Consumerist Society

The current Australian consumerist society is negatively affecting families which in turn affect society as a whole. Since the late eighties we have seen some fundamental changes in the way the typical Australian measures success and quality of life. We have gone from a predominately primary industry and resources sector based economic model to a consumerist, profit driven entity that is almost entirely based on greed. This change has been shamelessly promoted and supported by governments who benefit from these changes in much the same way a company would, by increased productivity and profit. It’s this inherent short term thinking that fails to take into account the long term social issues raised by these changes to society. As little as 20 to 30 years ago it was unusual in a typical family for both parents to work and overtime was an exception, not the rule. Whereas in today’s society it is now unusual for only one of the parents to work and overtime is expected by most, if not all, employers. Arguably the most important thing a child can receive from their parents is time. Time spent with a child is critical to the parent child relationship and it’s this factor that our consumerist society fails to address. Companies, governments and individuals are driven by short term financial gain much to the detriment of social factors such as the family unit. Therefore it can be inferred that this change in Australian society, while beneficial in a profit and productivity context, is disastrous in terms of families and relationships. Which of these is more important to our society’s future?