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ENG 1020 CRN #
Synthesis Essay
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Savvy Consumerism vs. Lavish Lifestyle in the USA

The main strategy for producing companies to sell their goods is to create the need and

dissatisfaction with existing possessions and environment. Indeed, consumers are unconsciously

driven to replace their possessions in order to conform with the new ones, sometimes even

leading them to plunge into debt. In The Overspent American, Why We Want What We Don’t

Need, American sociologist and economist Juliet Schor examines how to become conscious and

educated consumers so as to resist this striving for conformity or the “Diderot effect”. (Schor,

1998, p. 145) In her essay entitled “Why We Need More Time, and Less Clothes”, Juliet Schor

argues that Americans work so much and so hard in order to make money and spend it. The

Americans’ excessive spending stems from their desire to keep up with the constantly changing

and lavish lifestyle. (Schor, 2016) Thus, they should moderate and regulate their consumption

habits through trying to deconstruct commercials, to prompt new types of consumer education,

and to spread a culture of safe spending. A documentary film entitled The True Cost (2015)

demonstrates that we communicate who we are through clothing. Nevertheless, it highly stresses

the untold story behind fashion factories. It shows that companies have invented a new fashion

system based on materialism. Moreover, it asserts that when everything is concentrated on

making profits, human rights, the environment, and workers’ rights get violated.

First of all, becoming an educated consumer involves a conscious analysis of the different

commercials to which consumers are exposed. Schor warns American consumers watching TV

against the subtle ecological impacts of a Jeep drive as well as the day-to-day exploitation of

female Vietnamese workers in Nike factories. Therefore, consumers have to learn how to “read”

commercials so as not to be hooked into buying products they do not need or their parents cannot
afford. (Schor, 1998, p.158) The image brought by the media about “the good life” is highly

materialistic. The media mainly depicts the lifestyle of the wealthy, those who own lots of stuff

such as a fancy car, a big house, and the latest fashion clothes. The media does not present a

lifestyle which is about managing the ample time to grow other aspects of life mainly hobbies

like playing the cello, writing, and planting flowers. “We have a lot of stuff but we are poor in

terms of our time and control of our time,” says Schor (2016). Therefore, a good life is one which

stresses the ability of people to use time to build social relations. Schor puts forward that,

We must shift onto a path where we are less orientated to

accumulating stuff and more orientated to accumulating
time, connecting with people, building social capital. It is
not how many toys you have when you die; it is much
more the richness of your social life, that’s what really
matters. (Schor, 2016)

Moreover, schools should adopt new kinds of consumer education. Students should be able to

choose their products wisely through considering the qualities of the products, and how healthy,

safe, and environmentally friendly they are. The author refers to how much love Americans show

for the Gap without even stopping to ponder on the women (and even children) slaving away to

produce them. Hence, students should be taught to enquire into aspects of the manufacturing

process as well as the products long-term costs and impact on nature. (Schor, 1998, p.160)

American consumers’ growing interest in much spending to keep up with the rising high standard

of living is mostly apparent in the fashion industry. McFashion can be a good example of

fascination with fashion where huge amounts of clothes are wrapped in plastic and shipped all

over the world. These clothes are hardly ever manufactured in local small shops. Besides, Schor

shows that the surplus of these huge amounts of fashion clothes ends up in the waste stream,

apartment blocks, and wheelie bins, causing textile rubbish which is a disaster for the whole

planet. (Schor, 2016)

Furthermore, placing a symbolic value on almost every tool we use is another problem that

fuels much spending and less time control. Social scientists assert that when people watch a
fashion model wearing a dress, they tend to make the image of the dress a symbol of beauty and

elegance. Hence, every time fashion companies change the design, people’s symbol of beauty

changes too; they find themselves urged to purchase it. Therefore, the dress symbolizes a sense of

climbing up to higher living standards mimicking the people on television. People’s imagination

is thus linked to the physical dress, its material, design, and even its colour, giving it a symbolic

value. People do not consider where, how, and who produced the dress. The hard work of the

Chinese factory girl is invisible to the viewers. What is ironic is that the girl herself holds the

same principle and the same symbol that we hold; she works so as to satisfy her desire to live a

“fashionable” life. (Schor, 2016)

Besides, this desperate craving for fashion puts much pressure on consumers. In her book

True Wealth, Schor believes that “It’s not only the planet that suffers in this stage of consumer

culture.” (Schor, 2010, p.31) Indeed, consumers are forced to spend much money on fashion just

because everyone else is doing it, family, friends, neighbours, colleagues, as well as fashion

models and movie stars. Schor states, “Fast fashion fosters an unhealthy dissatisfaction with what

one has and anxiety about falling behind.” (ibid.)

However, fashion is not the only aspect of life that fuels American consumers’ extravagance.

Cars, bed linen, and fancy vacuum cleaners are also turned into symbols of high standard of

living. Americans tend to ditch their rustic kettle and purchase a new decorative and expensive

one because it becomes “old-fashioned”. In the past, nonetheless, people used items for their

function and not for what they signify. People have to work more hours to purchase unending and

lavish items. People thus should develop a new set of values and a new consumer culture.

Last but not least, consumers should create independent consumer organizations and

movements in order to be informed and educated consumers. This would enable them to put

public pressure on manufacturers, raise consumer awareness, and protect themselves from

dangerous products and practices. Besides, Americans should learn how to budget their
consumption. Young people especially need to be taught about basic monthly expenses, how to

make and stick to a budget. In sum, they should be savvy consumers.

References

Schor, Juliet. (1998). The Overspent American, Why We Want What We Don’t Need. (p.145 &
pp. 158-160) New York: HarperPerennial.

__________. (2010). The New Economics of True Wealth. (p.31) New York: The Penguin Press.

__________. (August, 2016) “Why We Need More Time, and Less Clothes”. In Womankind.

“The True Cost”, a documentary film exploring the impact of fashion on people and the planet
2015 (official film trailer) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OaGp5_Sfbss