Furthermore: Where the Headlines Take You

Will Shopping Save Us?

In times of economic trouble, there are always innumerable news stories about the rate at which we're buying stuff, surveys asking us how we feel about the strength of the market, and how that's affecting all the mysterious ways and means of The Economy. In the U.S., consumer spending is a pretty big slice of economic activity generally, so pundits argue that shopping may well be the thing that will save us. Reports last week that consumer confidence is up, and personal income and spending are steady are seen by some experts as an indication that the economy may be poised for a recovery. We're shopping and we feel good about shopping.

I find this connection between our personal spending activities and the overall health of the economy interesting, since there is so much written about how consumerism is damaging interpersonal connections and community vitality, encouraging obesity, endangering our personal privacy, and weighing us down with personal debt. Andrew Szasz takes an interesting angle on the subject of how rampant consumerism hurts us: his book Shopping Our Way to Safety examines the growing trend in "green" and "natural" products. Are they effective tools for nurturing natural ecosystems and making our homes safer? Do they shield us from having to address the real environmental problems we are facing? Szasz argues that buying greener products won't do it; to obtain true safety, we have to act together to create substantive environmental reform that addresses the root causes of environmental troubles.

Kate Bingaman-Burt is an artist whose work focuses on personal consumption. Her zine What Did You Buy Today? chronicles her own daily purchases. Each zine represents a month of buying things. For each day in the month, Bingaman-Burt has drawn a portrait of one of her purchases, and explained its purpose and how much it set her back. From headphones to groceries to craft supplies to utility bills, What Did You Buy Today? is filled with beautiful, charming drawings and descriptions that engage readers, and may even encourage some to examine their own personal consumption patterns. (Bingaman-Burt also publishes her daily consumption drawings on her blog, though I'd recommend looking at them in zine format for a truly rich and contemplative experience!)

But what if you're so poor you have very little opportunity to engage in consumerism? Stephen Pimpare's A People's History of Poverty in America looks at different aspects of our lives – sleeping, eating, working, family life, cultural engagement, political activity, and our desire for personal dignity and respect, among other things – from the point of view of people who are living with severely limited economic resources. It's an interesting set of questions to consider at a moment when our entire culture – not just big corporations and big advertisers – is entreating us to shop in order to salvage the world economy.