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Consumption = Happiness?
April 17, 2005
As I near the end of the last term of my college career (except for the possible PhD or JD in the future), I’ve begun reflecting on many of my recent classes.
Much of my semester has been split in some ways. My sustainable development class has placed a large focus on question current development patterns - is our consumptive standard of life sustainable? The class has helped me flesh out these issues on my own. The U.S., and Western culture in general, is built on consumption. Saving money in the U.S. is seen as anti-American. In fact, I’ve read speaches from U.S. Senators that tell people to look out for anti-American, near-terrorist neighbors who do tend to save their money instead of promote economic growth. And that’s just a start when considering the issues this class brought up.
I am also taking an economic development planning class, which primarily focuses on the economic growth issue - that communities need to expand economically in order to remain desirable and successful. Thus, a large split has occured in my thinking.
I believe we need a massive paradigm shift away from favoring consumption, and move to improve social equity, the environment and the economy equally. How this will happen… that’s another issue.
Reading this blurb on Instapundit this evening, I feel much more aware consumption-based tint most Americans place on their analysis of other countires, much more aware than I would have felt at the beginning of the semester.
Glenn (the author of Instapundit), links to an article that says Scandanavian countries aren’t near as well off as most people think. This analysis is based on the fact that their economy has not grown as much as the U.S., and that the citizens of these countries have much less disposable income. Therefore, the Scandanavians are worse off than Americans.
I find fault in that argument. It seems to me that most Scandanavians are quite happy with their lack of disposable income, since they get more vacation and recreation time… My analysis could go much deeper, all I intend to say here is that economic growth should not be the only determination for whether or not a country is “doing well”.
Posted by paul at April 17, 2005 09:01 PM
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Comments
kris said on April 18, 2005 07:42 AMi'm glad to hear that you perspective is broadening...i like the ay you're thinkin
Brian Ryckbost said on April 18, 2005 09:43 AMour economic growth might have improved over the years, what about about peopls mental "growth" and stability? Although we may have grown, for some reason it seems as the the US citizens work more and more even with new technology that does all the work for us. This way, we can get more done faster and continue to make more money. moneys good, but so is vacation and recreation.
I'm working this summer because I want to ensure some economic stability for me. I might not have social security, so to me, this summer is giving me a chance to maybe make some money and invest a little in my future. I realize that I may be giving up large amounts of my summer, but I after this summer I can say that I've got some experience in didn't job areas and broadened my horizons a little bit.
Anyways, maybe we should only allow people to work about 40 hours a week, like France, then see how our economy is doing...