Before I launch into today's blog, let me note that yesterday (3/5) I posted a description of the paper assignment for this course. I do not plan to hand out a hard copy, so just refer to that post to get the details of that assignment.
FAMILY ACTIVITY: As I announced in class yesterday (3/5)in preparation for our upcoming midterm exam, I want each of you to begin formulating some midterm exam questions. At the beginning of our next class (Tues. 3/10), I will give the families time to brainstorm some questions from material we've covered since the beginning of the term and then submit FOUR short-answer questions (AND ANSWERS) to me by Thursday (3/12). I will try to accept at least two questions from each family to include on the midterm exam. For each additional question (beyond the two) that I accept from each family, that family will earn an additional bonus point. So, you may earn up to two bonus points for this exercise. This exercise is worth 4 points and you have to participate to earn those points. Finally, let me stress that I will need those questions NO LATER THAN THURSDAY (3/12)so that I may post them on this blog by Friday and you can study them for the midterm exam on Tuesday, March 17.
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ADDITIONAL LECTURE NOTES ON "AFFLUENZA"
Chapter 18: An Emerging Epidemic
A. Opens with a very appropriate comment from none other than Erich Fromm in his book "The Sane Society" (from which the concept of the "pathology of normalcy" comes)about the "vision" of our consumer society -- what I would call "pig heaven." (p. 146)
B. In contrast to such a vision, the authors note how Ameicans willingly sacrificed and accepted rationing to defeat a common enemy during WWII. (curious how Bush never tried to do this with the "war on terror," or Iraq -- no sacrifice, just go shopping.)
C. After WWII, not to mention the deprivation of the Great Depression, there was tremendous pent-up demand which was initially given a boost by the GI Bill and low interest government loans (FHA), and a bit later the Interstate Highway System.
1. All of this was a tremendous boon to the suburbanization of America -- the growth of the auto industry and all sorts of consumer products to fill those increasingly big suburban homes.
D. In short, the good life became the GOODS life (pig heaven). "Waste not, want not," Benjamin Franklin once admonished. But the new slogan might have been Waste More, Want More." (p. 147)
E. "Planned obsolescence" became the order of the day. Products were made to last only a short time, or there were continual upgrades in style. GM had already introduced the idea of annual model changes in the car industry, to encourage people to buy a new car every year.
F. Of course, most Americans did not have the money to keep pace with all this, so consumer credit expanded tremendously. Became a "buy now, pay later" world.
G. The mall was invented and quickly spread mainly in suburban areas where the car was king.
H. The authors summarize many of these developments, and throw in for good measure the rise to television. (See mid p. 150) TV advertising and shows having the effect of "stretching reference groups," as Juliet Schor will stress in our next book, The Overpsent American.
I. Critics such as Vance Packard, John Kenneth Galbraith, and the counterculture movement of the '60s raised a red flag, but really to no avail. Also, an interesting comment from Bobby Kennedy when he was running for President in '68: "we will find neither national purpose nor personal satisfaction in a mere continuation of economic progress, in an endless amassing of worldly goods....The gross national product includes the destruction of the redwoods and the death of Lake Superior." (p. 152) President Carter was the last president to question the spread of affluenza, also to no avail of course.
Chapter 19: The age of affluenza
A. This chapter is mainly about the title of the first section, ADFLUENZA. "That advertising's prime purpose is to promote affluenza is hardly a secret,..." (p. 154) Then, see comment of Pierre Martineau, marketing director for the Chicago Tribune. (mid p. 154)
B. The costs of ads are phenomenal -- a typical 30-second national TV commercial costs nearly $300,000 to produce -- that's $10,000 a second! Advertising is a $217 billion a year industry. And its everywhere, as we know: billboards, school buses, coporate logos on some texts, product placement in films, even outer space was considered.
C. We live in an era of hypercommercialism. Advertising encourages us to meet nonmaterial needs (love, etc.) through material ends. Buy this product and we'll be loved and accepted. It's all about image.
D. The graph on p. 158 exaggerates the upward "consumption spike" (just as the earlier graph on species extinction did). Nonetheless, consumption has unquestionably increased greatly.
E. The authors close this chapter with some critical thoughts from conservative economist, Wilhelm Ropke. (See last 3 paragraphs, p. 159, very perceptive)
Chapter 20: Is there a (real) doctor in the house?
A. That is, a real doctor in contrast to the "spin doctors," which is what this chapter is mainly about.
B. But the authors begin by again making use of the doctor/medical analogy. Though there is all sorts of evidence (or symptoms) of the spread of affluena, as we've seen, we tend to look the other way -- "told over and over again (by the spin doctors)that the market will provide. But will it?"
1. "How many millions of Americans are wheezing with affluenza, yet remain stubbornly in denial?" (p.161)
C. Although we may be aware of how pervasive advertising has become, "few people really understand the other dimension of marketing -- an undercover (PR) industry that creates and perpetuates our commercial culture." (p. 161) They go on to give numerous examples of how powerful this PR campaign is. For example --
1. Actually working behind the scenes to sabotage a book critical of some aspect of business.
2. Funding "front groups" which have the appearance of being reputable, such as the American Council on Health and Science (note the funders, p. 163)
3. Note successful earlier campaigns to defend cigarettes and leaded gas.
4. PR firms which have sought to sow doubt regarding the global warming problem -- suggest it may actually be good for us. Video entitled "Greening of the Earth" emphasizing all the crops we'll be able to grow, ignoring the spread of tropical diseases, droughts, floods, hurricanes, rising sea levels, economic disruption.
5. PR has infiltrated the news media -- significant percentage of news stories generated by "spin doctors" or PR "journalists."
D. The consequences may be dire, given the speed we seem to be travelling at. (See last paragraph, p. 170)
That brings us up to Part Three, where we'll start on Tuesday 3/10.
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