Examples Of American Materialism

Whether for better or for worse, all nations exist in a constant state of social and dynamic change; it is an inherent trait of populated lands. As an example of this phenomena, the United States of America is currently exhibiting changes in its citizens’ general priorities. With current substance-revering trends in the United States of America, it can be accurately stated that American materialism is growing in its pervasion. A material-oriented view on life is becoming increasingly conventional within American society. Boasting of the harmful impacts of this mindset, some citizens have claimed that ‘Americans are overly materialistic’ in their entirety. This claim is accurate to some extent; the significant development of materialism is self-evident,

The error in this claim, however, is asserting Americans, as a whole, to be excessively temporally-valued and greedy. That is indeed an overly simplistic conclusion of an intricate issue. Therefore, given the large population and subsequent myriad of varying conducts and habits of the United States of America, it is safe to say that not all American citizens are inordinately materialistic; this fallaciously premised statement is far too broad.

Seldom do broad claims accurately portray the sentiments of an entire nation. Comprised of thousands to millions of individual human beings, nations cannot possess collective character traits across their citizens in totality; not all Americans are overly materialistic. Essayist and social reformer Henry David Thoreau composed a book in 1854, reflecting upon the ideal of

The US has long been “cherished” for “its ‘melting pot’ ethos” (Hanson) across the world. Distinctive cultures bringing to America different sets of values, perceptions, and standards, America is considered a very diverse nation. It is supposed by some that regardless of this wide spectrum of cultural backgrounds, all American citizens are to blame for this commanding national theme of materialism. Influenced by Henry David Thoreau, author Wendell Berry, amongst more than forty-five written works, produced an essay titled “Waste” . This condemnatory passage leveled an argument at the nation that all Americans are “the victims and perpetrators” (Berry) of the Earth’s current state of decay. Mainly imparting this accusation upon American citizens for the deterioration of their land, Berry’s message doubles as one addressing the larger, contributing issue of materialism. Contrary to Thoreau’s opinion, Berry maintained that every American citizen should be equally blamed for the development of national materialism; to Wendell Berry, “all of us are involved in it.”, though “some of us … are unwilling perpetrators” . As American citizens, “we must count ourselves among the guilty nonetheless” (Berry). Returning to the topic of natural and innate cultural nuances, those individuals opposing materialism by virtue of these differences cannot be accused as ‘guilty’ . Due to the