Order this film along with In Debt We Trust: America Before the Bubble Bursts - DVD , and you'll receive a free copy of the DVD "The Story of Stuff"
Summary:
In
this powerful new video, Juliet Schor scrutinizes what she calls "the
new consumerism"--a national phenomenon of upscale spending that is
shaped and reinforced by a commercially-driven media system. She argues
that "keeping up with the Joneses" is no longer enough for middle and
upper-middle class Americans, many of whom become burdened with
debilitating debt as they seek to emulate materialistic TV lifestyles.
Drawing
on her academic research, Schor explains the cultural forces that cause
Americans to work longer hours and spend more than they can afford in
order to participate in a consumption competition with others. The
video illustrates with numerous examples how more and more products are
being used as social communicators to demonstrate material success. The Overspent American
challenges the inevitability of the consumer lifestyle by proposing
alternatives to the work and spend cycle that has so many Americans
feeling trapped and unfulfilled. The video draws attention to--and
ultimately raises serious questions about--the costs (both financial
and societal) of relentlessly searching for happiness and identity
through consumption.
Sections:
The Cycle of Work and Spend/ The Stretching of Reference Groups/ The
Visible Lifestyle/ The Costs of Overspending/ Getting Off the Consumer
Escalator
Logistical Information:
Producer & Editor: Kelly Garner
Executive Producers: Loretta Alper & Sut Jhally
Biographical Summary:
Juliet Schor , a professor of Sociology at Boston College, is the author of The Overworked American: The Unexpected Decline of Leisure and The Overspent American: Upscaling, Downshifting and the New Consumer . She has co-edited The Golden Age of Capitalism: Reinterpreting the Postwar Experience , The Consumer Society Reader , and Sustainable Planet: Solutions for the 21st Century .
Her research over the last ten years has focussed on issues pertaining
to trends in work and leisure, consumerism, the relationship between
work and family, women's issues and economic justice. Currently, she is
working on a project dealing with the commercialization of childhood.
She is also a board member and co-founder of the Center for a New American Dream .
Watch the trailer below: