America Has A Culture Problem
The United States has a culture problem more than a political one.
Culture is the shared system of values, beliefs, norms, behaviors, traditions, practices, and symbols that shapes how a group of people understands the world and interacts with one another.
In simpler terms, culture is the collection of ideas and habits that a society teaches, reinforces, and passes from one generation to the next.
Culture shapes individual behavior by establishing the values, norms, and social expectations through which people interpret success, status, relationships, and personal fulfillment. Individuals, in turn, reinforce or challenge those cultural norms through their own choices and behaviors.
That last point is particularly important to the hyper-consumerism argument: a consumer culture doesn't simply cause people to consume; it creates an environment in which consumption is normalized, rewarded, and associated with success.
The seeds of this problem were planted in the 1960s with the proliferation of television, which ushered in the "golden age of advertising." This era heavily accelerated and reshaped consumer culture, laying the psychological and structural groundwork for modern hyper-consumerism. The rapid growth of household televisions allowed brands to reach millions of people simultaneously with emotionally driven stories, deeply embedding consumption into daily family life. This creative boom matched a surging post-World War II economy with rising disposable incomes, turning shopping from a practical necessity into a leisure activity and a core part of American identity.
Then came the 1980s ethos of unbridled financial ambition—epitomized by the fictional Gordon Gekko line 'greed is good' from the 1987 movie Wall Street—which fundamentally reshaped American culture, economics, and corporate behavior.
Bret Easton Ellis's 1991 novel, American Psycho, is a dark satire of 1980s Wall Street culture. It uses the hollow, violent life of investment banker Patrick Bateman to critique unchecked materialism, consumerism, toxic masculinity, and the emptiness of the American Dream. Ellis depicts a society so fixated on surface-level wealth and status that it either cannot see or refuses to acknowledge real evil. This serves as an encapsulation of a large segment of the public’s modern views on and support for Trump.
I believe the combination of these events led America to where we are today. They shifted cultural status symbols from civic or community leadership toward conspicuous consumption—designer brands, luxury cars, increasingly larger homes, and high-earning corporate careers. Wealth accumulation replaced idealism and traditional job security as a primary marker of personal success, influencing higher education choices, including a surge in the popularity of MBA degrees.
Corporate governance shifted away from balancing stakeholder interests—employees, communities, and customers—toward maximizing short-term shareholder value above all else. Backed by Reagan’s supply-side economics, free-market policies, deregulation, and a lax approach to antitrust enforcement, this shift unleashed a wave of corporate raiding, hostile takeovers, and massive industry mergers. High-profile insider trading and financial fraud scandals normalized the idea that “gaming the system” was standard business practice. The lack of personal repercussions for this behavior, as we saw following the savings and loan crisis and the Great Recession of 2008, has reinforced this belief.
The prioritization of aggressive profit-seeking contributed to long-term wage stagnation among average workers and a dramatic concentration of wealth at the top. Political moves—such as the Reagan administration’s handling of the air traffic controllers’ strike—weakened organized labor, drastically reducing union membership across the U.S. The short-term, high-risk mentality that emerged during the Reagan era laid the structural and philosophical groundwork for subsequent major market collapses, including the 2008 Global Financial Crisis mentioned above.
Hyper-consumerism is harming American psychological well-being. Decades of psychological research demonstrate that a culture of excessive consumption is associated with lower life satisfaction, increased anxiety, and social disengagement. While the U.S. economic framework relies heavily on consumer spending, the psychological toll on individuals can be severe.
Hyper-consumerism traps individuals on what psychologists call the hedonic treadmill. When people purchase goods in an attempt to achieve happiness, the emotional boost is temporary. As the novelty wears off, their baseline level of happiness returns to its original state, creating a cycle in which they must continually buy more to achieve the same dopamine rush. This gap between what a person wants and what they have contributes to chronic psychological dissatisfaction. The relentless pressure to maintain a certain lifestyle can cause intense status anxiety—the stress of “keeping up with the Joneses.”
Hyper-consumerism actively shifts a person’s value system. Adopting a “consumer mindset” alters how people interact with one another. When individuals prioritize extrinsic material goals over intrinsic values, they may view others as competitors or products rather than as members of their community. Materialistic values can displace the time and energy that would otherwise be spent nurturing deep social relationships, leading to increased loneliness. A fixation on wealth accumulation can also erode prosocial behavior and collective responsibility.
Today’s social media significantly contributes to hyper-consumerism by accelerating trends, normalizing constant spending, and embedding shopping directly into daily scrolling. Platforms like TikTok and Instagram feature integrated stores that allow users to complete purchases in seconds without leaving the app. Influencer culture showcases massive product hauls, unboxing videos, and PR packages, making excessive consumption look like a standard lifestyle requirement. Fast-paced content cycles introduce rapid-fire aesthetic trends—from fast fashion to viral water bottles—causing items to go out of style within weeks and prompting constant replacement. Continuous scrolling feeds the brain a steady stream of visual stimuli and targeted advertisements, triggering impulse buying and a fear of missing out.
Academic research shows that hyper-consumerism strongly correlates with and can often trigger selfish behavior. When a society or culture shifts its primary focus toward the continuous acquisition of material goods, it fundamentally alters how individuals relate to one another and to their communities.
