Poverty in the Third world is obviously of a more extreme level than that in the First world and its relation with consumerism is undeniable. Consumerism is such a key social and economic aspect of life in westernized nations that it leads to them consuming much more than their share of the world’s material and this has dire consequences in the developing world. An example of this is in USA which although only containing 6% of the world’s population consumes 30% of its resources. Enough! An anti-consumerist website states that in order for the elite in countries such as the USA to live at this standard the majority of the world’s population has to go without the basics needed for human survival and that this is one of the major causes of world poverty. As Victor Gollance states in this way we are willfully “starving people…as we prefer their death to our own convenience.”
The increased consumption of luxury goods and technological innovations to improve efficiency have increased this problem in modern times and have lead sociologists and economics to question why we must consume to this extent. Many of the goods we can consume are also completely unnecessary. Why do people throw away perfectly good clothes just because they are no longer ‘fashionable’? Is it human nature that causes this behavior or the affect of mass marketing and advertising? As well as consuming unnecessary goods the western world is also extremely wasteful. Despite the common belief that poverty, specifically world hunger, is caused by a global food shortage statistics show this is not the case and that the world produces 2,500 calories per day for every individual in grain alone.
As well as consuming unnecessary goods the westernized world is also extremely wasteful. In the USA alone enough wood and paper is thrown away each year to heat 5 million homes for 200 years! (Sivard, World Military and Social Expenditure, World Politics Inc 1991) This waste uses up even more of the world’s limited resources which are needed for the poor.
Poverty also exists in industrialized nations and is on the increase, the UK is no exception. As we entered the 21st century 150,000 people were homeless in Britain and more children are likely to be born in poverty here than anywhere else in the EU. Consumerism is still argued to be one of the main causes of poverty in industrialized countries although the reasons for this are different. Consumerism is at the core of such countries and this concept does not escape the poor. The idea that they must constantly be consuming, portrayed by advertising and the mass media, keeps them poor. Consumerism also promises an escape from poverty, hunger and insecurity when in fact the consumption of unnecessary goods only adds to the hardship of many and creates profits for manufacturers.
Another way in which consumerism relates to poverty in the westernized world is through Bauman’s theory of the poor as “flawed consumers.” Bauman’s key work in this area ‘Work, Consumerism and The New Poor (1998)” explains his central idea that today’s societies are constructed around consumption and not production. This move from a society of producers to one of consumers, Bauman claims, has left the poor “without a useful function.” As they are unable to consume goods that provide high profits for the producers they are considered “flawed consumers” and investing in their survival is seen as a waste of money. Also if the more wealthy consumers begin to help the poor they too will have less money to spend on profitable products. In these ways the poor are considered to be great burden to capitalist societies. One option to solving this ‘problem’ of the poor is to ‘declassify’ them. Bauman claims this is being done through the American ‘Welfare to Work’ scheme which is currently being undertaken by the New Labour government.
This is the ides that the welfare state helps people into work with the aim of full employment. Whilst this sound like it would have a positive impact on the poor and the whole of society the reality is small and insecure wages in bad working conditions that are a poor substitute for the regular and guaranteed welfare support. The only outcome of this programme, its critic’s state, is to make the poor ‘disappear’ by getting them into work they are taken out of the social register and the public eye.
The relation between consumerism and poverty has many different aspects but at the core of all the arguments is the view that consumerism, although often ignored, is one of the major causes of poverty around the world. Poverty is a serious global problem and as the recent Ethiopia Food Crisis shows threatens the live of millions. The levels of consumption undertaken by the world’s elite must be confronted if future crisis’s of this kind are to be avoided and poverty overcome.
