Transcendentalism - A Counter To Consumerism?
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Mar. 13, 2024 • By Jason Elhilow & Jacob Celani
DescriptionAn essay delving into the topic of consumerism and how Transcendentalism could fix it.
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IntroductionConsumerism IS the modern world. More than ever, we work our whole lives to buy things, companies saying this and that, promising the next magic device or life-altering piece daily. But how did we get here? Why has society become so hooked on money and material? And can we decouple from it?
Things started in the mid-1800s, with the Industrial Revolution in full force throughout the West. Factory work was becoming the standard, with low wages, horrid conditions, and the overall depressing lifestyle it offered wearing out many. So some fought back to return humanity to a more “natural” state, back to the simplistic and spiritualistic days of yesteryear. They were Transcendentalists.
The bulk of Transcendentalists lived in New England, many in the state of Massachusetts alone. Multiple names may come to mind: Emerson, Whitman, Dickenson, Fuller. But of them all, the most prolific and iconic is Henry David Thoreau, who will be our focus. He authored Walden, a collection of writings penned during his two-year, two-month, and two-day stay near the pond of the same name in Concord, Mass., putting his deep beliefs to the challenge. For him, nature was a reflection of God. For him, instinct and individualism reigned supreme. And these were no different from his Transcendental peers. At Walden, he lived in a small, self-built cabin, learning to survive with what only nature could provide, totally isolated from the increasingly industrializing world of the 1840s. That was the test, and in his eyes, it was a complete success. Afterward, he slowly reintegrated into civilization, becoming an avid activist/abolitionist until his death in 1862. Yet his work cannot ever be ignored, acting as a tangible testament to the possibilities of the philosophy.
To Thoreau, man had “no time to be anything but a machine,” a fact that is scarily mirrored in today’s world (Thoreau 2). The idea that we are all cogs in a machine of endless purchasing, that we are all trapped in this world of getting money only to spend it and collect things all our lives just to die, is beyond relevant. Our lives are seemingly tied to that. Our purpose is to consume.
So, let’s look at some examples of the materialistic ways we live and, with them, see how a Transcendentalist like Thoreau would see and solve it. Because sometimes, seeing a different perspective can reveal truths never thought imaginable, and THAT can lead to a better life for all.
Apple & The Power Of LuxuryApple is a staple of the modern consumer life. They are a trillion-dollar technology company regularly setting the standard for what buyers expect their devices to do, and have trapped people in its “ecosystem” of products—iPhones, iPads, MacBooks, AirPods, and Apple Watches; the list can go on. Their main power is held not in range or quality, but in pricing. They absolutely make high-end products, but there is a certain luxury to Apple, a certain status that comes when you hold one of their devices. Think about it. Why does someone REALLY have an iPhone? Why do YOU have an iPhone? They're a good product, sure. But so are many Android phones. There is something else to them. And that, that hold, is precisely what Apple wants.
Now what would a Transcendentalist say to this? From Walden’s first few pages, some insight can be offered, with Thoreau finding most of the luxuries and comforts of life “not indispensable” and a “positive hindrance” to the “elevation of mankind” (Thoreau 6). Of course, this is not a reference to Apple specifically, just a general one to the idea of indulging and enriching your life with man-made products, seeing reliance on that instead of self-discovery and personal work as harming your well-being.
One more quote really wraps things up for what they would think, as when Thoreau mentions the frivolous nature of homes in the Economy chapter, he says that most appear to have never “considered what a house is” and are “needlessly poor all their lives because they think that they must have such a one as their neighbors have” (Thoreau 12). This idea of luxury, of keeping up with others and what they have, of pure and simple jealousy due to a simple home size (or fruit-shaped logo), is at the core of this situation. Ultimately, people just need a phone or a laptop, but instead get an iPhone or MacBook, because that is what everyone else has. Apple gives in to desire and luxury, and that desire for luxury gives in to Apple. The only thing they give you is a decent product and a massive hole in your wallet.
