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and own, and pursue happiness through the
continued purchase of more and more goods.
According to James, the social and psychological
pressures associated with affluenza often mean
that it can be the source of significant stress and
anxiety for people living in more economically
developed countries. In environmental terms, our
contemporary penchant for overconsumption is
placing ever-greater strain on the environmental
resources that are needed to produce these goods.
At the same time, the rapid rate at which products
are now deemed to be obsolescent (either due to
technological advances or because of changing
social fashions) means that society is producing
ever greater amounts of waste products that must
be disposed of (Toffler, 1971).
The cultures of mass production and mass
consumption mean that many residents living
in affluent countries are placing unsustainable
demands on the Earth's environmental resources.
In a recent report on ecological footprints, the
World Wildlife Fund estimated that if the whole
world consumed at rates similar to that in the UK
we would collectively require 3.1 planets to provide
all of the resources required (if Switzerland's
consumption rate was mirrored throughout the
world we would require 2.8 planets, but if we all
operated at India's rate of consumption we would
only require 0.4 planets) (Calcott and Bull, 2007:
13). As production and consumption rates are
now beginning to increase in less economically
developed countries, it is clear that changing
human consumption behaviours represent one of
the greatest policy challenges in the Anthropocene.
As we see in the section that follows, the human
psychological and cultural attachment to mass-
consumption lifestyles means that changing
human behaviours is proving a difficult feat to
achieve.
For more information on the idea of
affluenza and video content of Oliver
James discussing the concept go to:
affluenza.html
Box 8.4 Daniel Miller and alternative perspectives on the
consumption society
The recent work of Daniel Miller argues that we need to develop new and more nuanced accounts
of the consumer society in which we now live. Rejecting conventional accounts of mass consumption
that associate it with forms of social alienation and avarice, Miller argues that there are many positive,
if often overlooked, aspects to consumption. Miller attacks what he describes as the 'myth of
materialism', and argues that rather than undermining authentic relations (found in friendships,
family or the connections with the natural world), material possessions actually support a material
culture that can facilitate a rich array of valued relations between people and things. On these terms
Miller argues that more inclusive and sustainable societies can be built out of consumer practices.
In order for this to happen, however, Miller argues that we need to recognize the important political
role of consumption in shaping the socio-ecological relations around us.
Key reading
Miller, D. (2012) Consumption and its Consequences, Polity Press, Cambridge
