Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun The movement seeking to protect and inform consumers by requiring such practices as honest packaging and advertising, product guarantees, and improved safety standards.
  • noun The theory that a progressively greater consumption of goods is economically beneficial.
  • noun Attachment to materialistic values or possessions.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A policy of protecting and informing consumers through honesty in advertising and packaging, improved safety standards etc
  • noun A materialistic attachment to possessions
  • noun An economic theory that increased consumption is beneficial to a nation's economy in the long run.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun the theory that an increasing consumption of goods is economically beneficial
  • noun a movement advocating greater protection of the interests of consumers

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

consumer +‎ -ism

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Examples

  • Evolution and applications of the term consumerism: theme and variations.

    Get Over Nation 2008

  • It requires strengthening the social fabric of neighborhoods, communities and social movements so that we have more occasions to talk to one another as citizens because if we don't -- in the absence of meaningful democratic citizenship, the illusion of consumerism is likely to get the better of us.

    Steven Crandell: Annenberg's Alchemy Steven Crandell 2010

  • In So Sexy So Soon, Diane E. Levin and Jean Kilbourne teach us about how commercialization and consumerism is quickly destroying childhood.

    Archive 2009-10-01 2009

  • In So Sexy So Soon, Diane E. Levin and Jean Kilbourne teach us about how commercialization and consumerism is quickly destroying childhood.

    Book Review: So Sexy So Soon by Diane E. Levin and Jean Kilbourne 2009

  • Is rampant consumerism is essential to sustain economic growth?

    In Praise of Temperance, Arnold Kling | EconLog | Library of Economics and Liberty 2009

  • America should make more stuff but America should buy less stuff because consumerism is bad. jimbo Says:

    Matthew Yglesias » The Strong Dollar 2009

  • This happens in consumerism, when people are ensnared in a web of false and superficial gratifications rather than being helped to experience their personhood in an authentic and concrete way.

    About that social encyclical... 2009

  • It requires strengthening the social fabric of neighborhoods, communities and social movements so that we have more occasions to talk to one another as citizens because if we don't -- in the absence of meaningful democratic citizenship, the illusion of consumerism is likely to get the better of us.

    Steven Crandell: Annenberg's Alchemy Steven Crandell 2010

  • It requires strengthening the social fabric of neighborhoods, communities and social movements so that we have more occasions to talk to one another as citizens because if we don't -- in the absence of meaningful democratic citizenship, the illusion of consumerism is likely to get the better of us.

    Steven Crandell: Annenberg's Alchemy Steven Crandell 2010

  • We were going to go in, come out and be done with it, a simple exercise in consumerism without going overboard.

    I got stuck in a mall this weekend « Dating Jesus 2009

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