Amazon & The Addiction Of ConvenienceApple has some competition in the consumerism race, though. No more clearly can this be seen than in the behemoth that is Amazon, as due to their ability to offload large quantities of items at once, they can sell them cheaper than the average business or even chain stores such as Target or Walmart. Not to mention the convenience of ordering online and having said item delivered the next day. Has this allowed us to be blindsided by convenience?
Amazon was/is the pioneer of “one-click” ordering, and as Graeme Pente put it in their The Flawed Utopia of Consumerism piece, it allows them to “purchase an item from the online store” without having “second thoughts,” its cost and their wealth “represented abstractly as numbers” on their profile, all “without having to get dressed, leave their house, or interact with another human.” When you put what many do daily in such simple words, it sounds nearly magical. And horrifying. That is the world we live in. It’s easy, revolutionary, impressive, and depressing.
A quick passage from Thoreau says it all, feeling like an almost direct call out of the company (reminder, this guy has been dead for over one hundred and fifty years): “The improvements of ages have had but little influence on the essential laws of man’s existence; as our skeletons, probably, are not to be distinguished from those of our ancestors” (Thoreau 5). He and other Transcendentalists would see Amazon as just another attempt to deepen the scars the Industrial Revolution left. Whether we are getting something from Jeff Bezos or a merchant on the street or a friend, it is all just a product. And their solution would be to ask WHY. Why are you getting it? What is convincing you to buy something? Question the world around you, and don’t let an addiction to convenience or comfort trick you into wasting what little you have to get what you don’t need. Because, after it all, your skeleton will be no different from another.
Stanley & The Power Of MarketingTrends. TikTok. Cups. Sensationalism and scarcity marketing are already making their mark in 2024, as things started with the craze of container company Stanley’s Quencher Tumbler, which has become fairly well known between Target/Starbucks collabs and other limited-time drops. This is the most comparable to the Hydro Flask fad of 2019, and is no different from the insanity behind Beanie Babies, Fidget Spinners, and recently with Crocs. Marketing is such an essential part of consumerism, and the idea of hopping on a trend is the most un-Transcendentalist thing anyone could conceive.
The basics of this have been best summed up by Alyssa Hardy in Are Stanley Cups the Latest Attempt to Cure Our Loneliness Through Mass Consumerism?, as she mentioned that “value is often determined not by the product itself or the price tag, but by the fact that a whole bunch of people have it.” This Stanley situation seemingly has a similar look to Apple, though while their product has multifaceted use cases, the Quencher “will surely fade out of style, and something new will take its place. Buying into something just because it's popular is a fruitless endeavor… especially when one functional cup turns into a haul of cups. If… you're buying in to be part of something, it won't do much in the long run.”
The superficiality of it all is at the core of this version of consumerism. People work all their lives making meager wages, barely getting by, yet will go out and buy a bunch of… cups? Just because they’re “cool.” That is the epitome of consumerism, and the antithesis of Transcendentalism.
Unsurprisingly, this concept is nothing new, meaning Thoreau has a quote that fits like a glove. He abstractly said in Walden how he once had “three pieces of limestone” on his desk, but was “terrified to find that they required to be dusted daily,” when the furniture of his mind was “all undusted still,” throwing them out the window “in disgust” (Thoreau 12). Many Stanleys are bought to literally accumulate dust. To him, products will always lose their value; the mind and nature, on the other hand, never need to be bought or cleaned, just appreciated. Thoreau pierces through all of the noise, all of the buzz, all of the buying, all of the promises, to realize that what he NEEDS has been with him the whole time. And that is something all should take note of.
ConclusionNow, can Transcendentalism fix society? With all of this proof of how consumerism has invaded our lives, is escape possible? Do we want to flee the endless cycle of buying and collecting, creating everlasting debt just to hold a slight sense of comfort? Maybe. So let’s take their beliefs, take the words of Thoreau, and try to augment them to the current day to solve this.
Firstly, get off the Internet. Get away from technology. Get away from the world. This does not have to do specifically with consumerism or even Transcendentalism, though: getting out in nature (not just “outdoors,” but in actual nature), is good for you regardless. There you can spend less time worrying about others, worrying about the next trend, and more on yourself and the beauty around you.
