consumer society

is objectivizing in every respect. In a consumer society an 'attractive' person is tantamount to a package of qualities that are sought after on the personality market depending on the fashion of the time. As such, two persons thus fall in love when they feel they have found the best object available on the market, considering the limitations of their own exchange values.

Our whole culture is based on the appetite for buying, on the idea of a mutually favorable exchange. . . . . For the man an attractive girl and for the woman an attractive man are the prizes they are after. 'attractive' usually means a nice package of qualities which are popular and sought after on the personality market. What specifically makes a person attractive depends on the fashion of the time, physically as well as mentally. . . . Two persons thus fall in love when they feel they have found the best object available on the market, considering the limitations of their own exchange values. Erich Fromm

 makes inroads into our mental space, hijacking attention, the faculty through which we encounter the world directly.

the faculty through which we encounter the world directly. In a consumer society, it is hijacked by advertising and commercial forces that try to make inroads into our mental space. This assault has gone so far that 'silence is now offered as a luxury good.'

is a society in which there are inevitably two kinds of slaves: the prisoners of addiction and the prisoners of envy.

In a consumer society there are inevitably two kinds of slaves: the prisoners of addiction and the prisoners of envy.

consumer society, n.Definitions

consumer society