Contemporary model of consumption: a historical overview and correspondence with Ibn Khaldoun’s consumption cycle

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In this article, we try to shine a spotlight on the construction of consumption’s contemporary model. The beginning of the contemporary consumer model was in the United States where machine tools development and Scientific Management created a problem of manufactured goods abundance.

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Nội dung Text: Contemporary model of consumption: a historical overview and correspondence with Ibn Khaldoun’s consumption cycle

International Journal of Management (IJM) Volume 8, Issue 6, Nov–Dec 2017, pp. 62–68, Article ID: IJM_08_06_007 Available online at http://www.iaeme.com/ijm/issues.asp?JType=IJM&VType=8&IType=6 Journal Impact Factor (2016): 8.1920 (Calculated by GISI) www.jifactor.com ISSN Print: 0976-6502 and ISSN Online: 0976-6510 © IAEME Publication CONTEMPORARY MODEL OF CONSUMPTION: A HISTORICAL OVERVIEW AND CORRESPONDENCE WITH IBN KHALDOUN’S CONSUMPTION CYCLE SAHIB Amal-Oudiî and BOUAZIZ Abdelhaq Laboratoire de Mécanique Productique et Génie Industriel, Ecole Supérieure de Technologie de Casablanca, Hassan II University of Casablanca, BP 8012, Oasis, Casablanca, Morocco ABSTRACT In this article, we try to shine a spotlight on the construction of consumption’s contemporary model. The beginning of the contemporary consumer model was in the United States where machine tools development and Scientific Management created a problem of manufactured goods abundance. Adopted solution was to stimulate consumption, which necessitated a change in the American society. This change was achieved through many ways. After building the basic model, many actions were done to perpetuate and export this model. Also, we try to make correspondence between Ibn Khaldoun’s consumption cycle and model’s evolution phases. At the end we propose a direction of future research. Key words: American consumer society, Contemporary model of consumption, Ibn Khaldoun’s consumption cycle. Cite this Article: SAHIB Amal-Oudiî and BOUAZIZ Abdelhaq, Contemporary Model of Consumption: A Historical Overview and Correspondence with Ibn Khaldoun’s Consumption Cycle. International Journal of Management, 8 (6), 2017, pp. 62–68. http://www.iaeme.com/IJM/issues.asp?JType=IJM&VType=8&IType=6 1. INTRODUCTION Capitalism is a continuous source of crisis: financial instability, global warming, rising of inequalities (Chavagneux 2013, p7). The global financial crisis of 2008 is only an episode because the failure of this system is intrinsic and the risks of new crises still exist (Schäfer 2008, pp 306-308). To deal with this threat, some voices demand the exit from capitalism (Kempf 2013, p 9). But to be able to propose alternatives to this system, it is necessary to have a good understanding of its elementary components. The structure that Modern society inherited from the industrial revolution is very specific and it has never had a peer through history. It consists of three elements: the capitalist, the laborer and the consumer (Robbins 2014, p 2). Hence, we propose, in this article, to trace the http://www.iaeme.com/IJM/index.asp 62 editor@iaeme.com
Contemporary Model of Consumption: A Historical Overview and Correspondence with Ibn Khaldoun’s Consumption Cycle history of one of these three components: the consumer. This choice is dictated by the importance of this component because the capitalist and the worker are at the same time consumers, which means that consumption is the fundamental element of the capitalist system. 2. IBN KHALDOUN’S CONSUMPTION CYCLE There is no doubt that Consuming is a natural act, because the satisfaction of human needs is wholly or partly a question of consuming practices. These practices represent the expression of lifestyle’s development (Hébel 2012, p 8), which means that consumption has a changing nature. Indeed, according to Ibn Khaldoun, consumption habits follow the phases of empires evolution. Thus, the first phase is characterized by a self-denial lifestyle. As sovereignty is established, comfort and well-being become more and more important in the lifestyle. It starts by adopting the lifestyle of fallen nations. Then a specific touch is added to it, and this can even go to a complete transformation (Ibn Khaldoun 2003, p 203). When the peak of this evolution is reached, the decline begins. Once the limit of elegance and tolerable luxury are reached, desires and passions drag people in a vicious circle. The distinctive signs of this situation are: over-indebtedness and drifts on the ethical plan (Ibn khaldoun 2003, pp 407- 410). 3. THE CONTEMPORARY MODEL OF CONSUMPTION The beginning of the contemporary consumer model is a subject of discussion. Some authors think that it has its origins in the Europe of the 17th century, others speak of China and Muslim countries of the 16th century or even China of the 7th century (Norel 2011). These ideas are in contradiction with two observations. The first concerns the value systems that dominated the world before the 18th century (Islam, Christianity, Hinduism, Confucianism, Buddhism, ...). These systems did not offer favorable conditions for the development of such as model of consumption (Stearns 2006, pp 4-7). The second is about the dominant nation. Since the second half of the 20th century, the Western world, where this model of consumption is strongly present, is dominated by the United States of America. We know that dominated tend always to imitate the domineering (Ibn Khaldoun 2003, pp 176-177) and this means that understanding the contemporary consumer model requires an understanding of the American model. American