Reflective Journal for Business & Society- myassignmenthelp.com

Question: Discuss about theReflective Journal for Business Society. Answer: Introduction The affluent society is a society where there is no scarcity of the material benefits. The goods are available in a wide range so that the individuals can have a feasible access to a prosperous lifestyle (Black and Pemberton, 2017). In present time, the affluent society is also termed as a consumer society. A consumer society can be explained as a society where there is rising affluence, the key focus of the individuals is on construction of lifestyle, image building, and presentation of individual identity, investing time of leisure activities, increased consumption and having recognized social status (Baudrillard, 2016). With thorough readings, I have identified that globalisation; consumerism and increased technology have resulted in increased number of consumer societies. Reflective Journal: The affluent society is a consumer society There are several consequences which have occurred because of the continuous development of the consumer societies. Just like most of the people, I also used to believe that if we have enough purchasing or buying power then we must replace our goods and take use of innovating and new technologies and goods. But gaining insights from the reading I really have a good understanding of the various consequences of living in a consumer society and also its negative implications for the future generations. In a consumer society, the older goods are replaced with the newer ones. The consumers purchase the products, take use of those goods and then throw them and then new goods are purchased by the consumers (Goodwin, Ackerman and Kiron, 2013). There can be have replacements and few modifications and those goods can be reused but people have a good amount of money to purchase new products so they instead of taking use of those goods just replace them with newer ones. All such aspects of a con sumer society lead to increased level of unemployment, depression and recession. In the consumer society the craving for goods is increasing with a rapid rate and so the desire of the individuals. With the increased income a level, the purchasing power of the consumers also keeps on improve and upsurge. It is a rat race where people are striving hard to earn more and more and on the hand coping up with the increased level of work related tensions and stress. I have also agree that people are losing their present and a peaceful life for achieving the materialistic benefits to have a more leisured and luxurious lifestyle. I also certainly believe in the cataphrase that in a consumer society, The rich get richer and the poor get poorer (Yang, 2017).It is one of the most negative aspects of a consumer society that there exists economic inequality which results in increased buying power of few of the individuals and decreased living standards of few of the other segments of the society (Storper, 2010). The material wealth is now the key aspect that decides whether a society or a nation is considered as highly developed or not. There is increased dependence upon the devices which are labour saving as in homes people take use of automated machines and technologies for casual work so atht they dont have to invest their time in work harder for such non-leisure activities. Such over dependence on the devices that are labour saving give rise to a more concrete form of consumer society. The increased level of ecological imbalances is also one of the outcomes of consumerism and consumer society as for attaining a more lavished lifestyle with huge number of goods and services and this directly depletes the environment, weather and the natural habitat and eventually increase the number of health issues and level of pollution (Autio and Heinonen, 2004). There are wide consequences in context with the work as people work to attain materialistic benefits, comfort life, luxurious goods, high purchasing power and possession of techno savvy gadgets. All such aspects of the consumer society force people to earn more and more for maintaining their standard of living which affects both their health as well as the personal associations (Firat, et al., 2013). Conclusion I had a great understanding of the negative consequences and implications of the increasing number of consumer societies across the globe as every single action of the consumer society is associated with its relative implication that affects the lives of other individuals too. The world is more of a global nation where the consumption and actions of few individuals also have a widening and in-depth impact for the people residing in other overseas regions. I have also realized that, we as the consumers must analyse our buying power and must purchase goods of necessity rather than buying goods for hiking up our living standards and possessing luxurious lifestyle. By such small initiatives, there can be a big change in the societies and the issues associated with the development for consumer society can be declined and the individuals can once again attained a more satisfactory and peaceful life with increased level of economic equality. References Autio, M. and Heinonen, V., 2004. To consume or not to consume? Young peoples environmentalism in the affluent Finnish society.Young,12(2), pp.137-153. Baudrillard, J., 2016.The consumer society: Myths and structures. Sage. Black, L. and Pemberton, H., 2017.An Affluent Society?: Britain's Post-war'Golden Age'Revisited. Routledge. Firat, A., Kutucuoglu, K.Y., ArikanSaltik, I. and Ungel, O., 2013. Consumption, consumer culture and consumer society.Journal of Community Positive Practices,13(1), pp.182-203. Goodwin, N.R., Ackerman, F. and Kiron, D. eds., 2013.The consumer society(Vol. 2). Island Press. Storper, M., 2000. Lived effects of the contemporary economy: globalization, inequality, and consumer society.Public Culture,12(2), pp.375-409. Yang, Q., 2017.Interpreting gentrification in China: the rising consumer society and inequality in the state-facilitated redevelopment of the central city of Chengdu(Doctoral dissertation, University of British Columbia).