'Wise consumers' show the way to better living, professor finds

Americans hear a lot about consumerism and materialism. But most either think it applies to others or succumb to the notion that there's no way around it, given our culture and the pervasive influence of the market, which ...

China to top world in e-commerce by 2015: report

China, already home to the world's largest online population, is likely to replace the United States as the biggest e-commerce market by 2015, according to new research.

Freecycling has viral effect on community spirit and generosity

The results, published earlier this month in the journal Administrative Science Quarterly, may help explain why a growing number of recession-weary Americans are participating less in monetary-based consumerism in favor of ...

How Hong Kong youth perceive parenthood

Young people in Hong Kong are shifting their perceptions of parenthood from traditional Chinese cultural values, which emphasize family relationships and family loyalty, toward global values, such as individualism and consumerism, ...

Consumerism

Consumerism is a social and economic order that is based on the systematic creation and fostering of a desire to purchase goods and services in ever greater amounts. The term is often associated with criticisms of consumption starting with Thorstein Veblen. Veblen's subject of examination, the newly emergent middle class arising at the turn of the twentieth century, comes to full fruition by the end of the twentieth century through the process of globalization.

The term "consumerism" is also used to refer to the consumerist movement, consumer protection or consumer activism, which seeks to protect and inform consumers by requiring such practices as honest packaging and advertising, product guarantees, and improved safety standards. In this sense it is a movement or a set of policies aimed at regulating the products, services, methods, and standards of manufacturers, sellers, and advertisers in the interests of the buyer.

In economics, consumerism refers to economic policies placing emphasis on consumption. In an abstract sense, it is the belief that the free choice of consumers should dictate the economic structure of a society (cf. Producerism, especially in the British sense of the term).

The term "consumerism" was first used in 1915 to refer to "advocacy of the rights and interests of consumers" (Oxford English Dictionary) but in this article the term "consumerism" refers to the sense first used in 1960, "emphasis on or preoccupation with the acquisition of consumer goods" (Oxford English Dictionary).

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