By Mark Sampson
The word ‘consumerism’ is one that elicits immediate response. Critics of consumerism can be found among all political allegiances, every religious faith and within most fields of ethical inquiry. However, it is not immediately clear that there is a consensus about how consumerism functions in society. Consumerism is often portrayed as simply an ideology or a belief system. Within this portrayal, a Christian response to consumerism is found by investigating the conflicting beliefs. For instance, the implicit anthropology of consumerism, as in the human as primarily a rational individual consumer, can be critiqued by a theological approach to anthropology. Any investigation into what it means to be made in the image of God would quickly critique the notion of human-as-consumer.
In a recent book, Consuming Religion: Christian Faith and Practice in a Consumer Culture, Vincent Miller argues that consumerism doesn’t just function in this way. It is not simply a set of beliefs that need to be resisted, but rather “it is primarily a way of relating to beliefs – a set of habits of interpretation and use – that renders the ‘content’ of beliefs and value less important.” If consumerism functions as a ‘way of relating’ that denigrates the content of ‘beliefs’, then it doesn’t primarily function as an ideology. Indeed, it can function independently of ideology. This is an important point as it helps explain why consumer capitalism is so adept at embracing ideological opposition and turning it into yet another commodity. The prevalence of Che Gevuera T-Shirts worn by those who have no knowledge of (or allegiance to) his political ideas is a clear and ironic example.
Miller is particularly concerned with how consumerism has affected religion. In separating belief from practice, consumerism has detached Christian symbols from the tradition and community that they were once a part of and has placed these symbols alongside other cultural symbols. What does it mean for the Christian tradition that the cross has been detached from the community and tradition that makes it intelligible? One can purchase a cross, a Tibetan prayer flag, and a Mickey Mouse doll from the same store and relate to each item in whichever way one chooses.
Consider the recent tendency towards ‘recovering’ spiritual disciplines and practices from the wider Christian tradition. This is a valuable and needed recovery but one that can be self-defeating if Miller’s analysis is correct. In a culture of consumerism, we are disciplined into treating spiritual practices as distinct from the tradition and community in which they emerged. Therefore we may or may not encounter the purpose of these practices as originally construed and instead we are able to invest practices with our own meanings. This is particularly concerning when you consider the modern obsession with ‘self-help’. Consider the discipline of fasting, which was primarily considered to draw one’s attention away from oneself and towards God. Today, it is not uncommon to approach fasting as a type of ‘de-tox’. This serves to place the attention on oneself, primarily for the purpose of a healthy body.
Whether Miller’s approach is the only way to frame consumerism, it is particularly helpful in revealing why it is so problematic in modern culture to coherently combine belief and practices in the Christian community.
I do not accept that “consumerism” is a valid term. It is a pop-culture invention that has put a label on a set of vague assumptions in order to advance a rhetorical position, i.e. that consuming is bad and reducing consumption is good.
Max Weber’s seminal work The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism (1905) observed that the greatest strides in business were not being made by Catholics but by Protestants, and in particular, Calvinists. Why?
Weber reasoned that whereas Catholic piety was based on asceticism and a longing for the hereafter, Protestantism affirmed the value one’s “calling” in the here and now. In other words, in the Catholic tradition the priestly vocation was preeminent, whereas after the reformation there grew an increasing focus on the significance of each believers work in this life.
Weber argued quite convincingly that Protestantism taught that there is great virtue of industriousness and the accumulation of capital. He cites Benjamin Franklin’s various maxims such as ”Early to bed, early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise.”
There is nothing inherently wrong with the accumulation of financial capital and material goods through one’s business affairs. There is however something wrong with over estimating the value of these temporal gifts. The Sermon on the Mount is the obvious proof of this.
What concerns me with the current undermining of capitalism is that it stems less from the teaching of Christ and more from the dogmas of the new age. The aftermath of the 1960’s left many disillusioned with the establishment, and nothing is more associated with the establishment than Christianity. There ensued a great shift towards the religions of the east.
