollution. Another 30% found child labor as the biggest flaw in the human society that it further retarding the difference between the financially rich and the poor (Cross 211). Such encouraging figures denote consumer behavior rather consumer citizenship, if practiced efficiently and the concepts of global citizenship, social development, economic prosperity and mindful consumerism, if integrated judiciously are sure to eliminate economical unsustainability and further reinforce the ideas of consumer–citizenship. In such a scenario, people worldwide will acquire the ideal citizen-consumer ethics whereby the deeper insights in their mind convince them to be human citizens first and world’s efficient consumers second.
Works Cited
Cross, Garry. An All-Consuming Century: Why Commercialism Won in Modern America. Columbia UP, 2000. 06 Apr. 2000. Web. 6 June 2016. <https://books.google.ca/books/about/An_All_Consuming_Century.html?id=SH-byT-z6usC>.
Coon, David R. "Sun, Sand and Citizenship: The Marketing of Gay Tourism." Journal of Homosexuality 59.4 (2005): 511-34. Web. 6 June 2016.
Dickinson, Greg. "Selling Democracy: Consumer Culture and Citizenship in the Wake of September 11." Southern Communication Journal 70.4 (2005): 271-84. Web. 6 June 2016.
Dempsey, Sarah E. "The Increasing Technology Divide. Persistent Portrayals of Maverick Masculinity in US Marketing." Feminist Media Studies 9.1 (2009). Web. 6 June 2016.
