Friday, December 3, 2010

Consumerism



I would be lying if I didn't say that sometimes when I'm bored in class I'll look at clothes on the internet and sometimes even bags or shoes. Consumerism is everywhere in today's society, and according to Juliet Schor's essay The New Politics of Consumption, it's starting to cause a rift between Americans. "The new consumerism, with its growing aspirational gap, has begun to jeopardize the quality of American life." (Schor, 186) This also relates to the idea of symbolic violence, which is the idea that the capitalist system forces Americans into bankruptcy because we are constantly trying to compete with one another for the best and newest clothes, cars, houses, yachts...the list goes on. The image that I chose in the cover of Nirvana's album Everyday and shows a baby reaching out for a dollar bill, symbolizing that we are taught to appreciate and strive for money from the time we are born because consumerism is so ingrained into our way of life.

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