Consumerism: Friend or foe?

‘Affluenza’ is a term which is used by critics of consumerism to describe a harmful relationship one has with money. Affluenza is characterised by an obsessive addiction towards acquiring wealth and endlessly pruchasing materialistic goods such as luxury homes, vehicles and technology. This phenomenon is based on the assumption that the culture and pressures of consumerism negatively influence the psychological states, drives and behaviour of people, inviting us to question whether consumerism is responsible for actual happiness or manufactures psychological voids of emptiness and dissatisfaction. In this essay I will examine this debate by considering the views of Callicles on happiness aswell as draw upon the observational findings of analyst Helena Norberg-Hodge concerning the impact of conventional western development and globalisation on people and the environment in Ladakh.Through the exploration of these views and findings,I will argue that although we can achieve a sense of happiness through a consumerist lifestyle, if we wish  to be genuinely happy we need to moderate our materialistic desires and spending.

In Plato’s Gorgias, Callicles expresses that ‘authentic’ happiness is only achieved through satisfying our personal desires: expanding our desires as much as possible until they can grow no larger, filling up the ‘jar’ to the top and achieving maximum and prolonged happiness. Callicles further claims that happiness is not acquired through restraining desires and limiting satisfactions, but through the complete and interrupted pursuit of human yearnings: the hedonistic approach to life.  According to Callicles, there is no one that exists who can attain a sense of genuine happiness without a prerequisite of some kind, claiming that if it were the case they’d be nothing happier than a stone or a corpse. As happiness in the 21st century is commonly associated with possessing the latest and up to date goods, Callicles would argue that reaching maximum happiness in today’s society would be best achieved through consumerism:  acquiring as much materialistic items and assets as possible, until your desire for them is no more, thus fulfilling your potential happiness.

While some will agree that the mass consumption of possessions involved in consumerism leads to higher levels of happiness, others hold the view that consumerism is dangerous as it leads to emotional dissatisfaction and a facade of true contentment. Helena Norberg-Hodge would strongly caution people against complete devotion to consumerism, arguing that true human happiness comes from being part of a small, ‘tight-knit’ community compared to western ideologies of happiness. Happiness, as it is perceived in the western world, is associated with that which is commercial and material; advertisements telling people that they will be happier if they have lots of luxurious things for instance. In her book Ancient futures, she writes “People that grow up more self-confident and happier are people that have had a larger number of significant others in their lives”, stressing that maintaining close relationships with friends, family and peersin the community guarantees happiness. To Helena, happiness is a by-product of participation in loving, strong and tight social interactions within your own community.

Through Helena’s analysis of consumerism's impact on the traditional culture of Ladakh it was discovered that the Ladakhi people viewed the westerners as superior beings with exceptional wealth and power, as they were not familiar with the advanced technology and materialistic lifestyle that is entrenched in western society. Idolising western culture, the Ladakhis yearned to replicate the westerner's lifestyle and physical characteristics. She wrote “Very quickly I saw that these pressures from the outside led to a sense of inferiority and rejection of their own culture, which also meant self-rejection… they wished to look and behave more like the westerners”. The prolonged exposure to consumerism had led to an increased diagnosis of depression in the women and a growing rate of violence among the men: patterns that were practically non-existent before the Ladakhis were exposure to consumerism. Overall Helena’s studies revealed that consumerism created devastating effects amongst the once happy people of Ladakh: feelings of emptiness and a sense of disconnection from nature and their peers. Such evidence suggests that nothing beneficial is achieved by the pursuit of materialistic gains.