society, like most of modern societies, possesses this structure inherited from the industrial revolution, which rests on three elements: The capitalist, the laborer and the consumer. The common point between these three components is an abnormal rush towards accumulation: accumulation of profits for the capitalist, accumulation of wages for the laborer and accumulation of goods for the consumer (Robbins 2014, p 12). This decomposition is interesting because the capitalist and the laborer are also consumers, which means that consumption is very important in this system. Moreover, Charles McGovern (in Rosenberg 2009) considers that it is possible to speak of "material nationalism" in the American case, because new migrants seek to be identified as Americans through the consumption of goods and services which are compatible with the american way of life. Until the 19th century, the dominant culture in the United States was centered on frugality, saving and self-denial. People were thrifty. Buying a luxury product was perceived as waste, and these products were considered useless (Robbins 2014, p 14). It should be noticed that this description corresponds perfectly to the beginning of the cycle described by Ibn Khaldoun. During this period, inventions made by engineers such as Eli Whitney, which have had a major impact on the textile and armament industries, contributed to the http://www.iaeme.com/IJM/index.asp 63 editor@iaeme.com
SAHIB Amal-Oudiî and BOUAZIZ Abdelhaq development of machine tools (Rolt 1965, p 141), which allowed a very huge gain in productivity. The consequence of this productivity gain is a new type of problem: the abundance of manufactured goods. This problem will be accentuated later after the development of the Scientific Management (Bevort 2013). Faced with this situation, the solution was to stimulate consumption, which necessitated a change in the values of American society. This shift from a "thrifty" society to a consumer society required the transformation of luxury goods into basic necessities, through the erosion of values of savings and prudence that should be replaced by new ones as waste and complacency. This change was achieved through four ways (Robbins 2014, pp 14-41):  Changing marketing and advertising through four levers. The first lever affects the meaning of goods and how to present and display them. The first pre-packaged items, with producing company labels, were introduced in 70's of the 19th century. During the 90s of the same century, more importance was accorded to the way of displaying goods to the general public. At the beginning of the 20th century, department stores started to take into account layout, decoration and entertainment. After this, department stores became the torchbearers of civilization and modernity, showing people how to dress, decorate their home or spend their free time. It should be noticed that the establishment of department stores in the United States is a sign of copied lifestyle as it was stated by Ibn Khaldoun. Indeed, in 1852, "Bon Marché" was the first department stores to open its doors around the world. People were allowed to wander through it without obligation of purchase and it contributed to shape the taste and the tendencies of the French bourgeoisie. The second lever is advertising. It was badly perceived before the 1880s. But during the following decades, the way of seeing advertising changed completely. In 1910, the sum of budgets spent on advertising was close to 4% of the American national income. The objective of the advertising industry was to "create value" to goods by giving them the magic effect of changing the consumer into a "desirable person". As well as department stores, this metamorphosis of the way of seeing advertising can be assimilated as a copy of what was happening in Great Britain. Indeed, according to Williams and Vernet (1990), until the 1850s, advertising was not seen as a respectable practice in Great Britain. The development of advertising practices started few years later, but the real signs of change began to appear in the 1880s and 1890s. The third lever is fashion. The main idea was to make the consumer anxious to own old- fashioned objects. Fashion drives people to buy more products only to feel that they are in phase with what others see as modern and fashionable. The fourth lever concerns the introduction of the concept of services. The aim was to mask the inequality and to persuade the consumer that this way of life is much more comfortable and that the capitalism has a benevolent side.  Rebuilding and reconfiguring the principal social institutions (such as administration, universities, social and cultural institutions ...) by redefining their roles in order to integrate the promotion of consumption. Thus, early in the 20th century, universities integrate design, marketing or business administration curricula. Museums organize consumer-related events such as cloth and fashion exhibitions. Federal and local administrations interest was centered on the consumption part of business’s cycle. This led them to undertake some actions such as the Census of Distribution, initiated between 1926 and 1928 and whose “goal was to break down all barriers between the consumers and commodities”. This survey will be copied by other countries in the 1950s. http://www.iaeme.com/IJM/index.asp 64 editor@iaeme.com
