Definition of "consumerism" []

• The movement seeking to protect and inform consumers by requiring such practices as honest packaging and advertising, product guarantees, and improved safety standards. (noun)
• The theory that a progressively greater consumption of goods is economically beneficial. (noun)
• Attachment to materialistic values or possessions: deplored the rampant consumerism of contemporary society. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "Evolution and applications of the term consumerism: theme and variations."
• "This happens in consumerism, when people are ensnared in a web of false and superficial gratifications rather than being helped to experience their personhood in an authentic and concrete way."
• "It requires strengthening the social fabric of neighborhoods, communities and social movements so that we have more occasions to talk to one another as citizens because if we don't -- in the absence of meaningful democratic citizenship, the illusion of consumerism is likely to get the better of us."