This short assignment is designed to get you thinking about the concept of the A

Question

This short assignment is designed to get you thinking about the concept of the American Dream and consumerism.  You should write 400-600 words about how people define the American Dream and how consumerism fuels that dream. First, define consumerism and how you are an active or resistant participant in our consumer economy.  Give examples and anecdotes (short stories) to support your ideas here. Please make sure your entry is double-spaced!

Grammar does count for this assignment, but the content is also important. Please proofread and revise your draft using the steps below:

Print out your draft.Read it OUT LOUD.Make corrections with a pen as you read it.Type in corrections on the computer and go back to Step 1.Repeat three times.

Explanation / Answer

Answer.

American dream refers to consumption/ shopping leading to a vision of individual happiness and security based on ability to have more. American dream is materialistic as people are becoming more obsessed to shopping and buying unnecessary product. Previously people wanted to have good house or education but now adays people want everything that they can aspire to for example a good iPhone or good racing bike even though they would be already having good bike. People now want clothes or every single accessory to be purchased. Shopping is not bad but conspicuous shopping or obsessed shopping leads to accumulation on unnecessary things, wastage of time and money. Now adays there are so many advertisements of how a material or product whether its car, phone, clothes can make us happier, trendy or more fulfilled. For example wearing a GAP t-shirt, Calvein Klein jacket, expensive car, sporty car or having an expensive latest version of iphone would aid pursuit of happiness. American dream is more like what brand one wears, who tries to make his dream happen and measuring happiness success and quality of life rather than what we actually require.

American dream is giving more to consumerism and lot of debt than individual’s happiness. Nowadays, people wanted to have flashy cars eventhough they don’ have that much financial status, but aspiring or buying expensive cars would led to lot of debt and many would have fallen out of workforce looking for job. The American dream of becoming breadowner of the family have been led to working long hours just to climb financial status in order to make good money for the family. Individuals are influenced to buy new, expensive products and to buy more and more things and companies producing more just to keep the economy going. No matter how much earns, is always less to purchase new stuffs. This has then lead to emergence of credit cards by banks, by which if one does not have money can buy things and can return later. This has given space to debt rather than happiness. The pursuit of happiness and freedom that were once quotes of American dream has now given space to debt, slavery, loneliness. Consumerism has lead to different types of consumers such addicted, status driven consumer who will purchase things that they are even not capable of financially.

Therefore, American dream resulted into vast psychological and physical emptiness, pollution to environment (mass production of cheap electronic items has lead to major problem of electronic waste disposal).

In todays world its quite difficult to resist the consumerism of American dream but one can surely resist to some extent by becoming socially responsible consumer. One can try to recycle or resuse the purchased products rather than buying new one which actually puts burden of disposal on environment. Self concerned buyers also can actually contain the extent of conspicuous buying and purchasing only things that are necessary or required rather than for status symbol.

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