HISTORY OF IDEAS - Consumerism | The School of Life

Dictation 2020.08.11

For most of history, the overwhelming majority of the Earth inhabitants have owned more or less, nothing: the clothes they
stood up in, some bowls, a pot and a pan, perhaps a broom.  And if things are going really well, a few farming implements.
Nations and peoples remained consistantly poor. Global GDP did not grow at all form year to year. The world was in aggregate
as hard up in 1800 as it had been at the beginning of time.

However, starting in the Early 18th century, in the countries of Northwestern Europe, a remarkable phenomenon occurred. Ec-
-onomies began to expand and wages to rise. Families who'd can never before have any money, beyond what they need to just to
survive, found they could go shopping for small luxuries, a comb or a mirror, a spare set of underwear, a pillow, some thicker
boots or a towel. Their expanditure created a virtuous economic cycle: the more they spend, the more business grew, the more
wages rose. 

By the middle of the 18th century, observers recognized that they were living through a period of epochal change that historians
have since described as the world's first consumer revolution. It was in Britain where the changes were most marked, enormous
new industry sprang up, to cater for the wide spread demand for goods that had once been the preserve of the very rich
alone. In England cities, you could buy furniture from Chip'n'Dale, Hepplewhite, and Sheraton, pottery from Wedgwood and 
Derby; cutlery from smitheries of Sheffield; and hats / shoes, dresses, featured in best-selling magazines like the Gallery
Of Fashion, and the Lady's Magazine. Styles for clothes and hair, which had formerly gone unchanged for decades now altered
every year, often in extremely theatrical and impractical directions. 

In the early 1770s, there was a craze for decorated wigs so tall that their tops could only be accessed by standing on a
chair. It was fun for the carnooists. So vivid and numerous with the consumer novelties that the austere Dr Johnsons Riley
wondered where the prisoners will also soon to be hanged in a new way. 

The Christian church looked on and did not approve. Up and down England, clergy man delivered bitter sermons against the
new materialism. They called it vanity, which was a sin. Sons and daughters ought to be kept away from shops; God would 
not look kindly on those who paid more attention to household decoration that the state of their souls.

But there now emerged an intellectual revolution that sharply altered the understanding of the role of vanity in an
economy.

In 1723, a London physician called Bernand Mandeville published an economic tract titled The Fable of the Bees, which pro-
-posed that contrary to centuries of religious and moral thinking, what made countries rich, and therefore safe, honest,
generous spirited, and strong was a very minor, unelevated, and apparently undignified activity -- shopping for pleasure.

It was the consumption of Mandeville called "fripperies" -- hats, bonnets, gloves, butted dishes, soup tureens, shoehorns,
and hair clips, that provided the engine for national prosperity, and allowed the government to do in practice what the
church only knew how sermonize them about in theory, make a genuine difference to the lives of the weak and the poor. 

The only way to generate wealth, argued Mandeville, was to ensure high demand for absurd and unnecessary things. Of course,
no one needed embroidered handbags, silk-line slipperies, or ice creams, but it was a blessing that they could be prompted
by fashion to want them, for on the back of demand for such trifles, workshops could be built, apprentices trained, and
hospitals funded. Mandeville shocked his audience with the starkness of the choice he placed before them: a nation could
either be very high-minded, spiritual elevated, intellectually refined, and dirt poor; or a slave to luxury and idle con-
-sumption, and very rich.

Mandeville's dark thesis went on to convince almost all the great AngloPhone economists and political thinkers of the
18th century. There were nevertheless some occassional departures from the new economic orthodoxy. One of the most spirited
and impassioned voices was that of Switzerland's great philosopher Jean Jacques Rousseau. 

Shocked by the impact of the consumer revolution, on the manners and atmosphere of his native Geneva, he called for a re-
-turn to a simpler, old way of life, of the sort he had experienced in Alpine villages or read about in travelers counts
of the native tribes of North America. In the remote corners of Appenzell, or the vast forest of Missouri, there was blessedly
no concern for fashion, and no one upmanship around hair extensions. Rousseau recommended closing Geneva's borders and
imposing crippling taxes on luxury goods, so that people's energies could be redirected towards nonmaterial values. 