Contemporary Model of Consumption: A Historical Overview and Correspondence with Ibn Khaldoun’s Consumption Cycle Access to real estate was also exploited by promoting individual home ownership. The Commerce Department has promoted the idea that every American has the right to own the house that meets his desires and that every child must have his own room. The worker was also targeted by turning him into a "machine to work and consume". Indeed, the introduction of the assembly line and the division of labor in Ford's factories provoked resistance from the workers who were forced to repeat the same action every 10 seconds for 9 hours. The solution proposed by Ford was to raise wages from $ 2 or $ 3 per day to $ 5 per day (it consisted of a fixed amount of $ 2.34 and a profit-sharing of $ 2.66 if the worker is a man and he is 22 years old or older (Bevort 2013)). This action was accompanied by a working hour’s reduction (8 hours per day instead of 9). The increase in wages meant that the purchasing power of the workers increased and they became Ford customers. Other manufacturers did the same. Thus, between 1910 and 1929, wages increased by 40% which allowed the workers to buy more and subsequently they help to maintain the circle of production and consumption (Beder 2004). This increase in purchasing power has been combined with better access to credit. Credit’s granting was based on a blind trust in the US economy and on the assumption that people will have enough to pay once the payment deadline arrives. As well as the worker, the status of children has been changed. The working child who contributed to the domestic economy by being involved in the family work or working elsewhere left his place to a school-going child. The change occurred gradually during the 19th century and it led to a redefinition and reconstruction of childhood. Thus, the main idea of recommendations made by psychologists, home economists and the administration is that the child has his own needs which must be met through some kind of goods (single room, toys, furniture adapted ...): the child consumer was born.  Transforming spiritual and intellectual values. This change was necessary to stimulate consumption. Thus, American society has migrated from a value system based on modesty, abnegation, a thrifty lifestyle to a system based on conspicuous consumption, individualism and self-satisfaction. Goods have become a source of satisfaction and vital tools of assertiveness. The birth of mind cure religions and the new methods of therapy (especially in psychology) helped to facilitate this change in values. In these religions, the main preached idea is that we should not wait for eternal life to achieve salvation and that it is possible to have a life without suffering in the earthly paradise in which consumer goods are of great importance.  Redesigning the position of individuals and their social class. The "need to consume" has led to a reorganization of living spaces and contributed to the creation of new sectors to encourage consumption. At the same time, it has changed the way people see each other. 4. PERPETUATION AND EXPORT OF THE MODEL During the 30s of the 20th century, consumption was entrenched in American society because of promoting and extending practices, and also because of the spiritual and rational framework which justified it. At this level, it is possible to consider that the "basic" model is complete. Then, two actions follow: perpetuation and the export of this model. As it has been argued, the dominated always tend to imitate the dominator (Ibn Khaldoun 2003, pp 176-177). After the Second World War, the influence on the world was shared by two dominating empires: The USSR and the USA. The first influenced the communist sphere; the second reigned over the Western world. The European Recovery Program also known as Marshall Plan was the tool through which the American model has been setting up in Europe. Consumption was implanted in its core and what's more all US directors of the Marshall Plan http://www.iaeme.com/IJM/index.asp 65 editor@iaeme.com
SAHIB Amal-Oudiî and BOUAZIZ Abdelhaq in Europe were advertising professionals (Kroen 2005). The same can be said for Japan, which was occupied by the United States of America from 1945 to 1952. Under the direct American administration, the political, economic and educational systems were reshaped and the seeds of consumer society were planted. The mid-1950s, a rapid growth of the consumer society was observed in the majority of Western European countries and Japan (Rosenberg 2009). This illustrates the preponderance of the American lifestyle, in Ibn Khaldoun’s sense, which goes hand in hand with the status of the United States as the dominant nation. The action of perpetuation concerned in the first place the American society. This does not mean that it is absent in other countries because the dominant /dominated logic is always present: the influence of the United States and large firms contributes to the perpetuation and expansion of the consumerist lifestyle elsewhere. This process is very advanced in Europe and is gaining more and more ground on other continents (Schor 1999). According to Schor (1999), the context that governed the development and expansion of American society was characterized by a rise in urbanization and formal education, as well as a decline in traditional social relations. Postwar literature focuses on the comparison that families or individuals made with entities which have the same economic level. One of the results of this comparison was the emphasis on expenditure, which gave goods a symbolic importance. Thus, belonging to a well-defined social class implies the consumption of a "minimum required" of goods and services. This minimum was in perpetual extension. For, Schor this is a competitive consumption operation. In this context, individuals and households who could not achieve a certain standard of living are under a great pressure. Rather than providing an absolute satisfaction, this competitive consumption provides a relative one because it relates to reference