Discussion 1
In the statement regarding the relative easy life of middle class Americans comes at the price of other's pain (Ervin, 2005), I would have to respond that I completely agree with this statement but from a different perspective. The North American middle class is usually the target of both big business and the government.
Many middle-class Americans do not realize the size of their role in this system of consumption and waste. No to mention, this a system of economics that is shared among many first world countries around the world and not just a problem that is associated with the United States.
The United States has a large middle class that is designed to be taxed more and subsequently spend more. It is a daily grueling system that is at the heart of bad financial habits, such as living month-to-month, that are near impossible to get out of. Advertising is a poison that eats away at us and effectively encourages us to make wrong decisions.
Our fascination with celebrities also compounds these bad decisions by planting deceptive seeds into our minds that we can be more like them if we follow a certain product. However, regardless of their awareness, the North American middle class is at the heart of the worlds consumption of resources and it is a machine that needs to be stopped.
The video was a fascinating representation of Americans and their consumer culture. The golden arrow, and the average Americans focus on it, was brilliant (Free Range Studios & Fox, n.d.). I was unaware of the horrifying statistics regarding America's percentage of the global population compared to its consumption and waste or the world's resources.
Also, the turn-around of America's economy growing but the average American's happiness shrinking, was pretty profound. I agree with Annie Leonard when she says that it may seem like a dream to be able to change the system into something that works better but doing nothing and keeping the same system and hoping for a better future is definitely a dream (Free Range Studios & Fox, n.d.).
Sources:
Free Range Studios (Producer), & Fox, L. (Director). (n.d.). The story of stuff with Annie Leonard. [Motion picture]. Unites States: Free Range Studios.
Ervin, A.M. (2005). Applied Anthropology: Tools and Perspectives for Contemporary Practice. (2ndEd.). United States: Pearson Education, Inc.
Discussion 2
Citing Johnston's 1994 research, Ervin writes, "The prosperity and relative ease of life of the North American middle class comes at the price of other's pain." (2005) Do you agree or disagree with this statement? Why do you agree or disagree?
I cannot completely agree with this statement, mostly because this statement puts all the blame on a whole class of people when those people really do not have much of a say in their overall consumption. On the surface, I suppose, this statement holds water, but the thinking behind it stops a little prematurely. Sure, you can blame the North American middle class for the mass consumption of goods, which in turn comes at the costs of "other's" pain, but I do not think the middle class can completely be blamed because they are not the ones who have engineered the market economy that they exist within.
The middle class are the victims of the upper classes policies via corporations in conjunction with their governments through the encouragement of consumption. In the video, The Story of Stuff, this very idea is explained to us. After World War II, the U.S. Government, with the help of a retailing analyst named Victor Lebow began devising the mechanism for consumerism.
In the words of Victor Lebow, "Our enormously productive economy . . . demands that we make consumption our way of life, that we convert the buying and use of goods into rituals, that we seek our spiritual satisfaction, our ego satisfaction, in consumption . . . we need things consumed, burned up, replaced and discarded at an ever-accelerating rate" (Free Range Studios, n.d.).
This consumerism does come at a cost to "other's", like the ones discussed in Chapter 9 of our textbook. Ervin (2005), explains to us through an example provided by Barbara Johnston, that in California these "other's" are the African American community.
Johnston enlightens us by explaining that serious health problems have arisen such as cancer, respiratory disease, and malnutrition among the African American community due to their close proximity to oil refineries and power stations (Ervin, 2005).
Reference:
Ervin, A. M. (2005). Applied anthropology: Tools and perspectives for contemporary practice(2nd ed.). United States: Pearson Education, Inc.
Free Range Studios (Producer), & Fox, L. (Director). (n.d.). The story of stuff with Annie Leonard Unites States: Free Range Studios.