Consumerism principle
I agree that Wealth, power, and equality book written by James William Ainsworth addresses contemporary issues that affect the modern world. The arguments are linked to contemporary social problems, such as educational disparities, discrimination, wealth, sexism, and racism. It contains case studies of various philosophers such as Daniel Chambliss, Marx weber, and Karl max. Each essay contains information that is relevant to modern society. The audience is tasked with exploring structures of gender, racism, principles of social stratification, and contemporary critiques in life. Similarly, ageism, sexual harassment, American income inequality, and white wealth vs. Black wealth are captured in the book. Besides, the book provides the audience with in-depth knowledge of factors that contribute to gender stratification, race, and social mobility. The purpose of the argumentative paper is to explore consumerism relevance, basing the argument on the theories of Marx, Simmel, Sahlins, Weber, Tonnies, and Durkheim.
Consumerism
Consumerism principle explores the purchasing power of the consumers that determine their wellbeing and happiness at a personal level. Consumerism primary significance is the satisfaction is material possession and consumption capabilities of goods with disregard to social classes. In a general view, consumerist society leads a happy life. For example, most of the United States people are Hyper-consumerist, whereby they experience shopping as a recreation activity. However, there is a hallmark in the society whereby people exceed their consumption limits ending up in debt.
William Chambliss believed that economic crime was representative of rational responses that were attributed to inequality and competitiveness life in capitalist society. For example, drug trafficking is believed to harbor a lot of innovation to succeed in the money laundry with intentions of breaking the laws as minor risks. America uses a capitalist principle in the growth of its economy (Chambliss & Eglitis, 2018). It is understood that egalitarian communities that are developed through mutual assistance and values of co-operation have a lower crime rate due to reduced inequality economic distribution. The black economic development of African Americans resulted from racism and segregation by the whites. It undermined the consumerism of the blacks and minorities in America.
In Chambliss’s context, it is significant that economic crimes are attributed to income inequality results in detrimental consumption of many people in contemporary society. Interests for material wealth at the expense of exploiting the communities vulnerable have increased the wealth gap in modern society. Capitalist considers the protection of private property and disregard the plight of homeless people in the United Kingdom. For example, there are 300,000 houses compared to 100,000 homeless in the U.K. therefore, the capitalist has negatively affected inequitable consumerism parities (Ainsworth, 2013).
Barbara Risman postulated the theory of gender as a social structure. She believed that gender inequality was attributed to institutional, interactional, and individual levels in the modern community. She developed her feminist theory in addressing social stratification. She acknowledged the contribution of cultural change in addressing gender equality. There are three significant studies that she based on interviews she did with young people (Risman, Froyum, & Scarborough, 2018). She explained gender, sexuality, and contribution of federal grants to universities in gender transformation. Form the theories of Risman, and she discussed how gender inequality, sexism, and gender transformation affected people’s wellbeing. Such factors affect consumption equality among people due to limited purchase.
Eduardo Bonilla-Silva theorized the racial economy of emotions. Economic emotions were common to racialized societies such as African Americans. Racism affected the moral fiber and social mobility of the minority groups, especially in the U.S., the colorblind racism affected people’s wellbeing, resulting in income inequality. Income inequality affects the purchasing power of people leading to low rates of consumerism (Ben-Porat & Yuval, 2016). Similarly, Juliet Schor explained that consumerism is an aesthetic value to contemporary American culture. However, artificial consumer culture has led to human dissatisfaction. Consumption has led to power alienation and class inequality. Therefore, reduced social mobility has led to income inequality that is attributed by capitalist economists.
Theories
Karl Marx believed that the Bourgeoisie and its ideologies hold power. The legal system prevents revolution and promotes false consciousness among the masses. He believed that the capitalist system helped criminal behaviors, and the law was developed to satisfy the interests of the capitalist elites at the expense of the poor. Besides, he believed that capitalist class crimes were costly compared to street crimes. Selective law enforcement was prevalent among the marginalized with limited adherence to the classy group (Korsch, 2016). He further postulated that capitalist encouraged people to become materialistic consumers resulting in unrealistic lifestyles. Finally, he believed that capitalism had increased poverty and inequality, which results in higher crime rates. According to Karl Marx, I concur with his argument on the effects of capitalism. It has led to power disparities and materialistic consumption. Poverty and inequality have been attributed by capitalist economists, which call for pursuant of self-interest affect consumption rate, income inequality, and selective law enforcement.
Marx Weber developed the bureaucratic model that addressed the rationale based on various principles. He believed that the success of bureaucracy was to fulfill the following features. He advocated for political neutrality and specialized roles based on the competencies of the employees. He believed that supremacy of abstract rules and careerism was to be accompanied by a realistic salary structure. Additionally, he acknowledged uniform transfer, promotion, and principles of placement as a rationale administrative system. However, in contemporary society, such principles are rarely accorded (Symonds, 2016). For example, you find people working for many hours that do not translate to the salaries they get. The capitalist amass wealth under the exploitation of the employees. Administrative systems are corrupt and are not based on qualifications and competencies. Such instances cause income inequality that affects the consumption rate negatively. The purchasing power of the majority of people is below their standards due to exploitation.
Personal stance about consumption
The economic status of the people determines consumption. However, due to the effect of capitalism by Karl Max, the majority of people cannot command high purchase power. Consumption principle aims to improve the wellbeing of the people, which is only applicable to the wealthy class. Consumption can also be determined by the bureaucratic model of Max Weber, which is not appropriate in contemporary society. Therefore, unequal distribution of wealth in modern society has affected the consumption rate of the people.
In conclusion, the argumentative paper has proved that consumption is an aesthetic value among people, which is governed by the effect of capitalism and bureaucracy. However, increased crimes, economic inequality, and economic emotions affect rationale consumption.