Much of what we think of as mainstream in western culture stems from the infusion of eastern religious concepts and practices in the 1970’s and 1980’s. Yoga, massage, hot-tubs, meditation, acupuncture, spa treatments, vegetarianism, veganism, wholeness clinics, wellness centers, natural medicine, etc, all grew out of spiritual innovations in large part coming out of California. The rock star status of the Dali Lama contrasts with the reviling of most Protestant leaders.
The current anti-capitalist, anti-consumer sentiment that is sweeping the globe has grown out of a dualistic, pantheistic world view that sees the material world as encompassing the divine contrasted with human activity which is seen as an unfortunate infestation. Mother Earth is supreme, and “sustainable coexistence” involves humans regressing into a more or less animal state, taking their place with the other life forms on the planet.
This is why it has become cool to wear a Che Gevuera T-Shirt. No one in the west really wants their private goods to be wrested by a brutal state, but in as much as Che Gevuera beat down the idea of accumulating private wealth, he is a rock star.
Make no mistake. Weak consumer activity in the west is bad for the world economy. The hardest hit by reduced consumption will be the poor. So don’t be shy. Go out and buy something!
From Africa,
David Brett
Miller’s interpretation of “consumerism” sounds bang on the money. Now I just need to read his book. This sounds a little bit like my friend’s summation of Post-modern philosophy as intellectual consumerism. The actual content of all beliefs is undercut by choice. There is no epistemic ground to stand on, only this or that constructed notion of truth from which to pick.
@ David
Doesn’t Weber’s argument include how the Protestants’ austerity (lack of ostentatious consumption) was necessary in combination with their work ethic to produce the savings necessary to produce the capital necessary for modern Capitalism?
Certainly Weber observed that Puritanical frugality and piety led to an emphasis on “the earning of more and more money, combined with the strict avoidance of all spontaneous enjoyment of life.”
A penny saved is a penny earned. Time is money. These edicts arose out of the view that as we work out our salvation with fear and trembling, there is precious little time for the luxuries of this world.
In this sense, Weber argued that the accumulation of capital was aided by Protestantism’s belief in a worldly calling, and that diligence in business was an end in itself. He did not argue that the Protestant “spirit of capitalism” led to the “conspicuous consumption” of the gilded age.
In our current context, in an age of expanding global prosperity ( the last 12 months notwithstanding;-), there appears to be a decreasing marginal utility that can be derived by consumers from tangible goods. This has led to a kind of oneupmanship and competitive consumption and the erosion of value in commoditized luxury goods (e.g., granite counter tops).
There has arisen a new emphasis on experiences as a vehicle of consumer utility. This shift was brilliantly demonstrated by Pine & Gilmore in their ground breaking book The Experience Economy (http://www.strategichorizons.com/expEconomy.html). This book is a seminal one for understanding the explosion of the knowledge economy that peaked at the turn of the last century.
I believe an understanding of today’s global economy must incorporate the role of Intellectual Capital, the intangible assets that make up the bulk of business value in the modern world. Knowledge knows no borders and the digital era has enabled no-cost delivery of knowledge services anywhere, anytime, transforming economies worldwide and democratizing the flow of capital like never before.
Lamenting consumerism may play well in the guilt-ridden west, but to emerging economies the idea of a refrigerator with a TV in it might just the route to a refrigerator with no TV in it. Our desire for cool stuff can’t be all bad.
Consumerism stimulates fear and greed, which produce self-denial and self-delusion. These forces dilute our values, destroy our purpose, and distract our families from the love, joy, and peace we were meant to share.
Contemplating the idea of consumerism helps me rediscover the needle on the compass of my own life, which directs everything I have, everything I do, and everything I am.
I look forward to learning more about consumerism. I’m afraid I have the disease…
[...] http://capitalismproject.org/ Reported here by: SPMG, 3 August 2009 [...]
CUSTOMER SATISFACTION?
an appreciation of the blessings of the consumerist society >> http://esasso.wordpress.com/life-stories/customer-satisfaction/