He looked back with fondness to the austere, martial spirit of Sparta. However, even if Rousseau diagreeed with Mandeville,
he did not seek to deny the basic premise behind his analysis. It truly appeared to be a choice between decadent consumption
of wealth on the one hand; and virtuous restraint and poverty on the other. It was simply that Rousseau unusually preferred
virtue to wealth.

The parameters of this debate have continued to dominate economic thinking ever since. We reecounter them in idealogical
arguments between capitalists and communists, and free marketeers and environmentalists. But for most of us, the debate
is no longer pertinent. We simply accept that we will live in consumer economies, with some very unfortunate side effects
to them: crass advertising, and food stuffs that are unhealthy for us, products that are disconnected from any reasonable
assessment of our needs -- all this in exchange for economic growth and high employment. We have chose wealth over virtue.

An irony laden acceptance of this dichotomy is what underpined the approach of the many pop artists in mid 20th century
America. For example, Claes Oldenburg developed a reputation for taking modest consumer items, many of them food related,
and reproducing them at enormous scale, usually in outdoor settings in vibrant polyestral vinyl. In city squares where one
might once are expected to find statues in honor of political leaders or religious saints, one now came across outsized 
hamburgers, giant cheese cakes, huge fries decked with ketchups, or perhaps Oldenburg's most famous work: a 12-meter high
stainless steel inverted ice cream cone. 

Oldenburg's vast versions of small things playfully directed our attention to the peculiar dependence of modern economies
on the mass consumption of what are, in human terms, some deeply negligible products. Yet the scale of Oldenburg's objects
was only superficially absurd, because it rather precisely reflected their actual importance in our collective economic
destinies. Nevertheless, as Oldenburg seemed to concede, it was peculiar to be living in a civilization funded on the back
of buns and sweeten tomatoes paste, a benthos hinted at by the deflated detumescent appearence of many of the giant burgers,
hotdogs, and pizzas.

The one question that's rarely been asked is whethere there might be a way to attenuate the dispiriting choice, to draw 
on the best aspects of consumerism on the one hand, and high-mindedness on the other, without suffering their worst sides.
-- moral decadence, and profound poverty. Might it be possible for a society to develop that allows for consumer spending,
and therefore provides employment and welfare, yet of a kind directed at something other than vanities and superfluities?
Might we shop for something other than nonsense? In other words, might we have wealth, and a degree of virtue? 

It is this possibility of which we find some intriguing hints in the work of Adam Smith, an 18th century economist too 
often read as a blunt apologist for all aspects of consumerism, but in fact, one of its more subtle, and visonary analysts.
In his book, the wealth of nations published in 1776, Adam Smith seems at points willing to concede to key aspects of Man-
-deville's argument. Consumer societies do help the poor by providing employment based around satisfying what are often
rather sub-optimal purchases. Smith was as ready as other economists to mock the triviality of some consumer choices while
admiring their consequences. All those embroidered handkerchiefs, jewel snuff boxes, and miniature temples made of cream
for desert, they were flippent, he conceded, but they encourage trade, created employment, and generated immense wealth,
and could therefore be firmly defended on this score alone.

However, Smith held out some fascinating hopes for the future. He pointed out that consumption didn't invariably have to
involve the trading of frivolous things. He had seen the expansion of the Edinburgh book trade, and knew how large a market
higher education might become. He understood how much wealth was been accumulated through the construction of Edinburgh's
extremely handsom and noble New Town. He understood that humands have many higher needs that require a lot of labor and
intelligence and work to fulfill, but they lie outside of capitalist enterprise has conceived of by realists like Bernard
Mandeville. 

Among these, our need for education, for self-understanding, for beautiful cities, and for rewarding social lives. The 
ultimate goal of capitalism in Adam Smith's view was to tackle happiness in all its complexities, psychological, and not
just merely material. 

The capitalism of our times still hasn't entirely come around to resolving the awkward choices that Bernard Mandeville and
Jean Jacques Rousseau circled, but the crucial hope for the future is that we may not forever need to be making money of
rather exploitative, silly, or vain consumer appetites, that we may also learn to generate enormous profits from helping 
people, as consumers and producers, in the truly important and ambitious aspects of their lives. 

