Consumerism is a social and economic order that encourages the acquisition of goods and services in ever-increasing amounts. With the industrial
revolution, but particularly in the 20th century, mass production led to overproduction?the supply of goods would grow beyond consumer demand, and so manufacturers turned to planned obsolescence and advertising to manipulate consumer spending. Experts often highlight the connection of
consumerism with issues like the growth imperative and overconsumption which have larger impacts on the
environment, including direct effects like overexploitation of natural resources or large amounts of waste from disposable goods, and larger effects like climate
… Read more change. Similarly some research and criticism focuses on the sociological effects of
consumerism, such as reinforcement class barriers and creation of inequalities.
Anarcho-
primitivism is a political
ideology that advocates a return to non-"civilized" ways of life through deindustrialization, abolition of the division of labor or specialization and abandonment of large-scale
organization technologies. Anarcho-primitivists critique the origins and progress of the Industrial
Revolution and industrial
society. According to anarcho-
primitivism, the shift from hunter-gatherer to agricultural subsistence during the Neolithic
Revolution gave rise to coercion, social alienation and social stratification. Some anarcho-primitivists state that prior to the advent of
agriculture humans lived in small, nomadic
bands which were socially, politically, and economically
… Read more egalitarian. Being without
hierarchy, these
bands are sometimes viewed as embodying a form of
anarchism. Primitivists hold that following the emergence of
agriculture the growing masses of
humanity became evermore beholden to technology (techno addiction) and abstract power structures arising from the division of labor and
hierarchy. Anarcho-primitivists view civilization as the logic, institution, and physical apparatus of domestication, control, and domination. They focus primarily on the question of origins. Civilization is seen as the underlying problem or root of
oppression, and they believe that civilization should therefore be dismantled or destroyed. Murray Bookchin and many other class struggle oriented and social anarchists criticize
primitivism as offering "no way forwards in the struggle for a free
society" and that "often its adherents end up undermining that struggle by attacking the very things, like mass
organization, that are a requirement to win it"
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