When U.S. soldiers returned home after World War II, they found a country quite different from the one they had left. Wartime production had helped pull America's economy out of the depression, and during the late '40s, young adults saw a remarkable rise in their spending power. Jobs were plentiful, wages were higher, and people were eager to spend. Between 1945 and 1949, Americans bought 20 million refrigerators, 21.4 million cars, and 5.5 million stoves, a trend that continued well into the 1950s. The massive growth of suburban populations meant an even bigger demand for automobiles. Families of all income brackets were buying televisions.
Historian Elaine Tyler May thinks that the federal government and the American people saw the new consumerism as a way to de-emphasize class differences while stressing traditional gender roles. Things that defined "the good life" were within their economic reach, so working-class people could achieve the upward mobility they craved.
And we haven't stopped filling our inner void with sparkling things ever since. As Kerryn Higgs, the author of Collision Course: Endless Growth on a Finite Planet said, the capitalist system depends on never-ending growth and it would simply fail if people were content with what they have. Over the course of the 20th century, capitalism preserved its momentum by molding the ordinary person into a consumer with an unquenchable thirst for its "wonderful stuff."
And the subreddit r/AntiConsumption illustrates this notion beautifully. Its 294K members criticize, question, and discuss everything consumerism-related, and provides clear-cut examples of how the system degenerated. What I like about this online community is that it isn't ringing alarm bells, declaring the end of times. Instead, it invites us to take a step back and look at the reality we have created for ourselves.
#1 Remember Kids, “Vegan Wool” Is Plastic. And When It Breaks, It’s Decomposition Will Not Be Friendly
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#2 Just Ewww
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#3 Put The Small Biz Before Big Biz
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#4 Me Everytime There Is A Discussion About Straws
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#5 What Up Water Homies
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#6 Right
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#7 There Are So Few Spaces Like This Left
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#8 Makes Sense
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#9 This Would Be Very Depressing
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#10 Less Ads More Content Follow
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#11 This
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#12 My Sister Asked Me To Buy These 2 Products For Her Birthday. This Is The Packaging For 10 Ml Of Product
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#13 To Keep Prices High . . .
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#14 Yep
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#15 Useless Stuff Indeed
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#16 I See This Every Year. Over 60,000 New iPhone & Samsung Cases Are Dumped Because They Won’t Fit The New Models
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#17 We Need A Different Economy
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#18 This "Low Plastic" Pen Is A Perfect Metaphor For Environmentalism Under Capitalism
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#19 This Really Hit Home For Me To See Today!
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#20 Sometimes That's Hard To Forget With All The Advertisements For Sustainable Clothing Brands
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#21 That's How I Feel About Most Of My Possessions
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#22 What A Beautiful Billboard
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#23 My Work Is Required To Have Paper Charts And Maps, But They Expire Every Couple Months. I Take The Expired Charts And Use Them As Wrapping Paper.
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#24 The True Cost Of Stuff
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#25 Great To See Out Society As A Whole, Progressing
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#26 No, Please Stop...
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#27 Absolutely Disgusting
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#28 It Do Be Like That
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#29 Some Decent Tips I Think
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#30 You Know When You Can't Figure Out If Something Is Satire?
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#31 Restaurant Ask Customers To Stop Wasting Buffet Food
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#32 Our Economy Thrives Off Insecurities.
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#33 My Sister’s Gender Reveal “Party”. Her Doctor Wrote The Baby’s Gender On A Piece Of Paper. At The End Of The Day The Whole Family Joined A Video Call Where She Unfolded The Paper! That Was It!
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#34 Brands Aren't Your Friends
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#35 Thoughts And Prayers ??
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#36 When A "Lovely" Handmade Gift Is Still Not Enough
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#37 A Brief History Of Consumption
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#38 Plastic Straws And Sandwich Cutters Aren’t The Devil
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#39 Bruh
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#40 Maybe Less.
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#41 ??
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#42 Did You Know That You Can Rewear Clothes? This Changes Everything.
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#43 Problem Solved
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#44 Croatian Company Made Their Toilet Paper Package With A Cool Dual Purpose
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#45 Old Bag New Life So My Mom Spent The Day Removing The Old Straps From Her Swimming Bag And Replaced Them With What She Had At Home: Some Old Cargo Straps. I Think The Colors Work Really Great With Each Other! Please Give Her A Thumbs Up!
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#46 Consumption Is Most Ravenous At The Top Of Society, Consuming Small-Businesses Too
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#47 We Have Reached Peak Wastefulness
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#48 Not Sure What They're Expecting
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#49 Thoughts?
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#50 Living In The 20's
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#51 Saw This In A Store In Amsterdam
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#52 Not Perfect Anti Consumption, But I Used Black Takeout Containers And Old Greeting Cards To Give Out Homemade Cookies This Year.
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#53 Words To Live By
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#54 Pointless. Absolutely Disgusting Use Of Co2
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#55 Banksy On Advertisements
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#56 ?
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#57 Permanent Permaculture
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#58 Thought This Belonged Here… It Drives Me Nuts How There Is Such A Purchase-Culture Around Fitness And Health
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#59 Bernie Showing Us All The Way.
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#60 Reposted From R/Whitepeopletwitter
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#61 Come On Guys, We're Not Buying Enough Worthless Crap
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#62 I Live In An Italian Region Which Produce 2 Milions Tons Of Apples. This Is Where My Supermarket Apple Is Coming From
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#63 Interesting Rock Found
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#64 It Always Wears Off ?
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#65 Had A Couple Of Friends Share This One.
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#66 Saw In Atl And Thought Of This Sub
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#67 All Those Gadgets Are Convenient... Until They’re Really Not.
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#68 Great Idea Stolen From Facebook
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#69 Everything Wrapped In Plastic, Everything Unhealthy, Everything Sponsored By Big Companies. This Is Not What Moral Leadership Should Look Like
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#70 Just Came Across This And I Just Wanted To Share It.
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#71 Starbucks Bans Plastic Straws
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#72 Wow.
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#73 Kardashian Calling Someone Cute For Having To Work 20 Hrs To Afford Their Jeans
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#74 "There's A Plastic Island The Size Of Texas In The Ocean" Written On A Bottled Water Ad.
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#75 You Are Enough
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#76 Found On Fb
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#77 "Why Not?"
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#78 The Consumption Loop
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