Secondly, don't work your entire life. Of course, Transcendentalists come from a place of privilege, and we need money to stay alive in this world. But your time on this Earth is worth far more than a dollar sign should. Don’t let labor wither away your soul; enjoy what you do have, not dream of what you don’t. Because when you do that, the claws of consumerism will grab you, your money draining away as a new shiny toy joins your collection of auctionable assets.
Thirdly, and most importantly, be a bit more self-reliant. Should you go to the extent of building a cabin at Walden Pond and living like a hermit for years on end? No! But knowing how to live by yourself, appreciating alone time, and questioning the world around you is something all should be able to do. Go out, explore, create, and challenge yourself in life, learning from not just textbooks, but experiences. Don’t just buy your next solution to your problems. Find it. Make it. Be it.
At the end of the day, these are just a Transcendentalist’s ideas of life, and by no means are they perfect—or even agreeable—all of the time. But in a world that is increasingly lonely (not solitary), technologically reliant, and desperate for things far past what’s needed on a finite planet with billions of others, would it really be that hard to give their perspective a thought? Seeing things from a different point of view can reveal truths never thought imaginable, and if there is anything a Transcendentalist believes, it’s that individuals hold the power in society. Only they can enact change. Only they can make a difference. So, will you?
Things started in the mid-1800s, with the Industrial Revolution in full force throughout the West. Factory work was becoming the standard, with low wages, horrid conditions, and the overall depressing lifestyle it offered wearing out many. So some fought back to return humanity to a more “natural” state, back to the simplistic and spiritualistic days of yesteryear. They were Transcendentalists.
The bulk of Transcendentalists lived in New England, many in the state of Massachusetts alone. Multiple names may come to mind: Emerson, Whitman, Dickenson, Fuller. But of them all, the most prolific and iconic is Henry David Thoreau, who will be our focus. He authored Walden, a collection of writings penned during his two-year, two-month, and two-day stay near the pond of the same name in Concord, Mass., putting his deep beliefs to the challenge. For him, nature was a reflection of God. For him, instinct and individualism reigned supreme. And these were no different from his Transcendental peers. At Walden, he lived in a small, self-built cabin, learning to survive with what only nature could provide, totally isolated from the increasingly industrializing world of the 1840s. That was the test, and in his eyes, it was a complete success. Afterward, he slowly reintegrated into civilization, becoming an avid activist/abolitionist until his death in 1862. Yet his work cannot ever be ignored, acting as a tangible testament to the possibilities of the philosophy.
To Thoreau, man had “no time to be anything but a machine,” a fact that is scarily mirrored in today’s world (Thoreau 2). The idea that we are all cogs in a machine of endless purchasing, that we are all trapped in this world of getting money only to spend it and collect things all our lives just to die, is beyond relevant. Our lives are seemingly tied to that. Our purpose is to consume.
So, let’s look at some examples of the materialistic ways we live and, with them, see how a Transcendentalist like Thoreau would see and solve it. Because sometimes, seeing a different perspective can reveal truths never thought imaginable, and THAT can lead to a better life for all.
Apple & The Power Of LuxuryApple is a staple of the modern consumer life. They are a trillion-dollar technology company regularly setting the standard for what buyers expect their devices to do, and have trapped people in its “ecosystem” of products—iPhones, iPads, MacBooks, AirPods, and Apple Watches; the list can go on. Their main power is held not in range or quality, but in pricing. They absolutely make high-end products, but there is a certain luxury to Apple, a certain status that comes when you hold one of their devices. Think about it. Why does someone REALLY have an iPhone? Why do YOU have an iPhone? They're a good product, sure. But so are many Android phones. There is something else to them. And that, that hold, is precisely what Apple wants.
Now what would a Transcendentalist say to this? From Walden’s first few pages, some insight can be offered, with Thoreau finding most of the luxuries and comforts of life “not indispensable” and a “positive hindrance” to the “elevation of mankind” (Thoreau 6). Of course, this is not a reference to Apple specifically, just a general one to the idea of indulging and enriching your life with man-made products, seeing reliance on that instead of self-discovery and personal work as harming your well-being.
