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The international press with increasing anxiousness writes about consumerism, which demolishes the Western society from within. Meanwhile, experts believe that this situation is a consequence of the systemic deficiencies of capitalism, the Voice of Russia writes.

According to British newspaper Guardian, cravings to buy all new things are associated with depression, anxiety and the collapse of relationships. It is destructive both to the society and to the man himself. Experts agree with this: based on non-stop growth, economic model puts aside personal bankruptcies and mental diseases. This is a general social trend that is generated by government policies and actions of corporations, the collapse of communities and social life.

Modern people have made a terrible mistake, believing that the more money and things they will have, the more successful their life will be. Moreover, we observe some kind of "market" happiness inflation: it requires more wealth in order to save it. Vast majority of people watch false advertising, then buy staff, then throw it away, then buy again and again throw away, and so on until the end of life. It has become a standard, says Mikhail Delyagin, the director of the Institute of Globalization Problems:

“Undoubtedly, shopaholism is a sign of soulless society. Descartes once said, "I think, therefore I exist.” Later on, it was transformed into "I consume, therefore I exist.”

Now huge amount of people buy things they obviously do not need. Sometimes they don’t even consume these things and sometimes they do not even unpack them. But by buying them, they confirm the fact of their existence.”

Western society is often called the "consumer society." In fact, it is a political metaphor. It defines the set of social relations, organized on the basis of individual consumption. The so-called "consumer society" is characterized by mass consumption of material goods and the formation of an appropriate system of values and attitudes. I must admit that today all the factors shaping this socio-ethical model are exaggerated so much that it is time to speak not of "consumer society" but of an "over-consumer society." No matter how it is called, this socio-economic phenomenon is profitable in order to manage human masses.

Authorities are aware of the danger that is posed by a citizen who develops, learns and realistically assesses the world, who is engaged in creative self-realization, etc. It is practically impossible to manipulate such citizen who understands (or at least is seeking to understand) the true meaning and order of things. The problem is that by acting this way, the authorities destroy the foundation of social life; they put an end to the prospective. Experts believe that lives of super consumers are potentially dangerous for the system and they are the part of this system. Together with overconsumption at the unconscious level of mind there is degradation, which initially alters ethical standards, and then slowly penalizes mental harmony, which is followed by temper tantrums, aggression, dissatisfaction with life, social and civic apathy.

As a consequence we see social atomization. Over-consumer society is always at war. It fights either with other societies, or with nature, or with the destructive forces within the society that destroy society itself. Excessive amounts of goods are too strong of a temptation for the majority. Being consumers themselves, these people simultaneously work to ensure that they produce the excessive amount of these goods. Each of us has to work hard in order to buy low-quality stuff that quickly breaks and wears out while intermediaries get a significant portion of our money. Chain of advertising, marketing, distribution consists of plurality of links, each of which gets its share in a profit. Incidentally, because of such a huge separation from the actual manufacturer, beneficiaries do not correlate meat food, leather and fur with animals, paper and wood products - with trees, spices, cosmetics, perfumes, household and fabric - with plants and their fruits; fuel and building materials with reserves of Earth.

Millions of people are involved in producing overconsumption goods (clothes, shoes, cars, cell phones, etc.) It is very sad that there is no need in their work and elapsed time. They work hard for the sake of the good fashion, artificially fueled by the desire for technical excellence and a number of other artificial processes, by which the system supports itself. However, we are quite often aware that what is happening is abnormality. But attempts to analyze the situation sink in everyday life; conceptual rules oblige us to build up our needs. What does it have to do with the fact that these goods do in reality little good. They seem to be necessary, because our minds are linked with the convenience and the reward for labor.

Austrian psychologist Viktor Frankl, who survived through Nazi concentration camp, believed that man was created to endow objects with meaning. Today these objects, things, or rather, their possessions give meaning to man and his life. We are trying to identify ourselves through these things. The more perfect they are, the more expensive, the higher status they have, and the more we add value to ourselves. But a person with even the most perfect phone does not become a superman. It is also important to know due to what factors this wave growth of overconsumption is happening. Things are not getting cheaper. But in order to help us, moneylenders are offering us today something that we have not earned yet. As a result, people are spending extra strength to find resources to repay the loan and interest, although they could easily get by with less, and are drawn into a vicious circle from which there is no escape. After all, almost everything that a person receives in that way, wealth, status, position, recognition, eventually breaks him psychologically or morally. The reason for the current situation many experts explain with the systemic shortcomings of the market economic system. The reason for that is that capitalism has set too simple values, criteria of success and benchmarks.

As a result, the West has a moral crisis, which applies wherever these values, criteria and guidelines have become basic. Market legalized priority over the use of benefits and brought back to normal the desire for personal well-being and prosperity, which is frankly selfish. This creates a huge distortion. Only a change in the mindset can be found as a way out of the systematic crisis and that depends on the level of development of the whole society. Another issue is that this development is deliberately slowed down, as society consciously closes on itself, dooming themselves to walk in the darkness of their own primitive passions and desires. Once before, the West proclaimed one of the greatest values - the freedom of its citizens. Now, in the age of overconsumption, this freedom was deliberately emasculated to a level that strongly supports the desire to maintain the personal slavery of clothing.