Читать книгу Sociology - Anthony Giddens - Страница 254

One important ‘manufactured risk’ is environmental damage caused by patterns of mass consumption. Consumption refers to the goods, services, energy and resources that are used by people, and it is a phenomenon with both positive and negative dimensions. On the one hand, rising levels of consumption around the world mean that people are living under better conditions than in the past. On the other hand, mass consumption has negative impacts too. Consumption patterns can damage the environmental resource base and exacerbate patterns of inequality.

It has been argued that industrial capitalism sets societies on a ‘treadmill of production’ leading to environmental damage, using up natural resources at a rapid rate and generating high levels of pollution and waste (Schnaiberg 1980). However, in the twentieth century it was modern consumerism which kept that treadmill running faster in this direction (Bell 2011). Consumption is something that human beings have to engage in to survive, but modern consumption is very different from earlier forms.

Mass production must be accompanied by large-scale consumption. The products of industry have to be bought and consumed, though producing and consuming may well be carried out in geographically distant locations. Products are made wherever it is cheapest to do so and consumed wherever the best price can be gained. In the past sixty years or so, this has led to industrial production moving to developing countries. The rapid transformation of the newly industrializing countries (NICs), such as Hong Kong, South Korea, Singapore and Taiwan in the 1970s and recent industrial development in India, China and Malaysia, testifies to this, which is part of the globalization process.

Sociologists also view consumerism as a way of thinking, a mentality or even an ideology (Corrigan 1997; Campbell 1992). We can understand this aspect if we ask why people continually consume and want to consume. Perhaps it is simply because consumer goods have ‘use-value’ for people, helping to save them time and effort. But luxury items fit this explanation less well. They show another side to modern consumerism – its role in the social status competition within society (see chapter 12, ‘Social Interaction and Daily Life’). Differentiated mass consumption allows for complex, fine-grained distinctions to be made according to the styles and fashions of the day. People may be prepared to pay a premium for the latest fashions because these products allow them to say something about themselves, to communicate their status or aspirations in a highly visible way. Even products with a clear use-value, such as clothes, are also fashionable items that are discarded and replaced before their ‘use-value’ has expired. Large amounts of such fashion-fuelled waste increase pressure on the environment.

Over time, consumer products become embedded into the routines of everyday life and are taken for granted. When this happens, it becomes difficult to think there is an alternative. Concerns about plastic pollution and its effects on marine life led to charging for plastic carrier bags and the promotion of stronger, ‘bags for life’ aimed at breaking shoppers’ routine expectation of free plastic bags and educating them at the same time. This is a simple example of targeted, pro-environment behaviour modification. Similar campaigns continue today in relation to ‘fast-coffee’ cups, straws and lids and a range of plastic packaging from major retail chains.