Consumerism and democracy

Fanasis Lirtsogiannis comments in To Ethnos on the effects of consumerism on democracy: "A few years ago one definition of the individual was the totality of his social relations. ... Today this definition probably requires revision, and the individual defined by the sum of his consumer expenditures. ... Developments in modern Western democracies show that social life is chiefly based on the production, and especially the distribution and consumption of wealth. This development has taken on such enormous proportions that it is impossible to demand of citizens in a democracy that they renounce this ideal. ... The consumer is the undisputed king. The result is that consumerism and individualism have caused social cohabitation and democracy to atrophy."

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