Consumerism, Waste, and the Call for Sustainability

Rethinking Our Culture and Choices to Build a Sustainable Future

Introduction

In recent decades, consumerism has permeated our contemporary culture. This process continues to evolve, reshaping the economy and the physical and social environments, significantly impacting our cultural values. This transformation has been gradual. It has deep roots in the evolution of market management and the rise and power of corporate America. Adam Smith once characterized the guiding force of market management as the “invisible hand,” which suggested that individual self-interest naturally promotes “the overall good society.” However, our culture represents a stark shift toward a more impactful and guided “visible hand.” Market management and corporate America now orchestrate consumer behavior and exploit our “wants” for profit. In this essay, we explore how market management has reinforced consumerism behavior, manufacturers creating their products with obsolescence as a component, creating an environment of waste, so we have become a throw-away culture. These practices have contributed to adverse consequences for the climate and society that are no longer sustainable.

The Rise of Market Management

Market management has evolved into an intricate system of strategies and tactics that “guide” consumer decision-making and choices. From the post-World War 2 era forward, American corporations began adopting management approaches emphasizing efficiency. The intentional manipulation of consumer behavior accelerated then, leading to the birth of a consumer culture in which marketing, branding, and targeted advertising became prominent corporate practices. Increased demand for their products reinforced corporations, increasing production and consumption rates and profits.

Corporate America has learned to engineer “I Want This.” They manufacture their products not only as functional items but also as symbols of status and identity. The desirability appeal, mixed with the rise of easy credit, has set the stage for us to buy more than we need—consumerism, getting into debt, and the quandary of “what do I do with this?” is now prevalent in our culture. Television and the internet have facilitated companies to reach consumers in many ways, reinforcing the “fact” that our material possessions reflect one’s worth.

Consumerism as a Cultural Norm

As market management strategies became prevalent in our culture, consumerism became normalized. Instant gratification (whether I could afford it or not), was now acceptable. Our new generation is taught to equate happiness with ownership—a belief reinforced by marketing on a continuous reinforcement schedule and built into the marketing strategy. Keeping up with the Joneses is emulated and reinforced. The practice of seeking material possessions is growing and has become an unsustainable competitive cycle for many.

Corporate-driven consumerism actively prioritizes consumption over sustainability. It promotes a lifestyle defined by habitual purchasing that feeds on trends and novelty. Having the latest is self-reinforcing, increasing in frequency. This practice disregards the value of quality and longevity. The focus has shifted from creating durable goods to producing disposable objects that become obsolete quickly. Manufacturers know that when they design products that quickly go out of style or become outdated, they increase their profits; therefore, the practice of obsolescence is present in most of today’s manufactured and consumable goods.

Obsolescence - Planned and Perceived

Many companies employ “Obsolescence” to ensure products have a limited lifespan. Lifespan obsolescence can be accomplished by two methods: planned obsolescence, where products are intentionally designed and manufactured to have a short life, and perceived obsolescence, where items become unfashionable or outdated despite still being functional. Manufacturers create demand for new models by releasing frequent updates and marketing them as superior, usually naming them as “new and improved.” An example is the smartphone industry, where consumers are locked into the cycle of upgrading their devices every year despite their existing ones working fine. Buying a new phone and discarding the old one impacts personal finances and leads to excess waste since functional phones are often discarded for newer models, contributing to the mounting e-waste problem.

Waste and the Throw-Away Culture

The intersection of consumerism and the obsolescence of technology products has created a throw-away culture in which convenience and disposability are the primary modes of action. These practices are evident in most consumer industries, from fast fashion, which promotes inexpensive clothing designed to last only a season, to single-use plastics flooding supermarkets. The mentality behind these products is that they provide immediate gratification, creating a culture valuing the transient over the enduring.

The costly consequences of the throw-away culture extend beyond consumer behavior—they significantly impact every aspect of environmental sustainability. Landfills overflow with disposable items, and countless resources are wasted, producing goods that are used briefly and then discarded. According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), we generated about 292.4 million tons of trash in 2018, driven mainly by a consumer-driven economy.

Unwanted Consequences

The unwanted consequences of our actions on the environment are profound. Increasingly demanding production cycles result in increased pollution, greenhouse emissions, and the depletion of natural resources, making consumerism a major contributor to climate change. As many ecological systems struggle with too much human waste, the prospect of sustainable living becomes impossible.

Socially, the culture of consumerism reveals our inequalities and leads to societal discontent. The pressure to continuously accumulate goods can create feelings of inadequacy in some, particularly among individuals unable to keep up with the prevailing consumption trends. This pressure to constantly accumulate goods can increase anxiety and depression in the vulnerable population.

Finally, consumers cannot ignore the economic aspects. Businesses usually profit from planned obsolescence, but the cycle can lead to an unstable economy where consumer spending is the primary driver of growth. Such dependence makes the economy vulnerable to fluctuations in consumer confidence, and a lack of confidence in the economy usually leads to a recession associated with excessive debt and reduced spending.

A Call for Change

Addressing the unwanted consequences of consumerism, waste, and obsolescence requires a multifactorial approach. Public awareness and education can empower individuals, including you, to make sustainable choices and promote a shift from disposability. Encouraging corporations to adopt sustainable practices—such as designing products for longevity, using recyclable materials, and implementing take-back programs—can help mitigate waste.

Governments should play a leading and critical role in this transformation. They should enforce regulations and require sustainable manufacturing practices, such as limiting the production of single-use items and openly rewarding recycling. They should also encourage and reward Corporate America to support circular economy initiatives and practices, such as product reuse, remanufacturing, and recycling, that can create an environment focused on sustainability rather than sheer consumption.

Conclusion and Challenges

The transformation brought about by market management practices and corporate structures in the United States has given birth to the culture of consumerism. This shift is due primarily to creating obsolesce in the manufacturing of products, leading to waste and the throw-away culture. There are many undesirable consequences associated with this shift. We must confront the realities of environmental degradation, social discord, and economic vulnerability. Everyone needs to assess their relationship with consumerism. There is a need to learn the behaviors associated with fostering sustainability. We need to evolve a culture that reinforces behaviors that benefit the culture. Begin by increasing the frequency of our prosocial behaviors that benefit the culture by prioritizing conservation and recycling practices over waste.

Personal Note

Writing this essay (Francisco Perez) has been very difficult, eye-opening, and discouraging. We must confront the enormity of our evolving problem with our environment, which will worsen if we do not unite and work toward the common good. We have contributed to creating the mess that we are in, and we, the human race, are the only ones that can change it. But it requires collective behavior change of enormous proportions. Technology alone, like electric vehicles, will not do it. It can help, but only humans can change our relationship with our ecosystem. Many of the corporate behaviors described in the essay, such as manufacturing built-in obsolescence and single-use products, contribute to consumerism, thus creating jobs and a healthy economy. Do we stop those practices? What are the economic and personal consequences?

Behavioral Psychologist and colleague Anthony Biglan, PhD, has written an incredible and accessible book, Rebooting Capitalism—How We Can Forge a Society That Works for Everyone (2020). It addresses many of these concerns and is a must-read.

Thank you, and please pass it on.

Frank & Faris