Psychological Shifts
The "More for Me" Mindset: Studies in behavioral psychology consistently show that priming individuals with materialistic values decreases their willingness to share or collaborate. When the primary goal is accumulation, others are viewed as competitors for resources.
Reduced Empathy: Research published in journals like Motivation and Emotion indicates that high levels of materialism are linked to lower levels of empathy and decreased concern for the well-being of others.
Objectification of Relationships: In a hyper-consumerist culture, the transactional nature of buying goods bleeds into social lives. People begin to evaluate relationships based on utility—what the other person can provide for them—rather than genuine emotional connection.
Social and Environmental Consequences
Erosion of Community: Hyper-consumerism champions hyper-individualism. As people spend more time, energy, and money on personal consumption, investment in community spaces, civic duties, and mutual aid typically declines.
Environmental Disregard: Selfishness extends beyond immediate human interactions to global resources. Hyper-consumerism drives a "buy now, worry later" attitude, prioritizing immediate personal gratification over the long-term ecological consequences borne by future generations or marginalized communities.
The Feedback Loop
This relationship creates a cyclical trap. Materialism thrives on insecurity. When people feel isolated or disconnected due to selfish social environments, they often turn to retail therapy or status symbols to cope. This temporary fix reinforces the consumerist cycle, further displacing the prosocial behaviors—like volunteering, sharing, and community engagement—that actually build long-term happiness.
The Frustrated Consumer drives the political swings we have seen between Democratic and Republican administrations and their policies. This phenomenon, mixed with the GOP culture wars, was used effectively, along with Nixon’s southern strategy, by the GOP to create the Tea Party, which would morph into MAGA and Donald Trump.
For many Americans, identity and the sense of economic security are deeply tied to the freedom to consume. When inflation spikes—as it did before the 2024 election, driving consumer prices up by over 20%—voters feel a direct threat to their standard of living. Economic analysts note that this "pocketbook anxiety" often benefits challengers like Trump, who successfully campaign on promises, real or not, to lower prices and restore purchasing power.
Decades of shifting manufacturing to low-wage countries by American corporations to maximize short-term shareholder value allowed for an influx of cheap consumer goods, further fueling American hyper-consumerism. However, it also hollowed out stable, unionized working-class jobs. Trump’s "America First Propaganda “ directly targeted the communities left behind by this shift, promising to bring back manufacturing via aggressive tariffs. This is bad policy and has failed, but millions of Americans fell for the rhetoric, twice.
In a culture dominated by marketing and media consumption, Trump entered politics with a highly visible, pre-established brand built on the illusion of luxury, wealth, and commercial success. Hyper-consumerism primed the electorate to respond to celebrity branding and entertainment value, attributes that Trump leveraged to stand out from traditional politicians.
Hyper-consumerism, Nixon’s Southern Strategy as reflected in GOP culture-war rhetoric, and the Reagan era of unbridled financial ambition—epitomized by the mantra “greed is good”—led us directly to Donald Trump and the disaster that is his current administration.
So many people have an empty hole within themselves that they spend much, if not all, of their lives trying to fill, chasing what they believe to be success: money, possessions, sex, status. They will try almost anything except what will actually work. You fill that hole by pushing the selfishness created by our culture out of your heart and allowing it to be filled with love, a higher purpose, and genuine emotional connection to people, community, and nature.
America can counter hyper-consumerism by shifting cultural values toward intentional living, supporting systemic policy changes, and adopting mindful personal spending habits. But it will take a different type of politician, a different type of leader, and a large enough portion of the public’s support to get them elected.
Cultural and Lifestyle Shifts
Embrace Minimalism: Focus on experiences and relationships rather than accumulating material possessions.
Support the Right to Repair: Demand and buy products built to last, and repair items instead of replacing them.
Reduce Advertising Exposure: Unsubscribe from marketing emails, limit social media use, and block targeted ads.
Systemic and Economic Actions
Encourage Circular Economies: Promote local second-hand markets, thrifting, and upcycling initiatives.
Shift Economic Metrics: Look beyond Gross Domestic Product (GDP) to measure societal well-being through health, community strength, and environmental sustainability.
Regulate Corporate Waste: Enforce stricter producer responsibility laws that hold companies accountable for packaging and product lifespans.
Reducing hyper-consumerism requires moving from impulsive, continuous buying to intentional, value-based consumption. On an individual level, this involves shifting your mindset, changing your daily habits, and altering how you interact with marketing.
Remove the temptation at the source. Unsubscribe from retail email newsletters, delete shopping apps from your phone, and block targeted ads using ad blockers.
Curate your social media by unfollowing influencers, brands, and accounts that constantly promote “hauls,” trend-chasing, and lifestyle envy. Instead, follow accounts focused on minimalism, sustainability, financial freedom, or hobbies.
Stop treating shopping as a hobby, a cure for boredom, or a way to cope with stress. Replace shopping trips with low-cost or free activities such as walking, reading, creating art, biking, or exercising.
As I said at the beginning of this post, culture strongly affects individual behavior, although it does not completely determine it. Importantly, the relationship works both ways. Culture influences individuals, but individuals also influence and change culture through their choices and behaviors.
Remember the famous saying from Chapter 64 of the Tao Te Ching: “A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” You can start that journey today, at this very moment.
History shows that massive sociopolitical or cultural shifts often begin with a single catalyst—such as a prominent leader, an activist, or even a singular act of defiance by an ordinary citizen.
