The Decline of Citizen­Democracy and the Rise of Consumer­Democracy

On the eve of the twenty­first century, much of America's discourse is commodity­ fixated­communication about and through commodities. "[A] significant portion of our daily public 'talk' and action is about objects (consumer goods), and about what they can do or should mean for us." ¹⁵¹ The commercialization of discourse not only affects our self­identity but also our identity in the American polity. That is, talking about and consuming commodities are now among our most significant "political" acts.

One of the pillars of our ideal of a republican form of government is an informed and active citizenry. Essential to this paragon of democracy is vigorous participation in the processes of representative government, reasoned decisionmaking, equal responsibility to the community, competent exercise of the franchise, and, when needed, meaningful dissent. Candidly, this eighteenth­century revolutionary notion of democracy ultimately cannot exist with a self­indulgent polity and a highly commercialized political state. Broadly speaking, today the "general will" has become the will to buy; the common good has become common goods; liberty from monarchical tyranny has become liberty for market choices; and the public forum has become the shopping mall. Civic republican norms of equality anchored in notions of mutual obligation run adrift in a sea of commercialism that equates equality with "keeping up with the Joneses." In short, our citizen­democracy has become, in Stuart Ewen's words, a "consumer democracy." ¹⁵²

In our consumer democracy, consumption is the raison d'etre. It is the "premise for 'human liberation,' to be attained in lieu of, and despite the failures of, social and political liberation." ¹⁵³ Indeed, the ethic of consumption now acts as the intermediary between the state and the individual. Consumption is "institutionalized, not as a right or enjoyment, but as the citizen's duty." ¹⁵⁴ Whatever is made of this insight, it animates the daily workings of much of our advertising. When one of the citizen's highest duties is consumption, the traditional values of political discourse can plummet to their lowest level.