At least ten books by women about (anti)consumerism
Born to Buy | Juliet B. Schor | 2025 | Academic
High consumer involvement is a significant cause of depression, anxiety, low self-esteem, and psychosomatic complaints. Psychologically healthy children will be made worse off if they become more enmeshed in the culture of getting and spending. Children with emotional problems will be helped if they disengage from the worlds that corporations are constructing for them.
No Logo | Naomi Klein | 2000 | Casual
In the name of protecting the brand from dilution, artists and activists who try to engage with the brand as equal partners in their "relationships" are routinely dragged into court for violating trademark, copyright, libel or "brand disparagement" laws - easily abused statutes that form an airtight protective seal around the brand, allowing it to brand us, but prohibiting us from so much as scuffing it.
Crap | Wendy Woloson | 2020 | Casual
An object's relative crappiness lies in the extent to which it offers false hope, was produced to hasten its own obsolescence, has no clear purpose, and/or has no emotional, utilitarian, or market value.
Junk | Alison Stewart | 2016 | Casual
It is also expensive on an emotional level. It is often things waiting for a life you are trying to live.
The Story of Stuff | Annie Leonard | 2010 | Casual
If you take public transit, bike, or walk to your local bookstore, it's definitely a better choice than online shopping. They recommend shopping online only if "you live in the suburbs, or are surrounded by Mega-Marts, have to drive more than six or eight miles each way to go shopping, are scrupulous about bundling online orders, and choose ground shipping rather than overnight air."
A Life Less Throwaway | Tara Button | 2018 | Casual
Bill Watterson, the writer of the brilliant Calvin and Hobbes cartoon strip, was under constant pressure to make merchandise out of the strip - Hobbes cuddly toys and Calvin bumper stickers - but he realised that by doing that, his purpose for writing would shift from creativity to selling things, his characters would lose their voices and then the money he earned would have to supply all the meaning he needed.
Thrifty Green | Priscilla Short | 2011 | Casual
The deal was that I would give them my time, energy, and skills, and they would give me money. The fine print that I had only skimmed said that I would also give them my ideals, principles, physical fitness, and mental stability. In exchange, they would give me stress, "core values," and lip service to work-life balance - ironically, a phrase coined by the corporate world where there is none.
The downside to me was obvious once I stepped back and looked at it: I was sacrificing all aspects of a healthful life for a paycheck.
Can't Buy My Love | Jean Kilbourne | 2000 | Casual
Advertising encourages us not only to objectify each other but also to feel that our most significant relationships are with the products that we buy. It turns lovers into things and things into lovers and encourages us to feel passion for our products rather than our partners.
The Overspent American | Juliet B. Schor | 1992 | Academic
As a result of low household savings, a substantial fraction of Americans live without an adequate financial cushion. In 1995 the median value of household financial assets was a mere $9,950. By 1997, well into the stock market boom, nearly 40 percent of all baby boomers had less than $10,000 saved for retirement. Indeed, 60 percent of families have so little in the way of financial reserve that they can only sustain their lifestyles for about a month if they lose their jobs. The next richest 20 percent can only hold out for three and a half months.
The Art of Frugal Hedonism | Annie Raser-Rowland | 2017 | Casual
...if it is cheap to buy, but at the expense of someone or something else, it's Fake Frugal, and it's just not fair. Factory-farmed eggs, endless brand new clothes made by tired women in far away countries, 'value packs' of disposable razors that end up as bobbing carpets in the North Atlantic. You get the gist.
Buying cheap disposable, or crummy quality things that quickly need replacing, is not only Fake Frugal because it leads to you spending more money later on, but because it leads to us all living in a very non-hedonism-compatible rubbish dump.