Consuming Ourselves to Death: How Consumerism Stabilises an Unsustainable Society

Abstract

How is a peaceful coexistence amid diversity on a finite planet possible? This article addresses this question through a cultural and social analysis of consumerism. Consumerism is interpreted not only as an objective of modernisation but also as a mechanism for stabilising societies characterised by social inequality, status competition, and weak forms of democracy. Since the globalisation of the Western model of development has led to a permanent war among human beings and against nature, a way out cannot lie in defending this model, but rather in its sustainable transformation. Alongside cultural change, social relations and democracy must be placed on new foundations, building bridges instead of walls.