Do Americans Shop Too Much?

Rating:
Summary: Quick articulate read
Review: Juliet Schor's "Do Americans Shop Too Much?" is a helpful book for readers who want a good introduction to the social criticism of consumption in American society. She outlines the problems associated with excessive consumerism and its fundamental causes. Schor believes that now more than ever, families in the Unites States are finding it more difficult to fulfill their view of a "satisfying standard of living." She feels that this is a direct result consumers comparing themselves to extravagant lifestyles. For instance, in previous generations families would compare themselves to others in the neighborhood. As a result, expectations were not as extravagant. However, as social connections within neighborhoods declined and television became the dominant influence on society, consumers began to compare their lifestyle to a larger scale. Schor suggests other contributing factors such as women entering the workforce and the growing income gaps between the upper and lower class.
I felt that Schor's best solution is social awareness. By educating people about the importance of saving and limiting waste consumption, families will benefit the most. Schor points out that when society focuses on materialism the environment and social connections within neighborhoods and families become endangered. On the other hand, to some extent I feel that her methods of educating the public are too radical. Schor recommends that we tax luxury products so that it will be harder for all to attain such goods. This will only increase the demand for such products and cause lower income families to work more to acquire material things. I feel a strong emphasis in needed on educating American consumers so that the market forces revolutionize the materialistic economy. Any artificial change will only serve as a temporary fix or make the situation worse.
Juliet Schor's "Do American's Shop Too Much?" has certainly helped teach me the fundamentals of how and why we consume so much. The book's blend of scholarly critiques has made me rethink what scale I should evaluate my standard of living on. Moreover, it has shows the strong connection materialism has with harming our social definition of happiness as well as our natural environment. Overall, the book is a good introduction to understanding American consumerism, and if you have a chance it's a quick articulate read.

Rating:
Summary: Good Book
Review: Juliet Schor, an economic professor at Harvard University, identifies and supplies her moralistic viewpoint of the American shopping trends in her book, "Do Americans Shop Too Much?" by breaking the issue up into three sections. In the first section, titled The New Politics of Consumption, Schor is able to give her ideas and explanations about consumerism. In the second section, Market Failures, other economists' viewpoints are supplied, and finally Schor replies to their evaluations and criticisms in the final section, Reply.
Schor begins by describing the trends of American spending and working habits. She does so by introducing and explaining the term "New Consumerism." Schor argues that the middleclass people in society are working more and more hours each year to try and gain more income, which ultimately leads to more consumerism. They, the middleclass, are "competing" in a sort of "race" to try and keep up with not only the Joneses down the street, but also with the elites and celebrities on television by purchasing "trophy homes, diamonds of a carat or more, granite countertops, and sport utility vehicles." The ironic thing is the "race" will never come to an end; nobody will ever win. Yet as more products are consumed, more products are produced and the environment will continue to suffer consequences for this "competition."
Schor's solution to this conspicuous consumption and waste is to tax luxury goods and regulate the advertising and marketing industries. She believes this will in turn lead to less consumption, less production and a cleaner, safer environment.
Section two allows for a series of credible economists to give their own thoughts, opinions and judgments of consumerism, and even criticisms of Schor's ideas. Some of the economists, such as Robert Frank, Michele Lamont and James B. Twitchell, support her theories in some aspects, but deeply reject them in others. For example, Twitchell disagrees with Schor's thoughts of why people consume. His opinion of why people purchase what they do has to do with meaning; "we don't buy things, we buy meaning." Furthermore, Twitchell believes people are not materialistic enough. He concludes, "If we knew what goods meant we wouldn't be so susceptible to, so needful of, the addition of meaning. Marketing wouldn't work".
Schor allows for a rebuttal in her Reply section to all the economists' reactions and criticisms. As for her response to Twitchell, Schor claims that it is the "Big Points" that worry her, like "Destroying the Planet. Or Not Having Time to Know Each Other. Or Not Having Descent News Because Advertisers Control Content."
I thought that both Twitchell and Schor revealed interesting theories and I agree with both of their standpoints to an extent. It is true that if people really knew what goods meant, they wouldn't be in constant competition with each other. Therefore they wouldn't need to feel as though they needed to keep up with the Joneses or the Gates.
This is a rather short book, but as you can observe by the above summary, but it brings up a lot of questions and even some answers to consumerism. The manner in which Schor presents her book, in the three sections, was the most interesting to me. It allowed for an array of viewpoints to be presented about a topic that a large portion of people would never think about. Anyone interested in economics, the environment, or even both for that matter should definitely consider reading "Do Americans Shop Too Much".

