Sociology 125 Lecture 8 Tuesday, September 28 Consumerism

1. Sociology 125 Lecture 8 Tuesday, September 28 Consumerism Extra Film showing of films this week Because of the problem of the film showing Monday night, there will be extra showings on Wednesday & Thursday at 7:15 in room 1310 Sterling Hall. The film Shop‘Till You Drop will also be shown as a second film next Monday, October 4. The film, Taken for a Ride can be viewed on Google Videos at: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-2486235784907931000#

2. Four issues raised in emails • Time horizons & intergenerational externalities. • Skepticism about global warming • Alternative explanations of U.S. transportation system • Positive externalities and the price of transit tickets

3. Positive externalities & ticket prices • Suppose: (a) the direct costs of a ride = $3, and (b) there is some kind of negative externality = $1/ride • Then the true cost per ride = $4 • To cover these costs, the ticket price should be $4, not $3. • Now suppose: (a) the direct costs of a ride = $3, and • (b) there is some kind of positiveexternality= $1/ride • Then the true cost per ride = $2 • So, the ticket price should be only $2 • But the transit company has spent $3 in direct costs to pay for the ride. • Therefore the society has to somehow pay for the $1 of value everyone receives to reimburse the transit company for providing the ride.

4. Big Take-Home Message • from lecture on Transportation • For the free market to enable people to make efficient choices two things must be true: • There are no significant externalities – positive or negative – to your individual choice: what you chose does not affect other people. • The full range of feasible alternatives from which to make your choices can itself be provided by the market. • Transportation violates both of these principles: • People will make very different private choices depending upon whether or not there exists a good, efficient, cheap public transportation option, but the market itself can never provide this even if it would be economically efficient to do so.

5. Definitions Consumerism: The belief that personal well-being, happiness and status depend largely on the level of personal consumption, particularly the acquisition of material goods. Hyper-consumerism: the frenetic pursuit of consumer goods

6. Growth in median size of new home construction in the U.S., 1963-2007

7. % of new home construction 45 40 Over 2,500 square feet 35 30 25 20 15 Under 1,200 square feet 10 5 0 1973 1975 1977 1979 1981 1983 1985 1987 1989 1991 1993 1995 1997 1999 2001 2003 2005 Construction of Small & Big houses, 1973-2005 Over 2500 square feet Under 1200 square feet

8. What is wrong with consumerism?

9. What is wrong with consumerism? There are big negative externalities from consumerism Consumerism in fact does not make most people happy There are systematic biases in the system which generate consumerism. If these system-biases were eliminated, many – maybe most – people would adopt a less consumerist life style.

10. System bias #1: Profit maximizing strategies

11. 2 weeks of time 1 week of time

12. System bias #2: Market-failures in leisure

13. 9 weeks Number of hours more per year on average that Americans work than people in other countries 6 weeks 3.4 weeks .5 weeks

14. From Juliet Schor, The Overworked American, p. 130

16. System bias #3: Changing reference group for consumption norms

17. System bias #4: Credit cards

19. System bias #5: Rising inequality increases consumerism

20. System bias #6: Abandonment of public consumption by affluent