group’s consumption. In addition, it does not affect all types of products but only visible ones (during use or possession). In general, consumers tend to reduce expenses that do not reflect social status to invest in visible products. This phase will last until the 1980s when a more aggressive consumerism sprang up as a consequence of changing reference groups: they are no longer horizontal but vertical. People compare themselves to people of higher classes. The main place of comparison has also changed. It is no longer the neighborhood or the nearest entourage, but rather the place of work. Even traditional social relations (friends, neighbors, ...) have been replaced by television, which has become an important source to know other person’s expenditure. Generally, television programs tend to present upper classes’ high-spending lifestyle and as a consequence, the image created in viewer’s mind about lifestyle is erroneous which drives the less well-off classes to consider that the upper class’s cultural symbols are very important and must be bought. Thus, more and more people think that owning goods can guarantee a good life and that luxury goods are necessities. The vicious circle does not stop here. Wealth concentration continues to increase and this push the richest to more and more engagement in the process of competitive spending. In the same time, the aspirations of the less well-off classes are growing as their income levels fall and this create what Schor calls "aspirational gap" which continues to grow. In this sense, a study carried out in the United States, showed that between 1986 and 1994, the level of income necessary to fulfill the dreams of a family doubled during this period and that it is more than twice the national average household income. This aspirational gap is closely linked to consumers’ behavior excesses especially the drop in savings, the increase in indebtedness, the impulse purchase syndrome and violent behaviors (armed robbery, theft, …) triggered by the desire to buy luxury goods. The erosion of http://www.iaeme.com/IJM/index.asp 66 editor@iaeme.com
Contemporary Model of Consumption: A Historical Overview and Correspondence with Ibn Khaldoun’s Consumption Cycle traditional, religious and moral constraints combined with the colossal efforts of producers, advertising professionals and marketers to build an environment conducive to spendthrift behavior means that individuals can no longer control themselves. This description corresponds perfectly to the third phase of Ibn Khaldoun’s cycle characterized by drifts on the ethical plan and over-indebtedness. 5. CONCLUSIONS As we have seen, the current model of consumption is entirely made in the United States. The aim was to maintain the sphere of production through major changes in society. After the introduction of the basic model in the American society, it was exported. It is possible to summarize these changes by stating that in order to consume without limits we had to remove all the obstacles that could curb our desire to consume and the result is a deconstruction of the traditional vision of the world (Ferry 2009, p 35). Arriving at the last phase of Ibn Khaldoun’s cycle, American society (and most of modern societies) is on the brink of bankruptcy that may have serious consequences for the whole world. So, what must we do? In our opinion, we will find the answer in the process of deconstruction itself: returning to these removed obstacles which have the ability to curb the desire to consume. In other words: return to values. By doing so, our landmark and the way we view products and services will change because we will be free from the illusions of capitalism. Now, how is it possible to re-implant these values in our societies? The answer to this question traces the direction of future research on this topic. REFERENCES [1] Beder, S. Consumerism: An historical perspective. Pacific Ecologist, 9(1), 2004, pp 42-48. [2] Bevort, A. De Taylor au néo-management: quelle participation des salariés?. Participations, (1), 2013, 33-51. [3] Chavagneux, C. Une brève histoire des crises financières. la Découverte. 2013 [4] Ferry, L. Face à la crise: matériaux pour une politique de civilisation. Odile Jacob. 2009. [5] Hébel, P. La révolte des moutons. Autrement. 2012. [6] Ibn Khaldoun. Muqaddimah (Prolegomena). Dar al-Arqam Publishin. 2003. [7] Kempf, H. Pour sauver la planète, sortez du capitalisme. Le Seuil. 2013. [8] Kroen, S. La magie des objets, le plan Marshall et l'instauration d'une démocratie de consommateurs », dans Alain Chatriot et al., Au nom du consommateur, La Découverte, 2005, pp 80-97. [9] Norel, P. La consommation, une invention occidentale ?. Les Grands Dossiers des Sciences Humaines, 2011, pp 6-9. http://www.cairn.info/magazine-les-grands-dossiers- des-sciences-humaines-2011-3-page-2.htm. [10] Robbins, R. H. Global problems and the culture of capitalism 6th edition. Pearson Allyn and Bacon. 2014. [11] Rolt, L. T. A short history of machine tools. The MIT Press. 1965. [12] Rosenberg, S. E. Le «modèle américain» de la consommation de masse. Cahiers d’histoire. Revue d’histoire critique, (108), 2009, pp 111-142. [13] Schäfer, U. Der Crash des Kapitalismus: warum die entfesselte Marktwirtschaft scheiterte und was jetzt zu tun ist. Campus Verlag. 2008. [14] Schor, J. What's wrong with consumer society. In: Consuming Desires. Consumption, Culture, and the Pursuit of Happiness. Ed. Roger Rosenblatt. Washington, DC: Island, 1999, pp 37-50. [15] Stearns, P. N. Consumerism in world history: The global transformation of desire. Routledge. 2006. [16] Williams, R., & Vernet, M. Publicité: le système magique. Réseaux, 8(42), 1990, pp 73- 95. http://www.iaeme.com/IJM/index.asp 67 editor@iaeme.com