American Consumer Culture

Consumer goods and services, by far, are the largest component of the American GDP. In 2012, consumption accounted for almost 70% of our GDP (Slavin 201). A consumer culture refers to a culture that actively engages in consumption. Most developed countries have fairly strong consumer cultures. Consumption is simply a way of life in America. When America became a country, it was primarily an agricultural economy. 90% of the population lived on a farm (Slavin 2). Almost everything that was needed by people was crafted by those same people. There was no need to go out and purchase things nearly daily as we do today. Overtime, as our economy and country developed, mass production became possible. The developments of the late 19th century such as …show more content…
They could also be transported all over the country thanks to the national railway network, and even outside of the country. But mass production in not possible if there is no mass consumption to enable it. Mass consumption and mass production both enable each other (Slavin 5). Of course, this was just the beginning of American consumer culture. Mass consumption caused our standard of living to rise rapidly, among all classes of people. Frank Trentmann, a history professor who is a specialist on the history of consumption, noted an important fact about historical consumption in a recent podcast from The Economist ; he noted that people first began to consume around the 15th century (The Economist). They mostly consumed things of comfort, such as bedding, curtains, and cutlery. These are things that we today always have, among a myriad of other things that exist to make life comfortable. The most important change he noted was that this was a rise in private consumption, meaning people are consuming for themselves, their own comfort. Prior to the 15th century, even going all the way back to BCE, public consumption was common. People of power always have wanted to display their …show more content…
Even when purchasing frivolous items for the sake of using them as status symbols, we still do it for our own comfort. We work longer hours, so instead of cooking at home, we spend money at a restaurant on the way home, because it is more comfortable for us. Upgrading a fan to a central air conditioner, buying silk shirts rather than polyester, spending a bit more on a car with heated seats, these are all things that benefit us. 20 years from now, if technological innovation and our consumer culture continue to grow as they are now, our current standards of living may be seem as pitiful. After all, poor Americans now have a higher standard of living than middle class Americans did just over 30 years ago (Slavin