HW WEEK 3

One of the most prominent points throughout the readings was obviously that of consumerism and our spending habits as Americans. Schor identifies the shift and increase in spending as the 'new consumerism'. No longer should our benchmark of success and happiness be that of our neighbors, why not it be that of celebrities or that of people who receive an income 5x greater than ours. What happens when we look to these people for our happiness? Obviously, someone making 30,000 a year should not and ultimately will not be able to keep up with someone making over 100,000. As Schor notes, however, people are doing just that and it is called an 'upward comparison'. As individuals look to a 'reference group' outside of their league, they are ultimately trying to buy things to continually reiterate their status, not just to themselves, but to the outside world. The interesting thing about all of this is that the true 'millionaires' of society are living frugal lives compared to how the rest of America views spending. For some reason, the people who have all of the money feel less of a need to identify with it, whereas the ones that are slaving away in the office making a 5-figure salary are the ones with the designer clothes and certain types of cars. For those type, money means everything, money means status. This relates to Heilbroner's article about the profit motive. People no longer are trying to maintain their lives as they did in earlier times, but now are trying to advance themselves. With this advancement, not necessarily at all meaning working harder, they hope to advance material possessions and their standard of living. It seems like it will always be a competition with the mentality that everything is about a profit and gain. It is also interesting to note that the idea of gain is hardly as universal as we think it is and can really be pin-pointed to more modern times.