Consumer society gives people choice.disscus this claim - Essay Example

One of the escalating habits nowadays is that, with the arrival of convenience stores, people spend much of their shopping in supermarkets. On average, in the USA, most people consume 275 pounds of meat, 635 pounds of paper among others. Further, there is an average of one passenger car for two people in the US, One passenger car for about three people in Europe, and one passenger car for 49 people in the developing countries. Overall, the argument that consumer society is driven by choices or that drives choice as far as consumption of goods and services are concerned must be examined in a number of ways.

These should include understanding what consumer society is all about, the features of the Consumer Society, the drivers of Consumer society as it is today ,with advertisement and phenomenon/technologies like credit card being ‘forced’ on people, so that they can purchase more and more. Hinchcliff et al, (2009) see consumption as a lifestyle and something that comes as a result of socialization. It is therefore, for him, a lifestyle involving people using goods and services, as the last bearers.

It therefore for him the end line of ‘economic activities’ begins with assessment of the resources available and goes on through to the production stage and distribution, to the point of usage (Hinchcliff et al, 2009, pg 20). Consumer Society, or rather Consumerism, has been viewed as an economic as well as a social structure tailored and lined on the calculated systematic creation and fostering of a desire to purchase goods and services in greater amounts and sometimes with a tinge of variety.

It is a process that sows the seed of belongingness (Hinchcliff et al, 2009, pg 20). The major understanding by social scientists is that consumption presents different values, attitudes and a sense of belonging (Hinchcliff et al, 2009, pg 21). The characteristic of the consumer society can be examined in the context of the common