POST 4; THE IDEA OF PROGRESS: QUANTITY vs. QUALITY
QUANTITY - THE EXPLOSION OF CHOICE vs THE QUALITY OF OUR LIVING STANDARDS
Article by David Brooks, published in 2016 on the NY Times
The Choice Explosion
Lansing, W.Va. — A few years ago, the social psychologist Sheena Iyengar asked 100 American and Japanese college students to take a piece of paper. On one side, she had them write down the decisions in life they would like to make for themselves. On the other, they wrote the decisions they would like to pass on to others.
The Americans filled up the side for decisions they want to decide for themselves. Where to live. What job to take. The other side was almost blank. The only “decision” they commonly wanted to hand off to others was, “When I die.”
The Japanese filled up the back side of the sheet with things they wanted others to decide: what they wore; what time they woke up; what they did at their job. The Americans desired choice in four times more domains than the Japanese.
Americans have always put great emphasis on individual choice. But even by our own standards we’ve had a choice explosion over the past 30 years. Americans now have more choices over more things than any other culture in human history. We can choose between a broader array of foods, media sources, lifestyles and identities.
This newspaper article from the New York Times, illustrates how our society, more specifically the American one, has exploded. Indeed, mass production has become a phenomenon these days and we have unlimited varieties of products to chose from. Nowadays our supermarkets are filled with never-ending isles of processed and factory made groceries. David Brooks, the author, explains this recent explosion by telling an anecdote. He puts forward Sheena Iyengar experiment where she confronts two different societies and their way of living. The social psychologist simply concluded that Americans and Japanese have different mannerisms when it comes to consumption. She proves that our lives have been changed by this explosion of quantity present in our lives through the choices we are always offered in supermarkets, restaurants, or shops...
On the other hand, my next document is a monologue by the American comedian Ellen DeGeneres which I extracted from one of her reality television shows. In this video, she raises awareness on the impact this immense explosion of choice has on our lifestyles. In fact, by having a satirical view in this sketch she proves that firms are just multiplying their products to make money and that the quality and usefulness of the product on offer is inexistent. Instead of having two or three good quality toothpastes, the comedian presents a numerous amount of poor quality ones. Why has the world chosen quantity over quality ? The explosion of quantity and the loss of quality has created a gap in our society.
To conclude, the idea of progress in the domaine of consumerism, on the upside, is giving us boundless amounts of produce to choose from. However, as the merchandise multiplies, the quality of what we buy is dropping drastically. There is a fine line between producing the right amount to assure good quality and society still has to find the balance. As a matter of fact, the idea of progress consequently carries along advantages and disadvantages, the problem of quantity and quality being one of them.
A very interesting read indeed.
ReplyDeleteI can't wait to hear you present this post orally in class.