Consumerism: A Morally Correct Choice?

Crawford 1

Consumerism: The Morally Correct Choice

Morality; …certain codes of conduct put forward by a society or a group (such as a religion), or accepted by an individual for her own behavior, or normatively to refer to a code of conduct that, given specified conditions, would be put forward by all rational persons. (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Feb 8, 2016)

There have recently been discussions in publications and the media about the evils of the American consumeristic society and the immorality of the normative lifestyle. Given the above definition of morality, the claims of America being a culture that is not adhering to common moral precepts is patently false. One can argue that changes in our culture might be beneficial to the

Novak points out that corporations should be creators of new wealth to alleviate poverty by employment and contribute to building a civil society. This is not a rebuke against commercialism, more of a caution towards industry leaders that they have a responsibility towards society to act in a morally upright fashion. Herein lies the crux of the matter, given that in this time and place that capitalism and consumerism is the socially accepted norm when does excess consumption of consumer goods occur? Peter Singer would have us believe that we should give until we reach the level that he calls, marginal utility. In his essay, “Famine, Affluence, and Morality” Singer asserts that as a nation, we should donate 40 percent of our gross national product to famine relief around the world, thereby slowing our own economy and perhaps eliminating our consumer society entirely. This proposal is unrealistic in the extreme, as who then will be able to donate to charity if all of us are reduced to just slightly above the level of those we are aiding? This is not to say that an equalization in the distribution of capital, is not in order, which goes back to the assertion of Novak that industry leaders should indeed be leading when it comes to the morality of consumerism. CEO compensation has risen at an alarming rate in comparison with employee compensation, and with the demonstrated lack of accountability for corporate wrongdoing in the upper echelons this leads to ethics violations by all. Ethical behavior in corporate culture has been waning for some time and in many instances, has become a culture of greed, with the emphasis on producing profit without examination of ethical considerations. This problem is outlined by Beth Azar in an article in the American Psychological Association. She