SunirShah offered an interesting link on NoLogo:
Many people who are, in their own minds, opposed to consumerism nevertheless actively participate in the sort of behaviour that drives it. Consider Naomi Klein. She starts out No Logo by decrying the recent conversion of factory buildings in her Toronto neighbourhood into “loft living” condominiums. She makes it absolutely clear to the reader that her place is the real deal, a genuine factory loft, steeped in working-class authenticity, yet throbbing with urban street culture and a “rock-video aesthetic.” ¹
The point Joseph Heath and Andrew Potter make is that anti-consumerism is often just anti-mass society – and being against mass society is an old thing. The authors claim that most statements that are taken to be anti-consumerism statements are in fact statements against mass society and *pro* consumerism. Interesting angle.
I’m not sure the authors are not twisting anti-consumerism statements in order to make their point. The examples they use are sometimes astonishingly simple-minded (eg. the part about Naomi Klein’s loft quoted above).
Another thing to consider is that maybe these statements are statements against mass society full stop. If you’re not against consumerism but against mass society, what’s wrong with that? I’d have to verify that the examples they cite are in fact claimed to be statements against consumerism.
Personally, I’m not happy with all the waste that goes together with consumerism. It is not immediately obvious to me that consumerism always has to go together with waste, however. If there was a way of providing status symbols without the waste, then I’m not sure it would be worth the effort of fighting against it. If people buy “organic” food (as I do) as a status symbol (dunno why I do it... ;)) – then what’s wrong with that?
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