Rating:
Summary: Do Americans Consume Too Much?
Review: Juliet Schor, through her work "Do Americans Shop Too Much?", presents many stimulating and engaging arguments to the way Americans strive for money and material objects at the expense of other important life ideals. She emphasizes the propensity of Americans to engage in "conspicuous consumption". By this concept, Schor focuses on Americans being too concerned about their social status and power, and them believing that what they consume dictates and symbolizes their success and wealth. Americans participate in competitive consumption, trying to keep up with the spending of the upper class. Americans begin to work extremely long and hard hours to "keep up", neglecting personal health, leisure, and family interaction.
According to Schor, the manner in which Americans consume creates problems for society. Socially, Americans are unhappy as a result of their perceived lack of goods. Also, more and more Americans are falling into debt, and less money is being saved. Schor argues that the quality of life has decreased as spending and working have increased. Most importantly, Schor brings the social issue of the environment into the discussion. As spending increases, disregard for the environment also increases. Loss of species, deforestation, and excessive use of resources are just a few of the environmental problems that Schor uses in her argument against this "new consumerism".
I believe that Juliet Schor brings up a very important and relevant issue in this work. Many Americans take for granted the material objects that they are able to acquire. I think that Schor does a great job, through both her own statistics and the opinions of other scholars, opening the eyes of Americans to the evils of extravagant consuming. She does a fantastic job of calling attention to a rather unknown and unfamiliar problem. I believe her ideas and beliefs make great sense, and she opens up a very engaging and provocative issue in American society. The environment and quality of American life should be at the forefront of American minds, not trampled over by a desire for material possessions and a "keeping up" mentality.
In terms of her arguments, for the most part, I agree. I believe Americans are engaged in "conspicuous consumption", and do try to keep up with the upper classes. Possessions have become symbols of social status and power, and Americans want to show that they can buy what they want and keep up with the wealthy. Americans engage in way too much consumption and do have no regard for the environment, and society as a whole is suffering as a result. Although I agree with her arguments and its relevance as a whole, I do disagree with some of what Juliet contends. In terms of where she places the blame, I believe too much blame is being given to other sources, in particular advertisers, television, and corporations. Although I agree that television and the corporations have to take some of the blame, the main culprits are Americans. It is no ones fault but our own. We are responsible for how and what we consume. Americans have to become more responsible about preserving the environment, and ignoring competitive consumption. In addition, I also do not believe that her idea of a luxury goods tax is possible, or even effective. It sounds like a great idea, and I agree that it is, but is it possible to determine what goods are luxuries, and therefore what goods to tax. I do not think that it will ever happen, and that Americans will never allow such an idea to exist. However, something needs to be done about this problem. Americans will not correct the spending themselves, a higher influence, namely the government, must intervene to fix this American consumption problem. Lastly, I did not particularly enjoy the opposing arguments by the other scholars. They did not seem to be too relevant, as they all basically agreed with Schor's major concepts, with the exception of some minor differences. I believe that more contradictory and compelling essays would have been more effective to the issue as a whole.
Overall, I thought that this was a very provocative and intellectually engaging work that called all Americans to ponder their consumption patterns.

Rating:
Summary: What every environmentalist knows, what ever economist fears
Review: Something is happening here, in the United $tates. We're experiencing a great slow-down of our economy, the once vibrant job-market is slowing in job openings, recent grades from our public school systems are near or at a decline, the youth of the United $tates are quickly taking a lead in debt, and yet, people continue to spend. GW Bush recently let loose some of our tax dollars, to try and stir up the economy. More money in our pockets, the economist figure, the more money we'll spend. The more money we spend, the greater the economy will be.

But, something just isn't working. As the Feds reduce the prime interest rate by small increments, unemployeement still rises. What is it that we're doing wrong? Maybe we're buying too much junk?

A retooling of our economy, and the good produced, and how these goods affect our nation, our families, and our selves, is needed. Juliet Schor's book is an incredible tool for this purpose.

