Compare And Contrast American Consumerism

Consumerism is all about buying what you want and need. Having your needs is essential for survival. While your wants are simply what you think you need, but don’t really need. But what makes something a need or a want, and how can someone 's needs be different than someone else 's? It has to do with your social class or economic standing, how much money you make and how you live and spend it.
It 's pretty obvious that lower income people have very different needs and wants of those with higher income. The needs can differ from food or medicine to paying bills or taxes, but wants are harder to come by for these people. Having less income means your spending more on your needs than wants. However, these can be very similar for these people, …show more content…
Living a much different life then they 're opposite means the wants and needs are just as different as they 're lives are. The upper class having more income means they have more expandable money. The needs are still similar as everyone needs food and shelter, but the wants are far greater. "The purchases that define American consumers more than any other? Our cars and our homes." (Consumer Reports). Things many higher income people are buying. Better houses, faster cars, even bigger TVs are usual wants of people with said income. And with the amount of income these people have it 's not a big surprise, but does it make them happier? Typically buying these things should make you happier because you want them, and it does. But, happiness in items only last so long. "If Money Doesn’t Make You Happy Then You Probably Aren’t Spending It Right" (Rosenbloom). If your buying cool new things and getting bored from them quickly your not spending your money right. Rosenbloom also said that going on some kind of vacation would be better than a new couch. Not saying that the upper class should spend more money on vacation and fun times, but that these kinds of wants can generate more long term happiness. However, everyone is different and can spend they 're money as they wish. The rich just have more money and with that have a seemingly endless amounts of wants that seem to change as the years go …show more content…
Everyone from upper class rich folks, to the poorest man on the streets needs food, shelter, medicine and so on. The difference is what they need to pay for. Those with bigger houses need more to pay for them, while the smaller house needs less. when is comes to wants it seems to be a balance game. Once you know what your needs are you can look at what you have for wants. Imagine a circle graph, You pay a said percentage on your needs then the rest goes to wants, and the wants increase with your amount of income. Someone who makes less money has a small sliver on the chart for they 're wants. As they get more money this sliver gets bigger with it. The actually wants themselves depend on the person and which economical class they 're