By Michael Beck

In the ‘60s a tsunami of social change swept the U.S; within ten years it had burst out of its radical origins and transformed mainstream America. A rather stifling and materialistic early-postwar mindset morphed into a broad, creative megatrend, from civil rights and women’s empowerment to a renaissance in the arts and a space program that put a man on the moon.

Through the arts, especially popular culture and music, a new stylishness took root. Keeping-up-with-the-Joneses conformity gave way to more socially-conscious ideals. It became prestigious to work for the common good, whether in ending poverty, building social justice, or cleaning up the air and water. Scholarship for its own sake flourished while funding expanded in basic forward-looking scientific research.

Then even more quickly than it had appeared, the new consciousness evaporated. By the mid ‘80s, ‘greed is good’ had become the new chic. What had happened?

The ‘60s and ‘70s had not been kind to the trans-national conglomerates, the ‘military-industrial complex’ that had so troubled President Eisenhower. They had seen their prestige (and influence) sink to their lowest levels since the foundation of the modern corporation a century earlier. So they counterattacked. In a daring experiment in social engineering, they invested billions in a series of think tanks charged with a single goal: to re-frame the entire context of economic and political discourse in America.

Few investments in the history of money have yielded such enormous returns as this one. The stylishness of working for the common good dissolved before an onslaught of consumerism, self-indulgence, and disdain for idealism. Government, once embraced as an agent of positive change, became the problem rather than the solution, the enemy of the new center of prestige: the unbridled pursuit of self-interest. (For a full account of the cultural reframing of America, check out George Lakoff’s Don’t Think of an Elephant.)

From the point of view of the multinationals (which have never been more powerful) and their CEOs (who have never been richer), this societal revolution produced an unqualified success. For average Americans, however, benefits have been skimpy indeed. They have seen their real incomes decline, their safety nets fray away, and their work security evaporate as outsourcing swept their jobs overseas. And that was before the Great Recession hit in 2008. Record unemployment, foreclosures, bankruptcies, and such have raised stress to historic levels even as the wealth gap between the richest Americans and the rest of us has risen to its highest levels since the days of the robber barons a century earlier.

I am convinced, therefore, that the time has come for a full turn of the screw, with pressure building for a cultural revolution such as we experienced in the ‘60s. The hyper-consumerism of the last few decades has exhausted itself, not only in its failure to deliver concrete benefits to average folks, but also by creating a new set of ills: America – once the world’s greatest creditor – is now the greatest debtor. Natural resources are becoming scarcer even as the emerging nations scramble to corner them. Environmental barriers to growth are becoming more daunting. In the final analysis, the prestige of consumerism has consumed itself.

This new transformation will replace the mindset of throwaway materialism and planned obsolescence. Status and style will flow to people who work towards a sustainable economy with consumption based on durability and intrinsic value. Average workers will be able to regain their safety net, and prestige will be reinvested in the core values of building communities, strengthening families and friendships, and accepting responsibility for the health of the Earth.

Call it the postconsumers revolution. … I heartily invite you to share your comments and ideas, either below or on facebook.

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Photo: San Gabriel Mts. near Los Angeles, free of smog. Since the Clean Air Law was passed, smog has greatly decreased even as traffic in the area has more than doubled.

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