Rating:
Summary: "Do Americans Shop Too Much?"
Review: The book, Do American's Shop Too Much? is a compilation of essays from various economists regarding the consumption of Americans. In the first portion of the book Juliet Schor presents an essay that not only argues Americans spend too much, but that their excessive spending doesn't lead them to happiness. She points out that Americans are no longer comparing themselves with their neighbors, but that their frame of reference has switched to TV stars and co-workers. Americans are now comparing themselves to the Rich and Famous. This leads people to go beyond the basic survival needs of life and consume carat weight diamond rings, sport utility vehicles, and designer apparel. This 'Status Game', as Schor calls it, drives people to purchase the rare and expensive in order to claim superiority, causing a chain reaction and forcing everyone below to follow suit in order to keep up with his or her social class. As a result of all this over consumption, Schor discusses the devastation to the environment, increasing credit card debt, decrease in savings, and fewer funds for public projects.
To follow up on American's consumption habits Schor proposes several solutions to the various problems. This involves a decent standard of living, quality of life verses amount of stuff, staying within the Earth's ecological bounds of consumption, and government policies to deter people from excessive consumption. To coincide with Schor's theories and solutions economists critique Schor's initial essay. Each critic has different agreements and disagreements regarding Schor's theories and solutions. I felt Clair Brown brought up a valid point when she questions, 'What constitutes the quality of life?' A certain lifestyle might be quality to one person, and unlivable to another.
Schor had a number of convincing points to her essay. However, I don't agree that all Americans are constantly competing for positions in society. Feeling compelled to be doing the same as people driving the flashy car, having sex, drinking the martini, or listening to the latest stereo system doesn't necessarily equal a struggle on the social totem pole. Maybe it simply means Americans just want to be having fun. I do agree that Americans consume beyond our Earth's ecological limits and something needs to be quickly re-evaluated.
Aside from the personal disagreements with the novel, I learned a lot and definitely broadened my outlook on various current economic problems that our country faces. The book is relatively brief with a lot of information crammed into it. At times I found it a little difficult to keep up with the pace. However, I would recommend the book to anyone who wanted another perspective on our cultural habits and their ramifications.

Rating:
Summary: Short, but definetely full of ideas
Review: The books is broken down into three sections: first there is a section by Schor on America's obsession w/ shopping, why and how to fix (mostly a scaled down recap of her previous books). The second sections is an evaluation of Schor's ideas by a series of economists. Some like here theories but disagree on resoltions, some just don't like what she has to say. Finally, the last section is her response to these evaluations.

It's a really great primer on the subject and gives you an opportunity to see many points of view. Hopefully with that you can make your own decision on causes, effects and solutions.

When I first got it and realized that it was laid out this way, I was a little disappointed, but ended up very glad that they did this.

Rating:
Summary: Great Book, Silly Ad
Review: This is a great analysis of the way in which the mad market compulsive commodity consumption hamster cage spinning wheel in which we all run crazily just to keep up is destroying so much and so many of our lives. But it's just too silly, too ironic, too much altogether to see this book advertised as a great holiday gift that you can buy, buy, buy!

Rating:
Summary: Keeping Up With the Joneses
Review: We have all heard the saying, "keeping up with the Joneses". It is a phrase that describes virtually every Americans' desire to want what they don't or can't have. In Juliet Schor's, Do Americans Shop Too Much? Shcor illustrates the American cycle of spending and working which is accompanied by high expenses and low savings. The combination of these two patterns leads to more time spent working and less leisure time. Over time, this cycle has produced a gap in our society between the wealthy and the poor. This gap largely affects the middle class because they must "work harder to stay in place." (24) Schor calls this a "positional treadmill". Schor argues that this continuous act of consuming and wasting is a large contributor to many environmental problems. Schor's proposed solution to our conspicuous consumption and conspicuous waste is to tax luxury goods, and change policies so that they regulate advertising and the envirionment. Schor argues that with improved policies and taxes, Americans will stop the cycle of spending and working, get out of debt and have more leisure time.
Schor's argument is analyzed by a number of authors whom each present different opinions about the issue of American consumption. Holt and Thompson argue Schor's view of Americans' need for high socioeconomical status by saying that consumers do not wish to copy the wealthy, but rather aim to "reinvent themselves by consuming new things in new ways." (92) Many of the authors argue that Schor has misinterpreted the current consumer culture and that her solution would only minutely make an impact on our society. Eventually, advertising agencies will find a way to manipulate the system and people will still want more than what they need.
My reaction to Schor's analysis of American consumption is: I agree that Americans are caught up in the cycle of spending and wasting, but I think that the person themselves is responsible for being a part of the cycle, not society. Although we are influenced by television and the upper class society, it is up to each individual person how they spend their money. Americans must resist their desires to buy expensive, luxury items which are usually unnecessary, overpriced and glamorized by advertisement and the media. We must learn to accept the things that we have and be proud of ourselves no matter what kind of car we drive. We must focus on buying for purpose, not for show. I think that Schor presents a good solution; however, it is unlikely that it will succeed. If policies are changed to regulate advertisement, there will still be advertisement everywhere because we are all walking ads. It is unlikely that our wasteful habits will change because Americans have always been wasteful human beings. It will take more than changing policies to improve the environment and stop our wasteful habits. We will continue to overspend and be wasteful as long as we have the resources to do so. It is the tradition of our culture and we are constantly influenced by our surroundings to continue our conspicuous behaviors. The cycle will continue as long as Americans are able to work and companies are able to advertise. Maybe if we all keep spending and working long enough, we will be able to "catch up to the Gates'".