After watching The Overspent American by Juliet Schor in class this week, it has brought up some interesting topics about the America Society.
Americans are on a relenting cycle of attributing happiness with the next best thing on the market. Juliet Schor brings up the idea that we are no longer "keeping up with the Joneses" but with "the Gates". Schor explains that cultural influences are driving Americans to work longer hours and strive for higher pay. This, in turn, is causing us to become stressed and in dept.
In a media driven society we are being advertised luxurious goods that we cannot afford. Television shows are exhibiting so-called "normal" Americans as, in reality, upper-class individuals with above average clothes, cars and housing. In a society driven by media, television and electronics, this is leaving us to feel unfulfilled at the idea that we cannot have everything that is apparently "needed" and causing people to spend money that they don't have and becoming in dept.
Do you agree with Schor's idea of the Overspent American? Is there any light at the end of the tunnel? How do we stop this vicious cycle?
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