ABSTRACT
Consumer culture consists of more than just an abundance of consumer goods. It also involves a personal orientation and a social sanction for desiring and acquiring these goods. The poor are forced into a situation in which they either have to spend what little money or resources they have on senseless consumer objects rather than basic necessities in order to deflect total social humiliation or face the prospect of being teased and laughed at. Consumer culture remains distinct from economic development, urbanization and globalization, even though these too have been concomitant changes as consumer culture has advanced. Despite humanitarian inclinations to condemn consumer culture on its face, the phenomenon is neither inherently good nor evil. The intent in the analysis that follows is to hold such judgments in abeyance in order to consider the consequences of consumer culture more openly and completely.
