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How Do We Change Society?
Ruchira Shah | Thursday 26th February 2009
 One of the things that struck me when I was in Denmark was how much blatant consumerism is frowned upon. My friends told me that in Denmark people look down on you if you own a flashy car, because no one wants to seem "better" than anyone else. As a former Angeleno, where your status is directly related to how nice your car is, this concept was exceedingly strange to me.There are a lot of reasons why Copenhagen is a "green" city, but I think this lack of elitism is a huge contributer. But this begs the question: how do we change societal attitudes in societies which value conspicuous consumerism? How do we make other societies more like Denmark? How do we create more societies where elitism is frowned upon, and people compete to be as non-consumerist as possible? What do you think? |
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Wendy G 31 March 2009 I have two cars (one a Mercedes diesel) that are older than some people who have already have children (24 years old). They are by no means flashy, but they do what they are supposed to do and the diesel is actually quite fuel efficient. Other members of my family, who used to work for GM, were getting new cars every 1-2 years. I haven't had a new car since 1989. That thing, an Isuzu, blew a gasket and took the engine with it. So, part of my "green choice" is recycling of cars and engines. Why buy new when the value goes down as soon as you drive off the lot? We are also interested in converting one of our cars to an electric, which is more of a dream than a "can do" thing at the current moment.
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Kevin Long 27 February 2009 Perceptions:
There are some cultures that put a priority on looking the people who have 'more' and think, "I want that. I can and should have that." There are other cultures that put a priority on looking at people who have 'less' and think, "Thankfully I am not in that situation." How do we encourage people to compete to be as non-consumerist as possible? -Lead by example. Perceptions are contagious. |
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Beth Terry 27 February 2009 I think we have to take responsibility for ourselves first. Be the change. Set the example. It seems simplistic maybe, but how can we change society without changing ourselves?
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anami Cloud 26 February 2009 i think this is a very astute observation. i think the greatest social change can come from small actions. Creating a a lack of elitism by looking down on those with flashy cars as opposed to basic modes of transportation helps green a city, And even more so to compete t be as non consumerist as possible. In that same vein of thought, government would be a lot less corrupt if the pay were the same as the average teachers salary, there were no perks and taking kickbacks for votes got you put in the slammer ind made ineligible to serve. I think we would see major changes in our lawmakers in that more appropriate persons would hold the jobs.
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