I’m a doer. I love dreaming up solutions and bringing them to life. But, as I’ve learnt, the first step to effective solutions is identifying and understanding the real problem you’re trying to solve. And I’m still not sure we’ve dug deep enough here in identifying the problem(s) we’re really trying to engage with.
Faced with challenges of resource depletion, poverty, obesity, debt, climate change and so on, many Conservation Economy posts point to the act of over-consumption as the underlying problem. If this is the case, then behaviour change becomes the solution. Simple. Get people to consume less.
But after years of behaviour change campaigns and initiatives, we know it’s not that easy. There is something deeper at play.
The previous post and the ensuing discussion, begins this move to dig more deeply. It is our role as consumers, which has come to define our social purpose, that is the fundamental problem. In this scenario, encouraging and exercising other roles like citizen or producer, becomes the solution. Simple. Produce beautiful things, take part in collective action and you begin to erode the dominant Consumerism paradigm.
While I don’t disagree with this as an ideal, I’m not sure it’s so easy for us to simply switch roles like this. Can we step out of Consumerism’s defining social purpose so easily? Can we simply take off Consumerism’s deeply ingrained set of values and motivations, as if it were a piece of clothing, and replace it with another outfit, another mindset? Especially when most of the time we are not even aware of its existence?
I for one did not consciously choose to subscribe to Consumerism’s worldview, but unwittingly find self-enhancing, materialistic values of status, power, wealth and image playing out in the most unlikely of areas of my life from my relationships to my rock climbing, from my yoga practice to my writing. Lets not be fooled into thinking Consumerism’s powerful defining influence is limited to our buying of goods and services, and by limiting that we will limit Consumerism’s power.
I think it is far more pervasive than that. Consumerism is a mindset, a worldview, an attitude that, I believe most of us unconsciously bring to what we do, but remains largely invisible and taken-for-granted. Look at the dynamics of phenomena like workaholism, 10-day-around-the-world trips or our children’s over-scheduled leisure time. We have taken a ‘consumptive attitude’ to work, holidays, playtime, and life itself. In the subtlest and most well meaning ways, so much of what we do is about seeking status and ego fulfilment, although we’re often not aware of it.
It is so much easier to identify and point to ‘bad’ things out there in the world – marketing, politics, big business – and blame ‘them’ and try to ‘fix’ them. As Justin pointed out these are run by thinking, feeling human beings just like us, many of whom also unconsciously internalise Consumerism’s beliefs and assumptions about who we are, why we exist and what we think is valuable and important in life.
So for me the problem lies beyond an activity, set of behaviours or a role. It is all of this and more, fueled by an all-encompassing worldview motivated by self-enhancing, extrinsic goals that continually seek to reinforce our ego. For doers like me, who feel drawn to address social and ecological challenges, there is a clear warning from spiritual teachers like Tolle, who writes: “some feel a strong urge to build, create, become involved, achieve, make an impact on the world. If they are unconscious, their ego will, of course, take over and use this energy for its own self-serving purposes.”
So to what extent can we produce beautiful things and be participative citizens without bringing a ‘consumptive orientation‘ to these roles? How can we act for change, without reinforcing the very values we are trying to work against? How can we become ‘dis-orientated’?
This is where, as a doer, I become a little frustrated. I don’t have a neatly packaged answer for this, or a solution for what this means for my life, let alone marketing! Instead I am trying to remain curious, reflect on what I do and why I do it, ask questions, stay open and keep a keen awareness of the deeply ingrained social patterning of our Industrial Growth Society, noticing where I find it informing how I think, feel and act and remind myself that its not who I am and get on with doing what I can.
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I fully agree with Ellie. Consumerism isn’t just about buying things (some needed and some not), it’s now a way of life that many apply to our home lives, careers and leisure time. We now feel guilty if we simply sit and think – “surely we should be doing something” a voice in our head says. However, in some Eastern cultures to sit and be at peace is still valued (as it should be). The human brain is immensely creative and capable, but this power can be increased many-fold by simple stillness (some call it meditation), but we more often choose the path of noise and busy behaviour.
Are we afraid to stop consuming or have we been conditioned? I think it too simplistic to blame the marketing guys alone, we have happily indulged ourselves in ever increasing consumption (e.g. for many people shopping is now described as a leisure activity conducted on a Sunday, rather than spending time with friends or family).
The microwave in my business’ kitchen recently failed, so one evening I took the back off to see if it was repairable (I’m an engineer by origin), I was met with a mixture of incredulity and amusement by my colleagues. They pointed out Argos sold a perfectly good replacement for £15 why would I even waste my valuable time when the parts. if available, would cost more than that they asked. Sadly, they were right and the next day I visited Argos and bought the replacement for £15, it’s not terribly well made, but it works and will probably last a year or two at most. I tell this sad story because it illustrates a couple of points I’d like to raise:
1. Decent engineering is becoming less valued, with built -in obsolescence and cheap manufacturing by low-paid workers in Asia preferred to beautiful design and engineering with a long-life and maintainability (which incidentally employs locally skilled individuals).
2. Frighteningly our whole economic model increasingly depends on imported cheap, disposable, products, which consume valuable resources to build, ship and ultimately dispose of and denigrate highly skilled people.
I’m not a luddite, I’ve worked my whole life with computer technology and software and I love the interconnected world we’ve built, but somewhere along the way we lost a sense of value in things that need effort to appreciate; whether that’s opera music or a well made microwave! However, I am an optimist and all is not lost, society tends to swing between extremes (as does politics) and it’s time for us all to collectively say to our politicians, brands, marketers and local suppliers – “disposable rubbish, no thanks, can I please have something of real integrity and value instead” PLUS lead by example spending time being quiet or with our friends and family on a regular basis. Consumption to some extent is a choice.