We are absolutely a society of consumers, and especially as members of American society.

We
learn to become the type of consumers were are by nature and nurture; nature because as humans
we must consume things to survive, but we are also socialized to consumer in specific way,
consume specific things, and give the act of consumption specific meanings. As technology
advances increasingly rapidly, the different ways in which we demonstrate social status has
expanded and we have become psychologically and socially attached and committed to our
specific consumer culture. The film touches on how this culture blossomed here in the United
States. After the utter devastation of the Great Depression and the psychological damages of the
World Wars, the stabilizing effect on the economy of wartime production and national desire for
leisure turned technological advances into a thriving consumer culture. Many of the conditions
that spurred this trend still exist today, but not all do, and yet we still have this culture because
we continue to reinforce the ties between our consumer culture and our beliefs. For example, we
embrace the democratic right to pursue our desires freely, or the belief that our society is a
meritocracy where hard workers earn wealth. We learn these American principles in institutions,
like schools, and we learn how to consume from the consumption behaviors of those around us,
like parents. Together these things teach us how consumption shows our society what our place
in it is; reflecting our identity economically, our race, our gender, our nationality, etc.
Consumption can also reinforce the social status and the unequal distribution of power and
wealth by creating and adapting behaviors, norms, and institutions to control the access certain
groups have to what other groups consume. We can see this in the racial profiling practices sales
associates engage in to discourage people of color from shopping or stealing because we are
socialized to assume people of color are more often from lower economic statuses and cannot
afford what most white shoppers can. Our growing level and trends in consumption in the U.S.
are reaching dangerous levels and devastating consequences. For example, although we are a
small portion of the worlds population we use a disproportionate amount of natural resources.
We have also engaged in reprehensible behavior to access it, like deforestation that causes
species extinction or political turmoil in underdeveloped nations. Behaviors that were unheard of
just decades ago are now common practice because of expanding consumer trends, like eating
meat daily (because it is so expensive). The majority of those who engage in these behaviors
know little to nothing about the effects of their consumption. It takes 58 times more water to
produce a quantity of meat than it does to make the same quantity of fruit and vegetables, and
access to potable water is a major global issue. Half of the worlds pharmaceutical products are
for livestock and we waste millions of dollars and hurt thousands of people, despite these
products, through tainted meat consumption. Knowing our attachment to an excessive culture,
companies that produce the things we need propose that their innovations (like genetically
modified foods) will solve world issues (like world hunger) to distract and distort the immoral
and negative effects of over-consumption. In turn, our beliefs and laws protect and reinforce this
culture even as we increasingly learn about how our consumption hurts our world. Yet education
remains the best method for combating over-consumption because we can react just as strongly
to negative information about over-consumption as we do to the euphoria we experience from
consuming; it just takes commitment, practice and increased social acceptance. Growing trends
in veganism and concerns about environmental degradation are causing widespread (but
incremental) changes to our consumption. Over time the consumer culture that has evolved and
become thoroughly embedded can become dislodged and replaced by a restrained, more
conscious version that can just as effectively be taught, practiced, reinforced and legally
protected.