by Jonathan Caro

Created on: March 26, 2007   Last Updated: June 08, 2011

"Consumerism" is a word that has acquired a negative connotation to such an extent that saying something positive about it seems a lost cause, or at least wrongheaded. The "-ism" at the end, after all, seems to indicate a belief, code, or system: and what can be noble about a code whose defining idea is consumption? Yet consider that everything consumed must also be produced; is "Productivism" then merely the flip side of the same coin? And if so, what could be wrong with a system whose defining concept was productivity? Viewed from the perspective of the necessary connection between production and consumption, "consumerism" loses some of its knee-jerk negativity.

This said, consumerism is properly considered from the perspective of consumption; yet this by no means enforces its negative connotation. In a very real sense, it is consumerism that drives capitalism (though that is a word that unfortunately has negative connotations for many) and in that capacity it is the engine that makes wealth and its consequences health, education, convenience, and even productivity itself possible.

At the most basic level, an economy is always driven by what people want: it is to the extent that there is a demand for something among some people, that others are motivated to provide it. It is in virtue of being in society, where basic human needs are not typically met as a direct result of one's efforts, that the distributed network of wants and indirect means of satisfaction arise. In this context, the chief benefit of consumerism is that it is a spur to greater development and advancement, both technologically and educationally. Contrary to the old saying, necessity is never the mother of invention: desire always plays that role, as illustrated by the Industrial Revolution itself. There existed no need for a steam engine, until it was desired that coal mines should be more productive. That productivity for coal, itself, was the result of the increased demand for energy demand, at multiple levels, creating incentives for greater and greater uses.

Because human desire will always be insatiable, and human curiosity will always seek to find new and more effective ways to attempt to sate it, the formation of a consumerist society is ultimately a boon for its members. It is, essentially, an engine that drives society up the economic equivalent of Maslow's hierarchy. As better ways are found to provide shelter, people then desire food; as food becomes plentiful, people desire comfort;

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