The Overspent American By Juliet Schor: Summary

Socio-cultural factors that make us believe that Americans overconsume and overspend
The Overspent American published in 1998 by Juliet Schor explains why so many American’s are materially unsatisfied and why American’s work increasing longer hours yet still feel they are not accomplishing their goals or fulfilling their needs. The general concept of The Overspent American is that we are spending more money than we are earning The books seems as relevant today as it did more than a decade ago. The book is targeted toward middle and upper-income families, who seem to be caught up in a never-ending cycle of keeping up with the Joneses, no matter who the Joneses are. Schor also explains why American’s are saving less although they know they should. Schor attributes this to the culture American’s live in where spending has no limits, nor self-discipline or advertisers. In this book, the author talks about many factors have led to the overspending, out of them a few that stood out the most to me will be discussed in this paper.
The author in the book talks about that people have become greedier over the years. Schor explains that Americans are tightly bound to their personal items as it reflects their personal identity. People have started working

Surveys show that many people have started believing that materialism is ruining the country, corrupting our values, and damaging our children. We desire for simpler times, when people cared less about money and more about each other. After drugs and crime, people are now see materialism as the gravest problem affecting American families. Schor talks about the various individuals who have moved away from constant pressures to spend to people who are now embracing voluntary simplicity. These people have made a promise to stop buying unnecessary material goods and