An All-Consuming Century Review

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(More customer reviews)It is not easy for me to review this book about consumerism. The subject is far more complex than its critics admit. Mr. Cross's book underscores this point very well, though in the end I feel that he overstates this (see last paragraph).
I am an unabashed critic of consumerism, its banality, its lowest common denominator mentality, and yet as an American with sufficient funds I can certainly buy anything I want to, what little that is these days. I do feel grateful that I live in a society where there is such an abundance it is beyond belief. I sometimes wonder what the availability of the things I do want would be if the capitalist machine, which has created and sustained this overabundance of "things" and services, did not function so efficiently.
Far more importantly, I have seen and read about societies in which people do not even have enough to eat, where their basic psychological needs are not met. Such peoples are not in a position to philosophize about which is the best economic system, or what is the meaning and value of life. I have always felt some guilt about this in addition to gratitude.
Mr. Cross has written a book that very well documents the spectacular rise of consumerism in American in the 20th century. "The All-Consuming Century" is very scholarly yet is also quite accessible. The author brings out a number of penetrating points that I feel are worthy of consideration and discussion by anyone who is interested and concerned about consumerism. For example, he claims that consumerism has been a powerful force for democratization, "creating social solidarities," allowing for participation by widely different groups of people, thus facilitating in a way different kinds of unities.
The author shows many contradictions with consumerism, which is why the topic is so complex. To give several examples, consumer goods have excused people from the pain and "humiliation" of exposing who they really are publicly because they can simply buy their way into communities of like-minded consumers. Yet at the same time they perhaps avoid realizing *who* they really are! Consumerism has at once provided the opportunity for people to express their individuality and gain privacy in homes with their own possessions, yet at the same time media (TV and movies) have actually atomized people. Automobiles certainly have provided tremendous freedom, yet the experience itself is essentially limited and homogenized. Perhaps the standardization of experience was true when cars were first mass produced, and not so much today.
While I did enjoy the thorough history of 20th century consumerism I did find the details to be very excessive: the chapter "Promises of More" was particularly uninteresting for me because it seemed to be nothing more than the details of consumerism with little analysis. I did find it surprising that even during the depression consumerism did not diminish nearly as much as I would have expected, which certainly brings home the point that people want things, rewards for their hard work, and they do identify with their possessions.
My favorite two chapters of the book were the final two. The first covers the period when capitalism really moved into high gear from 1980-2000, where the author makes the very cogent point that the Reagan Right criticized the lack of values and morality in society, while at the same time opened up markets to the maximum, practically w/o restraint, and saw no conflict! The final chapter is a very good summary of the book with some advice on how we can perhaps moderate consumerism. which the author feels is unsustainable in the long term. The author states that it is not an easy matter to constrain consumerism because it operates so efficiently, because people want goods, and because there is no mass phenomena that can successfully challenge this "machine." He does call for a balance, but I felt that it was a shame that he waited until the second-to-last page to state this magic word, balance! For in my view there is no solution to gross consumerism except for 1) an economic collapse, or 2) finding a balance between consuming and enjoying non-material things.
Who is define the balance between consuming and not consuming is clearly a personal matter, and that is why I feel that each of us has to decide for ourselves, rather than assuming that some societal program will come about to provide the answers. Most institutions are in complete disrepute these days, and perhaps rightfully so. Also, unfortunately the author barely mentions that Americans especially are almost totally co-opted by the hegemony of corporations's endless greed for profits, which has created a system where few get more than a week or two of vacation, and thus have little time to express
themselves any other way than through what they consume. I felt that his comments about the failure of the "jeremiad" against consumerism by such authors as Vance Packard (whose "old" books are not dated) were incorrect. These authors accurately pointed out the simple truth that long ago powerful interests created a "totalitarianism" of materialism, and their books still ring largely true in my opinion.

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