Consumerism and the Impact of Social Class

“People in a consumer society consume to improve their quality of life; there are costs associated with this practice (financial, time, ecological, societal and human) for the individual and the collective” (McGregor).
Associated in this piece is the concentration in the belief of consumerism’s affect on the societal structure in terms of the social class standards, between lower, middle, and upper class sections. The dependent variable is consumerism; the rise in spending and its involvement and impact in the economy and social standards of today’s society. Independent variable is the focus of socioeconomic status and social class; concerning the idea that wealth allows greater amounts of consuming, however the lower class strives for similar status in the material and nonmaterial goods.
Factors that provide consumerism in society and the economy are the buying of consumer goods, which has expanded in recent decades to national and global lengths. Consumerism is said to be the reason that the U.S. had turned citizens into shoppers, making Americans less free to the economy and the market. Globalization; the process of goods and services over national boundaries, is a rising factor, due to the buying, selling and networking of products globally. Countries like the U.S. China have benefitted by the globalization, but also have impacted their society and culture, from the influence of cultural differences, negatively and positively. Some believe that the dependence on global trade is lessening the sovereignty America has on liberty to our own nation, and the dependence on foreign goods. The change in the labor levels from the post war and industrial revolution days, from Americans being viewed as the hardest working citizens to the largest spending citizens on the globe (Barber).
From a political standpoint, President