47 pages • 1 hour read
John de Graaf, David Wann, Thomas NaylorAffluenza
Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 2001A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Themes
Overconsumption
Overconsumption is a collective phenomenon by which we, as a society, produce, sell, buy, and consume more than we actually need. The negative results of this process—a culture of overwork, environmental waste, widespread lack of personal fulfillment, and health issues—are detailed throughout the book. According to the authors, what lies at the foundation of these complex issues is a simple proposition. If current trends in consumption are harmful and unsustainable, then we are indeed overconsuming as a species and consequently need to change.
This idea is well-encapsulating by the appeal in Chapter 1 to the contrast between the geological age of the earth and the impact of humanity upon it (13-15). Although we have inhabited the planet for a very short segment of its history, we have already profoundly transformed the earth. We are in danger of depleting many of its resources, and have already extinguished numerous other species. This suggests a distinction between the natural course of the earth and the interruption of this course by human beings (sometimes called the Anthropocene by other writers). The evidence suggests that we are using the planet at a rapidly unfeasible rate: the authors claim that it would take the resources of five planets to provide every person on earth with a quality of life comparable to that of the average American (79). Simply put, human beings have been taking more from the earth than the earth itself can sustain, a broad trend that the authors denote by the term affluenza; that is, “a painful, contagious, socially transmitted condition of overload, debt, anxiety, and waste resulting from the dogged pursuit of more” (1).
The Age of Affluenza
If our present expectations around consumption exceed the capacity of the planet, then there is something unnatural or artificial about overconsumption. Accordingly, the authors argue that affluenza is not part of some inherent human drive for success or material possessions, but is in fact the product of a particular historical trajectory encompassing large-scale economic, political, and cultural forces.
If affluenza is the outcome of a certain historical process, where and when did it begin? According the authors, the “Age of Affluenza” refers to the economic, political, and cultural arrangement that began to solidify in the United States after 1945. For postwar American society, the good life came to be defined as a life in which market forces could and should satisfy our every human need. Happiness, belonging, entertainment, leisure—all of these important facets of human existence slowly became associated with buyable and sellable products in the marketplace. As a result, we bought more and more, and have never really stopped. This American way of life is the single most successful export that the nation has ever created: it has remade the world in its image, and thereby defines the historical moment in which we live.
Climate Change and the Environment
For the authors, if there is an objective indicator of just how dire the consequences of affluenza are, it is climate change and the state of the environment in the 21st century. As with all economic systems, the levels of production, distribution, and consumption in the Age of Affluenza entail a certain use of our natural environment and resources. Although the marvels of modern capitalism allow us to enjoy a range of previously unthinkable goods and service—everything from microwaveable dinners to smart phones to low-cost air travel—these products come at a slow and often unseen environmental cost.
As we look ahead to the rest of the 21st century, climate science suggests that the degree of global consumption in the Age of Affluenza is starting to bring about serious, irreversible effects. Rising sea levels and severe weather, drought and famine, and the displacement of massive portions of the human population are all distinct possibilities for our near future. For the authors, countering affluenza may be more a matter of human survival than a moral or spiritual argument about our current economic system. If the planet itself cannot support existing consumption, then there is no better sign that as a species, our habits need to change.
Advertising
Consumption is fueled by the twin causes of need and desire: one only buys what they need to survive, or, if their essential needs are met, what they want or desire in order to be happy or satisfied. One of the main themes of Affluenza is that so many of our perceived wants and needs are manufactured by the advertising industry. From childhood onwards, we are bombarded daily by dozens of messages in a variety of formats telling us that buying a certain product will bring us any number of positive outcomes: not just a full stomach or good health but joy, power and status. This is why advertising is “the prime carrier of the affluenza virus” (141).
For the authors, our present economic system is predicated on growth and profit, so that creating and multiplying our desire for things is its central aim, regardless of social or environmental costs. Moreover, the fulfillment of imaginary wants and needs brings us a false, merely temporary satisfaction, with the result that affluenza never really delivers what it promises. We are left with an empty but highly-destructive social structure that the advertising industry assures us couldn’t possibly be better. By introducing readers to responses like Buy Nothing Day (196-97) or the concept of voluntary simplicity (170-72), the authors hope to provide us with tools to fight back against the very sophisticated and successful tactics of the advertising industry in advancing the affluenza virus.
