2. What does it mean?
Consumerism is the belief that it is good for people to spend a lot of
money on goods and services. Also the concept that an ever expanding
consumption of goods is advantageous to the economy.
3. When did consumerism begin?
Consumerism is the consumption of goods without a compelling or essential requirement. The
concept of buying things because they make you feel good was developed in the 1920s in the U.S by
Edward Bernays.
4. Why did it start?
It started in the U.S in the
1920s because it is
supposed to make people
feel good while buying
things.
5. Who started it?
Edward Bernays helped convince women that they should
have prettier dresses and more than one or two. He found
clever ways to persuade people to go to department stores
and automobile showrooms to buy things that would make
them feel good.
6. Yes, because consumerism creates jobs. Our
economy is based on people buying and selling
consumer goods. The purchase of consumer goods
provides companies a reason to be in business, and
that provides employment. Also there is more More
industrial production ,a higher growth rate economy
and more goods and services available.
Is consumerism good for the economy?
7. ● It is intrusive
● Manipulative
● Doesn’t meet our needs.
● Restricts our choices and lives
● Affects our worldviews and characters
● It’s unsustainable
How does consumerism affect us?
8. Consumerism in the book is used to keep the economy stable, like in real life and the people with
more power consume more like in real life
How is related to the book?
9. “The idea was to make them want to be going out into the country at every available opportunity, and
so compel them to consume transport.”
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pg: 22
Quote
10. “Ending is better than mending. The more stitches, the less riches”
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Pg: 49
Quote
11. “Stability," said the Controller, "stability. No civilization without social stability. No social stability without
individual stability."
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p.42
Quote
12. ● The average American uses 300 shopping bags worth of raw materials every week, an amount
of food that weighs as much as a large car.
● We would need the resources of 3 planets for everyone on Earth to live an “American” lifestyle.
● People in the U.S. spend 3-4 times the amount of time shopping than people in Europe.
● Americans use 1/3 of the world's paper, 1/4 of the oil, 23% of the coal, 27% of the aluminum,
and 19% of the copper.
● 99% of the stuff people in North America buy is trashed within 6 months after purchase.
● The average American office worker disposes of 100-200 pounds of office paper annually.
● On average, Americans eat 815 billion calories of food each day - roughly 200 billion more than
needed and enough to feed 80 million people in other parts of the world.
● Americans throw out 200,000 tons of edible food daily.
● The average American buys 53 times as many products as someone in China.
● Americans drive about as many miles as the rest of the world combined .
Facts about American consumerism:
13. Consumerism is not bad but it is also not very good. It has many advantages
like there is more industrial production a higher growth rate of economy, more
goods and services available and more products for a better living style. The
disadvantages are that it is manipulative, sometimes it makes us buy
unnecessary things to make us feel good and sometimes it doesn't meet our
needs. The way it relates to the book is that they convince people to buy
products so economy is stable and the same thing happens in real life.
!
Conclusion: