@@michaelbalfour3170 I went from being upset I got booted from transitional housing (still was sober) losing some of my stuff...to living in a hostel downtown with just a computer and some clothes. It was a revelation. I was truly happy. Got back into drugs...lived in the worst apt of my life. Went to detox and transitional housing again. Stayed clean. Moved to a so so apt... And NOW, I'm more at peace than ever before. I don't think pot is so bad but I truly prefer being sober. I'm going to get a job with the amazing social service place that got me clean. And when my grandmother's inheritance money arrives I'm going to build an amazing desktop computer. I buy used laptops. I have a modest clothes supply. I can dress nice but I don't care for fancy stuff. Other than a crazy powerful desktop I won't own a single luxury item. I'm happy with my used 10$ phone. I borrow WiFi from an athletic club nearby, and if I wasn't so embarrassed about bringing a woman back to an apt where we share a bathroom and shower with other tenets....I may never move. I am going to seek that better job and a new desktop. But I'll buy thrift clothes, won't own a car, and I'm happy being somewhat a minimalist. I've found the perfect inbetween that's right for me.
@@Cat_Magic811 Glad your happy, sound like you've had a journey getting there but when the revelation came you noticed it :). All the best and good luck with the job.
the morality of good can be different for different persons and hard to decide. doing good is no more than a Christian idea and you can't find a subjective Good nor evil
dude? DUDE!!! Money is the God of this World. The phrase “god of this world” (or “god of this age”) indicates that Satan is the major influence on the ideals, opinions, goals, hopes and views of the majority of people. His influence also encompasses the world’s philosophies, education, and commerce. The thoughts, ideas, speculations and false religions of the world are under his control and have sprung from his lies and deceptions
Thank you for revealing the After Effects software tool. I'm looking to train in multimedia. What other software do you think School of Life uses to reduce these splendid pieces?
Watching this video sparked a few really great hour long discussions over some drinks Saturday night with friends about Western Spirituality and how it correlates to wealth and virtue. Thank you being such an inspiration, I love your videos especially " On Romanticism "
@@mikitz Right. There is no inherent virtue in poverty per se. On the other hand a truly virtuous person usually choose a lifestyle that correspond well with the naturally reduced needs that comes with having a virtuous mind. Not as a show-off but as a natural effect of reduced needs.
I love that the school of life, without fail, gives us a light at the end of the tunnel. Every day we are bombarded with opinions of all that is wrong with the world by news channels, social media, colleagues, friends and family, but no one really follows this up with a reasonable path forward. The solutions-based approach of this channel has grounded me over the years.
"capitalism will give you cancer and then tell you it's a good thing! It's certainly is good for the healthcare industry and actually does stimulate the economy. But if you getting cancer is beneficial for the economy, perhaps you need to adopt a new economy." - Angela Davis
Well capitalism isn't the problem, but I would say this is one hell of a way to exploit it. Norway is capitalistic and it's one of the wealthiest and best countries to live in. One of the healthiest too and it's even hard to find a job there because they don't be firing people. Some of their stores are run by an honor system and no employees will be working a register. You walk in, grab what you need, scan and pay for it yourself, and then walk out. Their prison systems are amazing out there, too. They even take good care of prisoners. We can't even begin to imagine that here. Capitalism isn't the issue. It's one of the best economies. This is just what happens if it's blended with corporatism and consumerism. This is capitalism when it's run by evil people. For centuries. There are very good and righteous people still in power though. And all you have to do is not buy any of what they're selling. No harmful content and no poisonous food. No materialism. None of that.
@@TheKingWhoWins if you hate the current economy, quit voting for the current democratic party. Norway's economy is just fine and they're capitalistic.
I find it great to learn not only about how consumerism came to be instead of just how we live with it now and how it effects us. I feel its necessary to understand how something started in order to fix it
It's actually a huge fallacy that consumer spending is what drives the economy. Consumerism is just what people choose to do with wealth once it exists. What is required to create wealth is human labour organised efficiently in combination with capital in the form of natural resources, infrastructure, tools and factories. If people decided to save more and spend less, the economy would not collapse. There would simply be a shift in economic production from consumer goods into capital goods, allowing further wealth creation in the future. The final point of the video is still good though. Aside from the so-called "pointless" goods which many people spend their money on today, there are many things which we can now afford which genuinely improve human happiness. These kind of things were not available back in the time when there was less resources available, less infrastructure developed, and less technology discovered.
" If people decided to save more and spend less, the economy would not collapse. There would simply be a shift in economic production from consumer goods into capital goods, allowing further wealth creation in the future." Only if you can export the (by then over-)production, if not you will have a collapse 1929 style
sharperguy Ah, how stupid of me, I could and should have known - thanks, anyway. But now I wonder: How would this shift of economic production from consumer goods to capital goods come about if people decrease their consumption (meaning lower demand) and save more? Why would you buy materials, factories and tools when you can't market the products you could produce with them due to low demand? What do I misunderstand here?
this is turning out to be the most interesting series of the school of life. I rewatched the entire series nearly everytime they upload a new episode LOL!
Thanks a lot for this excellent lesson! It is so true that we can learn to generate profit through helping people, and then use that profit to help even more people. Apart from the obvious and wonderful example of The School of Life, here is another example I love: Especially for friends who want to play rock and blues on the guitar, Justin Sandercoe is probably the best online guitar teacher. All his lessons are for free. But he has his own publishing company, based in London. So if you want to support him, you can buy his excellent Songbooks, CD's, DVD's... The products on his online shop are great and you know that by buying them you are supporting his free online lessons, so that everybody can learn how to play! He has half a million subscribers on youtube. Indeed he is the kind of teacher who wants to teach the entire world! What I love about him is that he is a " virtuous" man too. For example, he posts a video to teach how to play a certain super famous song, knowing that he will get thousands of clicks, and at the end of the lesson he takes the opportunity to read you an article about the genocide in Darfur. Just to tell everyone that we should inform ourselves better and do what we can do. On his excellent website he has sections like " Global Issues " and " Food for Thought" . And on his newsletter recently he mentioned that he was going to take a course on Philosophy at Oxford. ( He would learn much more at TSOL though....) He is doing something he loves, he is enriching many people's lives, and he is making enough money to live with dignity. That's a very beautiful, meaningful life!
Adverts try to appeal to our most complex and ethereal needs. They're an invitation to challenge your rational mind. What's primitive is the most interesting part of intellectualism. Happiness is primitive.
One must always remember that every dollar you spend represents time that you have worked. We should be more thoughtful of how we spend and what is the benefit of spending rather than simply a bit of retail therapy. The typical example is people who send their kids to ordinary schools and buy luxurious cars and houses. Their need to be seen as respectable is greater than their obligation to educate their children to the best of their ability.
wars, theft, crisis, pandemics, death, you name it. When it balances itself (just enough people) it will be remember as another tragic event in the development of the human being like it has happened many times in the past.
@Ma Rk While it is very possible it will result in a great depression the other possibility is that the freed up labour will go into supplying services which cater to higher needs such as arts, self understanding and entertainment. Things that robots won't be able to provide........yet
I love all your takes and ideas, and your ability to show what you want. The freedom of expression on this channel is as real as the greatness it teaches. Kudos, and dont mind the commentsthat feel irked at your video choices. I love your minds, and what lessons you teach me :) Thank you.
This was an excellent video. Really enjoyed this one. i would like to point out that if you had an economy based off of our psychological needs it would essentially become big business to manipulate people. It already is in many of those fields. Another thing I would like to point out is that people choose to buy frivolous things if they want and they don't necessarily have to sacrifice their virtues and morals to enjoy those things. If they do that, it is their own fault not the economic system they reside in's fault. Still, amazing work. Love these topics.
@@irrealislife irrespective of whether the “holy” Adam Smith argued that slavery was less *efficient* than waged labour, the UK / many countries in Europe / US did kidnap, brutalise, murder, rape, terrorise and torture people from Africa on mass in order to force them to work every waking moment for no pay, for hundreds of years. It’s wholly absurd to say that slavery played no part in amassing wealth for slave owners and the nations they payed taxes to / invested in. Even if Adam Smith argued they could have made greater profits by actually paying people, entire industries were still founded upon slavery. It was an industry in itself. It’s a demonstrable fact. It doesn’t really matter how efficient it was, as assessed by Adam Smith’s speculations, it was still very profitable for a long time. I’d also suggest you look into modern slavery and you’ll see that it still exists in most nations on earth in various forms, regardless of how wealthy a nation is. Many nations who are experiencing huge / the fastest growth are utilising slave labour - see Qatar World Cup as an example. In 2021 almost 13000 potential victims of slavery in the UK were referred to the Home Office. Re. Colonial theft - to put it simply, when a country invades another country and extracts valuable resources that it then hoards and / or sells for profit, it makes the invaders more wealthy…
@@irrealislife I don’t quite understand how you can say that every country in the world uses slave labour but then also say that western nations have supposedly eradicated it …? Yes slavery has existed throughout history across the world. The transatlantic slave trade however is a very specific part of modern history that contributed significantly to the current world order. This involved a state sponsored industry in kidnapping and farming slaves from Africa on mass, which is structurally very different from the mostly underground forms of modern slavery in the world today. Slavery is not a huge contributor to any nation’s economy as it once was. You originally made this misleading transhistorical comparison by saying that today ‘poor’ nations use slave labour but they are still poor and supposedly the west is squeaky clean. I only mentioned modern slavery to remind you that slavery still exists EVERYWHERE, not just in developing nations you might wish to demonise. But it is a very different situation to the transatlantic slave trade which took it to a global industrial scale. Why is it so difficult to acknowledge that colonialism and slavery created a huge amount of wealth and power for the west …?
We should shop for art, books and local produce. Beauty and the appreciation of masterful skills. We should shop for items and objects that engage our minds so we don't sit idle in waste. We should shop for improvement to the disciplines that engage our scenes and indulge in the imagination of those that experience our brought goods.
This is just an advertisement for the status quo, how can you talk about consumerism and not point out the real costs of slave wages, environmental degradation and out of control wealth accumulation at the top? The future is going to be shaped by our understanding of history and right now it looks incredibly bleak.
To the contrary, this is not at all calling for the status quo. They say several times that a combination of economic activity and virtuous ideals is possible and will likely benefit all through imparting wisdom and worldly comfort. This isn't what we have now at all and is a system to move towards. To slave wages, wealth inequality and exploitation, those will be seen for what they are: horrible crimes against fellow beings who are no better or worse than we are. Those problems will only be solved when we have the collective wisdom to recognize their existence and our responsibility to end it and through the economic power to do so. Either alone won't solve these problems, it needs to be both together.
Very subjective and false view is what you portray. Wages are a mutual agreement between an employer & an employee. If the employee finds the wage is too low, then he is free to quit if and when he chooses. The environment is always changing, for good or for bad over millions of years. Forests grow and die, land is formed and destroyed, and continents disappear into the ocean. Say you observe the earth at a 1sec=10 000 years speed, you will see many things about it change every second. We humans really can't impact it permanently. You can't control wealth accumulation.
Oh, but we can, and we have. That's why we're in the anthropocene. Humans have become so powerful that they are a geological force, and one to be reckoned with if we continue on our path of infinite growth and increasing resource extraction. It is almost certain at this point that we will even cause our own extinction as a result of our voluntarily suicidal societal behavior.
First SoL video in a while that is nuanced and makes a good attempt to analyze a complex topic without being overly biased towards a particular opinion.
Maybe Capitalism is only capable of delivering the unimportant, silly and vain things. Every time Capitalism tries to move into the the realm of the important things like education, healthcare, justice-system and infrastructure, it doesn't go so well.
I used to be an anti-capitalist but not anymore completely. I don't support capitalism as it has many flaws but it also has allowed many people to lift themselves out of poverty. The issue with capitalism is that it's not effective at creating equity. It's a system that provides opportunity but not equally to all. And you're right about the profit motive being inappropriate for things like health care, education (higher and elementary), and criminal reform but when purchasing small consumer items it has driven economies to larger sizes enabling more wealth for more people. But this can be very vicious and destructive as we've seen in modernity since the industrial revolution and post-WWII American economic and foreign policy. Modern capitalism with its huge output and waste for the generations that came after its inception just seems to be that way things have always been and that's where the issue comes from: the fish don't know their in water until they're taken out of it.
I used to be an anti-capitalist but not anymore completely. I don't support capitalism as it has many flaws but it also has allowed many people to lift themselves out of poverty. The issue with capitalism is that it's not effective at creating equity. It's a system that provides opportunity but not equally to all. And you're right about the profit motive being inappropriate for things like health care, education (higher and elementary), and criminal reform but when purchasing small consumer items it has driven economies to larger sizes enabling more wealth for more people. But this can be very vicious and destructive as we've seen in modernity since the industrial revolution and post-WWII American economic and foreign policy. Modern capitalism with its huge output and waste for the generations that came after its inception just seems to be that way things have always been and that's where the issue comes from: the fish don't know their in water until they're taken out of it.
This was a good video that helped me understand how society got to the point of being so greedy. we slowly starting gaining more and more luxuries, until we had too many things we couldn't live without. And it's still going on to this day as people are recklessly ordering online for things they want but don't need.
Anogoya Dagaati until you read what everyone writes in comments then (when you don't really understand the subject) you go from thinking they're good to errr or are they? Seems as though everyone has different ideas. My sad conclusion - it would seem people just can't agree and therefore can't really get along!
I have a car, but I need it to go to my job. My job is now home (because of Covid 19), I don't need my car anymore. I could easily work from home, but my boss doesn't want me to. I work as a customer service representative, which is not really 'working'. I don't 'produce' anything, it's a job because there is something like 'money', which 'ownership' needs to be checked at all time. Throughout the latter decades, what is being defined as 'work', has become more futile.
This is a VERY Anglophile and Western video. It has great market for that purpose/audience, BUT is very high handed and dismissive to non-western cultures. From the start, Europe was focused on, and other cultures that had balanced themselves out long before where not mentioned. As a historian I am disappointed at the limitations of this video, However as mentioned before, it serves a Anglophile/ Western audience very well.
I would actually love to see a video on non consumeristic societies that flourished. By this I do mean non-western/European cultures. Perhaps this is why so many people seem to flourish to non western philosophies. They very upkeep of consumerism is exhausting and at time demeaning and demoralising.
To say this video was "a VERY Anglophile and Western video" seems to me a bit absurd and quite funny. What small parts of the real world as it exists here and now does this video ignore ? What parts of the world are truly isolated from the topic of consumerism? I don't know many such isolated countries and i would be glad to be told i simply lack the knowledge and then be pointed to it.Also as a historian i wonder if you could tell me how relying on muscle horse/man mainly can make a culture flourish better than electricity and combustion engines.I don't know the answer.
You seem to be deflecting. I never said anything about only relying on muscle/horse etc, nor does consumerism have a reflection on the invention of electricity-the Minoans had batteries which rang their doorbells after all. My comment if you would care to reread it, simply stated that civilizations grew and flourished before consumerism outside of Europe-hence calling it a Anglophile video. Perhaps further study on world civilization outside of Europe would help your understanding. Beyond saying that, i don't think we are on the same page, as you don't seem to get what I am saying.
Dear #TheSchoolofLife people ... thank you very very very much for all that you do and please give me a way of repaying you somehow on the level of my modest skils for all this knowledge that you bring into our lifes. I appreciate your videos and your good intentions enormously!
The fact we are all watching this great philosophical video on computers or smart phones alone proves that a middle ground is at least possible. Although we have a great deal more room for improvement, as the sustainability of our lifestyles is conveniently overlooked on mass.
False dilemma: wealth and virtue are not correlated. Same as virtue and poverty. In the end, consumer products are cultural products, and culture has a value.
5:52 "We have chosen wealth over virtue." Those aren't mutually exclusive. One might even say wealth is a virtue. There is certainly no virtue in poverty.
Well there are different relationships between slavery and consumerism. Perhabs the consumer becomes a slave to the product, by planned obsoletence. This means that a product is designed in such a way that it breaks donw, so you the consumer will (have to) buy a new product. For example the Iphone that went buggy and slow due to an update, just as a new Iphone hit the marker. Or the fact that you (no longer) can (easiliy) replace the battery of your phone by yourself and thus are a slave to others who will replace it for you or buy a new one. Another form of slavery is the litteral version. Meaning humans being owned by other humans. This predates consumerism as it was (is) common in many cultures and civilisations. It was formally ended by the British empire (they payed a huuuggge number for it in terms of gold). The Arabic slave trade was far more deadly and bigger than western slavery. But the weird thing is, because slavery was abolished, the wages increased,. You could no longer ''pay'' your slave with a bed and meal. No they needed / deserved, real payment. This caused of product to rise. This aided the industrial revolution. Because companies who created new ways of producing goods with few man / few working hours were ahead of the competition. They could sell their product cheaper. If the wages were low (slave wages so a bed and a meal) than it makes no sense to invest $$$ in a machine which will not turn a profit. But because slavery ended, it was wise to tinvest $$$ in a machine. because the machine, relatively, became cheaper. Just my two cents. Lemme know what you think of it @Damilare Oyefeso.
Exactly consumerism has not ended Poverty it made it worst. For sure now when people don't have their own grown food to feed themselves or houses to live in.
They didn't really go into any depth about the reasons for why this consumerism started. Besides, slavery existed for thousands of years before consumerism. It was not the cause.
In defence of this deep video that has successfully managed in 10 minutes to brush on some of the key points (and people) pertaining to the history of consumerism and has clearly illustrated an unsurprising but much-neglected path for a wiser future, the outpour of negative comments defy this illustration with its own illustration of how much the world is just not ready to appreciate that making a conscious consumption choice, can in many ways, be the right choice.
Marie-Pierre Renaud a growing economy doesn’t need infinite resources, it relies on the subjectivity of value and trade surplus(if we trade something we each value what we got more than what we gave, so we both won).
