The religion of consumerism
THE ECONOMY AS RELIGION: THE DYNAMICS OF CONSUMER CULTURE
Dell deChant
excerpts:
The great metamyth of postmodern culture is the myth of success and affluence, gained through a proper relationship with the Economy, and revealed in the ever expanding material prosperity of society and through the ever-increasing acquisition and consumption of products.
Secondary myths are narratives about the masters of business and finance; the stars of movies, sports, and the music industry; persons who win lotteries, make fortunes e-trading, win gameshows and then “live large” as a consequence of their success.
Religion in postmodern society is that collection of culturally embedded phenomena that mediate individual and collective relationships with the sacred power of the Economy through acquisition-consumption-disposal. It is not enough to simply acquire and consume objects and images. One must do both and one must also dispose of the objects and images for the sacred to be experienced. The entire process must be completed, for only then (in the cyclical manner that is elemental to cosmological systems) can the process begin again. The quicker the process is completed and then begun again, the greater is one’s experience of the sacred, and hence the greater one’s power in the socio-religious system. For this reason, popular culture venerates the person who is able to keep up with the trends in fashion, who is able to acquire a new car every year, who buys a new house, replaces appliances on a regular basis, acquires the most innovative type of computer, and so on.
Thus, because the sacred is the Economy, and religion is the process of acquisition-consumption-disposal which engages one with the sacred through myth and ritual, then the non-religious would be that which disengages one from the process. This would be production.
Because production (labor/work) prevents one from acquisition-consumption-disposal, it is the antithesis of the sacred. Production has thus become functionally profane, where in earlier times, it was functionally sacred (the old Protestant work-ethic, which vested religious merit in economic production); and acquisition and consumption, which were once religiously restricted, if not actually profane, have become sacred.
When I am working, I am not consuming, yet my working/profane endeavors bring me the substance necessary for me to consume. I thus sacrifice time and energy in the profane realm for the sake of the Economy; not because I find any particular satisfaction in contributing to production (and certainly not because of any religious merit per se) but because I am equipping myself to better perform my religious duty. My sacrifice of time and energy in profane endeavors (labor) rewards me with ritual resources (money), which then allows me to participate in the sacred process of acquisition-consumption-disposal.
So if shopping is our religion, our malls must be our cathedrals, temples and shrines. When we are performing our consuming rituals at our temples, it brings us closer to our sacred economy.
How do we decide what to consume that makes us feel that we are pious and commited? Does the product sell us a greater vision?
The product must offer us the promise land, the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. It must not simply be a product with an end use but what, how will its use exalt you.
Dell deChant
excerpts:
The great metamyth of postmodern culture is the myth of success and affluence, gained through a proper relationship with the Economy, and revealed in the ever expanding material prosperity of society and through the ever-increasing acquisition and consumption of products.
Secondary myths are narratives about the masters of business and finance; the stars of movies, sports, and the music industry; persons who win lotteries, make fortunes e-trading, win gameshows and then “live large” as a consequence of their success.
Religion in postmodern society is that collection of culturally embedded phenomena that mediate individual and collective relationships with the sacred power of the Economy through acquisition-consumption-disposal. It is not enough to simply acquire and consume objects and images. One must do both and one must also dispose of the objects and images for the sacred to be experienced. The entire process must be completed, for only then (in the cyclical manner that is elemental to cosmological systems) can the process begin again. The quicker the process is completed and then begun again, the greater is one’s experience of the sacred, and hence the greater one’s power in the socio-religious system. For this reason, popular culture venerates the person who is able to keep up with the trends in fashion, who is able to acquire a new car every year, who buys a new house, replaces appliances on a regular basis, acquires the most innovative type of computer, and so on.
Thus, because the sacred is the Economy, and religion is the process of acquisition-consumption-disposal which engages one with the sacred through myth and ritual, then the non-religious would be that which disengages one from the process. This would be production.
Because production (labor/work) prevents one from acquisition-consumption-disposal, it is the antithesis of the sacred. Production has thus become functionally profane, where in earlier times, it was functionally sacred (the old Protestant work-ethic, which vested religious merit in economic production); and acquisition and consumption, which were once religiously restricted, if not actually profane, have become sacred.
When I am working, I am not consuming, yet my working/profane endeavors bring me the substance necessary for me to consume. I thus sacrifice time and energy in the profane realm for the sake of the Economy; not because I find any particular satisfaction in contributing to production (and certainly not because of any religious merit per se) but because I am equipping myself to better perform my religious duty. My sacrifice of time and energy in profane endeavors (labor) rewards me with ritual resources (money), which then allows me to participate in the sacred process of acquisition-consumption-disposal.
So if shopping is our religion, our malls must be our cathedrals, temples and shrines. When we are performing our consuming rituals at our temples, it brings us closer to our sacred economy.
How do we decide what to consume that makes us feel that we are pious and commited? Does the product sell us a greater vision?
The product must offer us the promise land, the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. It must not simply be a product with an end use but what, how will its use exalt you.
posted by Wise Wife at 7:30 PM
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