One more quote really wraps things up for what they would think, as when Thoreau mentions the frivolous nature of homes in the Economy chapter, he says that most appear to have never “considered what a house is” and are “needlessly poor all their lives because they think that they must have such a one as their neighbors have” (Thoreau 12). This idea of luxury, of keeping up with others and what they have, of pure and simple jealousy due to a simple home size (or fruit-shaped logo), is at the core of this situation. Ultimately, people just need a phone or a laptop, but instead get an iPhone or MacBook, because that is what everyone else has. Apple gives in to desire and luxury, and that desire for luxury gives in to Apple. The only thing they give you is a decent product and a massive hole in your wallet.
Amazon & The Addiction Of ConvenienceApple has some competition in the consumerism race, though. No more clearly can this be seen than in the behemoth that is Amazon, as due to their ability to offload large quantities of items at once, they can sell them cheaper than the average business or even chain stores such as Target or Walmart. Not to mention the convenience of ordering online and having said item delivered the next day. Has this allowed us to be blindsided by convenience?
Amazon was/is the pioneer of “one-click” ordering, and as Graeme Pente put it in their The Flawed Utopia of Consumerism piece, it allows them to “purchase an item from the online store” without having “second thoughts,” its cost and their wealth “represented abstractly as numbers” on their profile, all “without having to get dressed, leave their house, or interact with another human.” When you put what many do daily in such simple words, it sounds nearly magical. And horrifying. That is the world we live in. It’s easy, revolutionary, impressive, and depressing.
A quick passage from Thoreau says it all, feeling like an almost direct call out of the company (reminder, this guy has been dead for over one hundred and fifty years): “The improvements of ages have had but little influence on the essential laws of man’s existence; as our skeletons, probably, are not to be distinguished from those of our ancestors” (Thoreau 5). He and other Transcendentalists would see Amazon as just another attempt to deepen the scars the Industrial Revolution left. Whether we are getting something from Jeff Bezos or a merchant on the street or a friend, it is all just a product. And their solution would be to ask WHY. Why are you getting it? What is convincing you to buy something? Question the world around you, and don’t let an addiction to convenience or comfort trick you into wasting what little you have to get what you don’t need. Because, after it all, your skeleton will be no different from another.
Stanley & The Power Of MarketingTrends. TikTok. Cups. Sensationalism and scarcity marketing are already making their mark in 2024, as things started with the craze of container company Stanley’s Quencher Tumbler, which has become fairly well known between Target/Starbucks collabs and other limited-time drops. This is the most comparable to the Hydro Flask fad of 2019, and is no different from the insanity behind Beanie Babies, Fidget Spinners, and recently with Crocs. Marketing is such an essential part of consumerism, and the idea of hopping on a trend is the most un-Transcendentalist thing anyone could conceive.
The basics of this have been best summed up by Alyssa Hardy in Are Stanley Cups the Latest Attempt to Cure Our Loneliness Through Mass Consumerism?, as she mentioned that “value is often determined not by the product itself or the price tag, but by the fact that a whole bunch of people have it.” This Stanley situation seemingly has a similar look to Apple, though while their product has multifaceted use cases, the Quencher “will surely fade out of style, and something new will take its place. Buying into something just because it's popular is a fruitless endeavor… especially when one functional cup turns into a haul of cups. If… you're buying in to be part of something, it won't do much in the long run.”
The superficiality of it all is at the core of this version of consumerism. People work all their lives making meager wages, barely getting by, yet will go out and buy a bunch of… cups? Just because they’re “cool.” That is the epitome of consumerism, and the antithesis of Transcendentalism.