The reform of capitalism hinges on an odd sounding but critical task -- a new kind of consumerism, the conception of an
economy focused through buying and selling services and goods focused on our higher needs.


epochal
英['epəkəl]美['epəkəl]
释义
adj.
新纪元的，划时代的，有重大意义的

Chippendale
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Chippendale
Thomas Chippendale (1718–1779) was born in Otley in the West Riding of Yorkshire, England in June 1718. He became a cabinet-
-maker in London, designing furniture in the mid-Georgian, English Rococo, and Neoclassical styles. In 1754 he published a
book of his designs, titled The Gentleman and Cabinet Maker's Director, upon which success he became renowned. The designs 
are regarded as representing the current British fashion for furniture of that period and are now reproduced globally. He 
was buried 16 November 1779, according to the records of St Martin-in-the-Fields, in the cemetery since built upon by the 
National Gallery. Chippendale furniture is much valued; a padouk cabinet that was offered for auction during 2008 sold for
£2,729,250.[1]

Hepplewhite
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Hepplewhite
George Hepplewhite (1727? – 21 June 1786) was a cabinetmaker. He is regarded as having been one of the "big three" English
furniture makers of the 18th century, along with Thomas Sheraton and Thomas Chippendale. There are no pieces of furniture
made by Hepplewhite or his firm known to exist but he gave his name to a distinctive style of light, elegant furniture that
was fashionable between about 1775 and 1800 and reproductions of his designs continued through the following centuries. 
One characteristic that is seen in many of his designs is a shield-shaped chair back, where an expansive shield appeared 
in place of a narrower splat design.

Sheraton 
Thomas Sheraton (1751 – 22 October 1806)[1] was a furniture designer, one of the "big three" English furniture makers of
the 18th century, along with Thomas Chippendale and George Hepplewhite.[2] Sheraton gave his name to a style of furniture
characterized by a feminine refinement of late Georgian styles[1] and became the most powerful source of inspiration behind
the furniture of the late 18th century.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Sheraton

Wedgwood
玮致活（英语：Wedgwood，一般音译：威治伍德，“玮致活”是使用于台湾的官方中文名）是一家英国陶瓷公司，由约书亚·威治伍德创立于1753年，是英国工业革命
时代设立的工厂之一，并且在1987年与瓦德福水晶（Waterford Crystal）合并成为瓦德福玮致活（Waterford Wedgwood），合并以前的管理者大多是达尔文-
威治伍德家族成员。

Sheffield
Sheffield is a city and metropolitan borough in South Yorkshire, England. Historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire
its name derives from the River Sheaf which runs through it. With some southern suburbs annexed from Derbyshire, the city
has grown from its largely industrial roots to encompass a wider economic base. The population of the City of Sheffield 
is 584,853 (mid-2019 est.)[3] and it is one of the eight largest regional English cities that make up the Core Cities Group.
[4] Sheffield is the second-largest city in the Yorkshire and the Humber region and the third-largest English district by
population. The metropolitan population of Sheffield is 1,569,000.[2]

Gallery of Fashion
https://artsandculture.google.com/exhibit/gallery-of-fashion-victoria-and-albert-museum/pwKS3WPWCVUsKQ?hl=en

The Lady
The Lady is one of Britain's longest-running weekly women's magazines. It has been in continuous publication since 1885 
and is based in London. It is particularly notable for its classified advertisements for domestic service and child care;
it also has extensive listings of holiday properties.

Dr Johnson
Samuel Johnson (18 September 1709 [OS 7 September] – 13 December 1784), often referred to as Dr Johnson, was an English 
writer who made lasting contributions to English literature as a poet, playwright, essayist, moralist, literary critic, 
biographer, editor, and lexicographer. Religiously, he was a devout Anglican,[1] and politically a committed Tory. The 
Oxford Dictionary of National Biography describes Johnson as "arguably the most distinguished man of letters in English 
history".[2] He is the subject of James Boswell's The Life of Samuel Johnson, described by Walter Jackson Bate as "the 
most famous single work of biographical art in the whole of literature".[3]
塞缪尔·詹森（英语：Samuel Johnson，1709年9月7日－1784年12月3日（儒略历）[1]），常称为詹森博士（Dr. Johnson），英国历史上最有名的文人之一，
集文评家、诗人、散文家、传记家于一身。前半生名声不显，直到他花了九年时间独力编出的《詹森字典》（A Dictionary of the English Language），为
他赢得了声誉及“博士”的头衔，博斯韦尔后来为他写的传记《约翰逊传》记录了他后半生的言行，使他成为家喻户晓的人物。

