Consumer Culture and "Keeping Up"

In ‘The Politics of New Consumption’, Juliet Schor analyzes American consumer culture, outlining the attitudes towards consumerism over time, and discussing the reasons why Americans “want so much more than they need”. The United States, one of the richest countries in the world, is consuming at a dangerously high rate, continuing to desire more and more, despite the fact that the global income gap is so wide. The previously held notion that a comfortable, middle-class existence was adequate and satisfying enough is gone- Americans look up, basing their models of consumption on those wealthier than they are, while the “average American finds it harder to achieve a satisfying standard of living than 25 years ago”. Our consumption habits reproduce social and class inequality, exacerbating the already existing problem of the unequal distribution of income. Schor makes the point that “our sense of social belonging comes from what we consume”, meaning that achieving true social equality can never be possible unless you can “keep up” with the consumption of others. Income has become more unequally distributed over time, with the bulk of wealth shifting towards the top 20% of the population. In this culture of consumerism and “keeping up” where most Americans have a hard time achieving even an “adequate” standard of living, the pressures to consume have detrimental effects at the household level. These problems are due to structural changes, including the decline of community and a heightened presence of mass media, rather than a sudden shift in American attitudes towards intense “greed”. While opinions surrounding consumerism have long been based in the individual, Schor argues that real change in our consumption habits must be addressed as a collective.

The section of the article that discussed the social patterning of consumption, stating that "consumption practices become important in maintaining the basic structures of power and inequality which characterize our world", reminded me of this segment in the 2006 movie by MTV's 'The State', "The Ten", in which a narrator leads viewers through skits representing each of the ten commandments, portrayed in humorous and satirical ways. This excerpt is based on the commandment "Thou Shalt Not Covet Thy Neighbors' Goods", and tells the story of two neighboring families, each headed by an overbearing father figure, each obsessed with "keeping up" with the absurd consumption habits of the other in an effort to compete for "power" or gain the "upper hand". This scenario sounds familiar, but in this skit, the items consumed are not fancy cars, or home improvements like a swimming pool, but CAT scan machines. The obvious ridiculousness of this sketch pokes fun at the consumer culture of "keeping up", showing how consumerism can be based on the desire for objects that are essentially pointless or inessential. While the ending is somewhat absurd, I feel that as a whole, this video is a humorous critique on a prevalent social issue, one that is widespread throughout American culture, and threatens to exacerbate the problem of growing social and economic inequality.