Tag: consumer culture

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  May 31, 2026

  Why We Consume More Than We Need: Duesenberry’s Theory of Consumption and Saving

  Why do people continue spending even when their income falls? Why do some households feel poor despite earning relatively high salaries? And why does consumption seem to spread through society like a social contagion? These questions were addressed by economist James Duesenberry in his influential 1949 book Income, Saving and the Theory of Consumer Behavior.…

• May 13, 2026

  Daniel Bell and the Cultural Contradictions of Capitalism

  Capitalism is often understood as an economic system based on markets, private property, competition, productivity, and growth. However, for the sociologist Daniel Bell, capitalism was not only an economic structure. It was also a cultural system, and this cultural dimension created one of its deepest contradictions. In his influential book The Cultural Contradictions of Capitalism,…