Bernard Mandeville
Bernard Mandeville, or Bernard de Mandeville (/ˈmændəvɪl/; 15 November 1670 – 21 January 1733), was an Anglo-Dutch philoso-
pher, political economist and satirist. Born in Rotterdam, Netherlands, he lived most of his life in England and used English
for most of his published works. He became famous for The Fable of the Bees.
伯纳德·曼德维尔（英语：Bernard Mandeville 或 Bernard de Mandeville，1670年11月15日－1733年1月21日），哲学家，政治经济学家和讽刺作家。他出
生于荷兰鹿特丹，一生大部分时间生活在英国，大部分出版作品都使用英语。他因为《蜜蜂的寓言》而出名。

bonnets
[ˈbɔnɪts]
释义
n.
童帽( bonnet的名词复数 ); （烟囱等的）覆盖物; （苏格兰男子的）无边呢帽; <口>（女子戴的）任何一种帽子

tureens
[təˈri:nz]
释义
n.
有盖的汤盘，盛汤的碗( tureen的名词复数 )

shoehorn
英[ˈʃu:hɔ:n]美[ˈʃuhɔrn]
释义
n.
鞋拔
vt.
硬塞进

trifles
英[t'raɪfəlz]美[t'raɪfəlz]
释义
n.
无价值的东西( trifle的名词复数 ); 琐事; 少量; 乳脂松糕
v.
轻视，小看( trifle的第三人称单数 )

anglophone
英[ˈæŋgləʊfəʊn]美[ˈæŋgloʊfoʊn]
释义
n.
讲英语的人

Appenzell
Appenzell is a historic canton in the northeast of Switzerland, and entirely surrounded by the canton of St. Gallen.
Appenzell became independent of the Abbey of Saint Gall in 1403 and entered a league with the Old Swiss Confederacy in 
1411, becoming a full member in 1513. It has been divided since into Appenzell Innerrhoden and Appenzell Ausserrhoden 
since 1597 as a result of the Swiss Reformation.
The territory of Appenzell as a geographical entity is known as Appenzellerland while in political contexts, the two 
cantons (until 1999 half-cantons) are referred to as beide Appenzell ("both Appenzells").

upmanship
英['ʌpmənʃɪp]美['ʌpmənˌʃɪp]
释义
n.
高人一等的作风

decadent
英[ˈdekədənt]美[ˈdɛkədənt, dɪˈkednt]
释义
adj.
堕落的，颓废的; 文艺颓废期的，颓废派的; 衰微的

marketeers
释义
n.
市场商人（marketeer的复数形式）

crass
英[kræs]美[kræs]
释义
adj.
愚笨的; 粗鲁的; 非常的，彻底的

laden
英[ˈleɪdn]美[ˈledn]
释义
adj.
满载的，负载的; 受压迫的
vt.
装载(lade的过去分词

Claes Oldenburg
克莱斯·欧登柏格（瑞典语：Claes Oldenburg，1929年1月28日－），瑞典公共艺术大师，1950年毕业于耶鲁大学，1956年定居纽约市，此后三十年，他发表了
许多的雕塑、素描、绘画及行动艺术等作品。

polyestral
翻译
多中心

benthos
英['benthəʊs]美['benthoʊs]
释义
n.
海底生物，海底的动植物群; 洋底

detumescent
英[ˌdi:tju:'mesnt]美[ˌditju'mesnt]
释义
adj.
消肿的，退肿的

snuff
英[snʌf]美[snʌf]
释义
vt.
剪（烛）花; 扑灭，熄灭（烛光）; 消灭，扼杀; 嗅
vi.
死去; 熄灭（火焰）; （伤风鼻阻时）呼呼地吸（气），吸入; 闻，嗅
n.
烛花，灯花; 鼻烟; 气息

flippent
翻译
轻率的