[haswell]

> But the culture of materialism and obsession with status was there well before social media has come into the picture.

This is a pretty gross generalization of an entire country filled with diverse people, a significant number of whom do not match this description at all, now or before social media.

On what are you basing this? This sounds like the kind of conclusion you might draw by using social media as a measuring stick.

[thrav]

My evidence is only anecdotal, but as someone who grew up in, and lived all over America, and lived abroad, I couldn’t agree more with OP. My friends in London, and their friends, many of whom grew up quite wealthy, were nearly indistinguishable from anyone else in London. They rarely bought anything (except drugs), even on vacation (I traveled with a few a couple different times).

In America, people proudly declare shopping a hobby.

[dogorman]

In the rural Pennsylvanian I grew up in, the multimillionaire family that owned the town plant went to the same church as most of the rest of the town (excepting catholics), sent their kids to the same public school, and generally socialized freely with the rest of the town. One of their daughters was the same age as me and, although not a friend, was a close acquaintance for as long as I can remember up until the end of highschool when I moved away. That family was as you describe, 'nearly indistinguishable' from the rest of the town. Nearly indistinguishable, except there was no mistaking who they were because the plant was named after them, as was the highschool's football field (which they apparently paid for.) Also, the nearest "shopping mall" was about half an hour away. Shopping as a hobby was alien to me, nobody I knew did that until I went to college.

Point is, America is a big place. If you think you understand America after watching a bunch of American movies and TV shows, you probably don't.

[haswell]

> In America, people proudly declare shopping a hobby.

In America, some subset of people declare shopping a hobby. And in the social media era, that subset amplifies that preference via their online presence.

To be clear, I’m not saying consumerism doesn’t exist; it clearly does. But if we’re going on anecdotes, I’ve generally experienced the opposite of what you describe. Not because what you describe doesn’t exist, but it doesn’t seem to play a major role in the lives of most people I come in contact with.

The wealthy people I do know don’t flaunt it, and would prefer to just live normal lives. They see wealth as a path to freedom, not stuff & things.

Social and news media both skew our perspectives on the world.

[thrav]

I agree with most of what you’re saying here, but something that I didn’t communicate well is how far reaching this consumerism is.

‘Everything is bigger in Texas’ is actually a legitimate characterization. Bigger portions, bigger houses, bigger vehicles, etc. (I grew up there, live in NorCal now)

Bigger => more consumption. You naturally buy less when you run out of places to put things. Europe is tighter. Public transit is better. Groceries are walkable, so you buy less more often, and only what you need => less waste.

Paper towels aren’t even really a thing over there. Of course they exist, but no one buys 24 packs. They use rags. Same story for toilet paper. They use bidets.

Most Europeans grow up playing football (soccer) or rugby and take up running as later life exercise. Americans are much more likely to exercise in ways that requires a bunch of purchases. They have space for home gyms that Europeans wouldn’t dream of, often even if they’re not wealthy.

There are fewer public spaces, so people seem more likely to consume during leisure time in whatever way suits them (like aforementioned shopping, nails, bowling, movies, gun range, etc).

Anyway… all of that to say my original comment was light on content, but there are massive cultural differences that go way beyond the way a few wealthy people present themselves that contribute to my sense that Americans are generally much more consumptive.

[marcellus23]

So you observed a difference between one set of people you know and another, and you're expanding that to the entire countries those people are from?

[thrav]

Did I make claims about entire countries, or did I readily admit that I was only sharing my own small taste, explicitly stating that it shouldn’t be sufficient for broad conclusions?

[haswell]

To be fair, the OP said:

> The biggest culture shock I had coming to North America, how materialistic, exhibitionistic and keeping-up-with-the-joneses *the whole culture is*

And you replied

> My evidence is only anecdotal, but as someone who grew up in, and lived all over America, and lived abroad, *I couldn’t agree more with OP*

You then went on to share your anecdote, seemingly to back up your opening statement. Maybe it wasn't your intent to make broad claims, but when reading your comment in the context of the parent comments, it's easy to conclude just that.

[thrav]

That’s fair. I appreciate the effort you put into the clarification.

I do agree with OP, but I do not believe either of us have provided sufficient evidence to establish our assertions as indisputable, and wouldn’t have expected my comment to be convincing.

It would be impossible to communicate the life experience that has led me to my belief in a written comment, so I guess a better response to the person who responded to me would’ve been: “I did not arrive at my conclusion in the way that you have suggested, but I do stand by my broad belief.”

[marcellus23]

You tell me:

> In America, people proudly declare shopping a hobby.

[thrav]

Did I say, “All Americans”? Or was I making a comment about a common occurrence within the country?

[marcellus23]

Oh, come on.

[jensensbutton]

Consumerism, in which purchasing is "related to the display of status and not to functionality or usefulness" was used to describe the American economy at least as far back as 1955.

[Karrot_Kream]

While this connection is tenuous at best, according to Hofstede's Cultural Dimensions Theory [1], the US is a pretty heavily "Indulgent" culture. In a comparison I did on the website between the US, Germany, Japan, and Egypt [2] the US (closely mirrored by the UK in fact) scores much higher on "Indulgence" than the other listed cultures. There's nuance here because the results for South Africa, for example, are pretty different than Egypt, but it does go to show that the US is a pretty indulgent culture which I can credibly see correlating with a consumerist mindset. That said, there aren't enough studies on this out there, and I think it would be interesting to conduct this kind of research. (And if there is research here I'd love to be offered papers to read!)

[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hofstede's_cultural_dimensions...

[2]: https://www.hofstede-insights.com/country-comparison/egypt,g...

[tablespoon]

> This is a pretty gross generalization of an entire country filled with diverse people, a significant number of whom do not match this description at all, now or before social media.

It's a generalization that probably has legs, though. IIRC, surveys show US culture is uniquely extreme in some areas (e.g. most individualistic in the world). Exceptions don't disprove a broad outline.

[i_haz_rabies]

The entire US economy is built around materialistic consumerism. To be fair, pretty much every developed economy is like this, but the US is kinda the poster child of waste and excess.

[GhettoComputers]

The sample bias is social media itself. What is Facebook filled with? It changed the focus exponentially, wealthy countries tend to have more virtue signaling and programs that are luxuries, and broadcasting it.

One of my favorite associations is of ice cream with Japanese demoralization during WW2. https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2017/08/ice-cream... https://www.militarytimes.com/off-duty/military-culture/2021... I remember a war memoir where a Japanese soldier was demoralized when he saw a luxury pleasure cruiser of ice cream that many Japanese POWs were made to serve the soldiers, and realized they lost the war when these existed.