Generation less
Kaya Purchase on the people who believe that less is more
“Our enormously productive economy demands that we make consumption our way of life, that we seek our spiritual and our ego satisfaction in consumption. We need things burned up, worn out, replaced and discarded at an ever-increasing rate.” Victor Lebow, Journal of Retailing (1955)
Think back to 1955 – a time before supermarkets and Black Friday, before every household had a TV (or three), before you would order a simple coffee and be assaulted with a myriad of choices as to how it is made. And already consumerism was a problem.
It is clear that the mentality that the Western world had adopted, even in the fifties, wasn’t sustainable. We were being manipulated to feel that buying stuff we didn’t need would make life better and us happier. But surely if this was the key to spiritual satisfaction, then wouldn’t we all be in Nirvana by now? And how long could a ‘throw-away culture’ really be sustained before we’d have to take responsibility for its implications?