Unsurprisingly, this concept is nothing new, meaning Thoreau has a quote that fits like a glove. He abstractly said in Walden how he once had “three pieces of limestone” on his desk, but was “terrified to find that they required to be dusted daily,” when the furniture of his mind was “all undusted still,” throwing them out the window “in disgust” (Thoreau 12). Many Stanleys are bought to literally accumulate dust. To him, products will always lose their value; the mind and nature, on the other hand, never need to be bought or cleaned, just appreciated. Thoreau pierces through all of the noise, all of the buzz, all of the buying, all of the promises, to realize that what he NEEDS has been with him the whole time. And that is something all should take note of.
ConclusionNow, can Transcendentalism fix society? With all of this proof of how consumerism has invaded our lives, is escape possible? Do we want to flee the endless cycle of buying and collecting, creating everlasting debt just to hold a slight sense of comfort? Maybe. So let’s take their beliefs, take the words of Thoreau, and try to augment them to the current day to solve this.
Firstly, get off the Internet. Get away from technology. Get away from the world. This does not have to do specifically with consumerism or even Transcendentalism, though: getting out in nature (not just “outdoors,” but in actual nature), is good for you regardless. There you can spend less time worrying about others, worrying about the next trend, and more on yourself and the beauty around you.
Secondly, don't work your entire life. Of course, Transcendentalists come from a place of privilege, and we need money to stay alive in this world. But your time on this Earth is worth far more than a dollar sign should. Don’t let labor wither away your soul; enjoy what you do have, not dream of what you don’t. Because when you do that, the claws of consumerism will grab you, your money draining away as a new shiny toy joins your collection of auctionable assets.
Thirdly, and most importantly, be a bit more self-reliant. Should you go to the extent of building a cabin at Walden Pond and living like a hermit for years on end? No! But knowing how to live by yourself, appreciating alone time, and questioning the world around you is something all should be able to do. Go out, explore, create, and challenge yourself in life, learning from not just textbooks, but experiences. Don’t just buy your next solution to your problems. Find it. Make it. Be it.
At the end of the day, these are just a Transcendentalist’s ideas of life, and by no means are they perfect—or even agreeable—all of the time. But in a world that is increasingly lonely (not solitary), technologically reliant, and desperate for things far past what’s needed on a finite planet with billions of others, would it really be that hard to give their perspective a thought? Seeing things from a different point of view can reveal truths never thought imaginable, and if there is anything a Transcendentalist believes, it’s that individuals hold the power in society. Only they can enact change. Only they can make a difference. So, will you?
Sources
Canada, Alonzo. “Take A Lesson from Apple: A Strategy to Keep Customers in Your Ecosystem.” Forbes, 12 November 2012, https://www.forbes.com/sites/jump/2012/11/12/take-a-lesson-from-apple-a-strategy-to-keep-customers-in-your-ecosystem/?sh=4a25826b3de8. Accessed 19 January 2024.
Hardy, Alyssa. “Stanley Cups Are the Latest Attempt to Cure Our Loneliness Through Mass Consumerism.” Teen Vogue, 10 January 2024, https://www.teenvogue.com/story/trend-experts-explain-the-stanley-cup-craze. Accessed 19 January 2024.
Haselton, Todd. “Here’s why people keep buying Apple products.” CNBC, 1 May 2017, https://www.cnbc.com/2017/05/01/why-people-keep-buying-apple-products.html. Accessed 19 January 2024.
Higgs, Kerryn. “How the world embraced consumerism.” BBC, 20 January 2021, https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20210120-how-the-world-became-consumerist. Accessed 19 January 2024.
Pente, Graeme. “The Flawed Utopia of Consumerism: How Amazon is Delivering the Worst of a Nineteenth-Century Vision of the Future.” Erstwhile: A History Blog, 9 December 2015, https://erstwhileblog.com/2015/12/09/flawed-utopia. Accessed 19 January 2024.
Smith, Serena. “Stanley cups: the psychology behind the internet's latest obsession.” Dazed, 11 January 2024, https://www.dazeddigital.com/life-culture/article/61710/1/the-psychology-behind-the-stanley-cup-craze-quencher-tumbler-tiktok-trend. Accessed 19 January 2024.
Thoreau, Henry David. Walden. Pan Macmillan, 2016.
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