Synthèse anglais notion de progrès

The Notion Of Progress

Intro:

• Progress is an improvement, and it goes hand in hands with economic growth. There are different sorts of progress, for example technologic progress (computers, drones, smartphones…) , medical ones (new cures, genetics, …) and what we’re going to focus on today, economic progress and how it is related to the consumers society.

• Because, if progress usually an improvement, it isn’t always the case, with for example technological advances in weapons, which leads to more victims, and more gruesome wars. So maybe progress isn’t as positive as we think especially  in the way we consume.

We can ask ourselves how did progress affect the way we consume?

• First we’ll see the role advertising played,
• before focusing on the new phenomenon : binge shopping;
• and finally talking about the overconsumption that’s becoming a habit, and through it all, ways to improve our consumer habits.

        Advertisement now plays a big part in the way we consume, and that is because it is always thrown at us, constantly. As we can see with the first doc, which is  a parody of the Uncle Sam American poster, which usually says “I Want YOU in the US Army” during WWI. Here it was transformed to denounce the way we over consume “ Spend a lot to prove you love your family”.

It highlights the way ads manipulate our spirits into thinking we need something that is unnecessary, and tricking us in believing it is good for us.

        But on another side, as we can see with doc II.D, it isn’t doomed, there is still good in advertisement like this advert for fair trade, which is a way for local producers to be paid decently for the food they produce, so they can live, and not survive, it is actually an awareness campaign.

 There is also a new phenomenon that became important in the last few years, which is binge shopping, as it is proved in doc II-C. it is an extract from a book analysing consumerism, here it uses the example of Black Friday, and how it makes people go crazy, because they end trampling someone to death and injuring 4 others. It is like a drug, like it puts people into a trance.

They NEED to shop, like they need to breathe, and that is pure nonsense, but these people buy things just for the feeling it gives them when they do, and it can go to extremes, like a gambling addiction, it is the same feeling of adrenaline.

That is because of the mainstreaming of brands, everybody wants the same sneakers etc. To react against those excesses we could use things like Ebay : it is an e-commerce website which promotes small businesses and allow to shop away from this madness.

Finally, we can see the economic growth has led to overspending, over consuming. And as we can see in doc D, a study from the Stanford University; shopping is now a disorder that affects almost 6% of the population .

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