I'm somewhat disappointed that this video does not even mention the stagnation of wages and the resurgence of immense disparity in wealth. But this is a North American perspective. Perhaps it is not on the forefront of this man's thoughts.
Jacob Lund Fisker might be more correlative to what you're looking for? He wrote "Early Retirement Extreme" and it's his sort of manifesto for reducing consumption in a modern society. There's also the History of Finance documentary floating around youtube somewhere
Alejandro Betancourt the type of wealth disparity we see in the US today is not a difficult concept to explain. To put it simply the wealthy had more wealth before the financial crisis, allowing them to weather it better then those with less (due in part to exponential growth and capital accumulation). In post recession eras (like today) there is a lag on wage rises as businesses need to reaccumulate capital and their strength. Plus especially after 2008 most consumers are still very pessimistic about the market, leading to lower consumption and lower wages/profits accordingly. This phenomenon is especially true in larger countries like the US, smaller ones don't have to accumulate the same about of capital before their GDP/Cap or PPP indexes rise to higher levels (more people more time). Hopefully this helps a little, if you wish to further look into it the Solow growth model is the crux of this argument.
Have u also noticed how it claims that making a profitable market out of Higher Education will help the poor, haha. Those same poor of course whom under the capitalist society of America can sweep their dreams of higher education forever under the rug!
TheAlmostbob Look i understand what is going on economically. I was looking for Mr. DeBotton's insight on the matter in a philosophical light. I disagree with your analysis though. It implies that the rich have every intention of raising wages on their own as soon as a certain level of capital has been recollected. The stock market is better than ever and 99 percent of new income created since the great recession is in the hands of the top 1 percent of income earners. Only a strong government action has any hope of increasing wages and let us not even begin to talk about reappropriating money that has been sheltered in foreign tax havens. I saw a report yesterday saying that the total amount of money held in these tax havens exceeds total US GDP. These problems are way older than the recession. The VOODOO economics of Reagan; the Trickle down economics of the 80s and the trade deals of the 90s are the main culprits. Information is power and the average person in the US hasn't even heard the TPP be mentioned in print or speech ONCE according to a recent poll. Also the term trade deal is misleading. The average person says TRADE? Trade is GOOD. Whatever. Almost half of my country believes that if you cut a rich man's taxes he will hire more people. When in fact these multinationals have a fiduciary responsibility to NOT hire someone if they can get away with it. I could go on all fucking day. This video failed. Perhaps Alain is not a politiphile as I am.
Your argument ignores the fact that benefits have been rising for the worker, which adds to the total cost of labor. From a producer standpoint the cost of employment has been rising. However the impact on the labor side is a expansion of benefits, not a rise in wages. Also, if you look at the data you will see an expansion of wages. Also, your argument ignores the business cycle, which has fluctuated since the 80's and 90's.
These videos are normally super on point...but there was no mention of SLAVERY and exploitation in building European economies considering the animation literally featured 2 IMAGES OF SLAVE WORKERS serving rich Europeans?!? (3:00 min and 8:16 min , 8:54 min !) Come one guys...really! i think you skipped over that just a little-Don't you think?
No. He never once talked about how anything was made, regardless. That's a side point which does not make nor break his point. Just because there's a specific aspect that touches you personally doesn't mean it's significant to the overall points he was making. It was about poverty/virtue vs lavishness/excess. Nothing more.
@@jasondashney I mean...products are a central part of the consumerist vision, and they don't materialize in thin air you know what I'm saying, so OP's point is valid
He left everything of importance out, consumerism serves to keep the monetary/market system alive and this causes damage to human and nature that is comparable to a nuclear apocalypse, the biodiversity shrunk by 78% since 1970's, 78% of all being have been eradicated, every year 18 million people die due to structural violence, climate catastrophe and so on. This is the worst explanation of consumerism I ever heard, it is a little piece of the beginning of capitalism but not consumerism, consumerism began with Edward Bernays and re-education of the needs-society to a desire-society, people knew very well the difference between needs and wants before and wasn't consuming enough so the monetary/market system = capitalism could work and this lead to the great depression, this was when they decided to reprogram societies and breed consumers.
awesome video. I'm not sur what to think about our current society. The worst thing is seeing the deep poverty in third world contries compared to our wealth, and the persisting ignorance and uneducatdness even in modern societies... I guess we have to keep faith.
You miss that as more had wealth in the UK, the UK exploited the poor and slaves of/in other countries. Rather than a consumer shift where there were more consumers and less poor, taken globally, the poor/rich ratio stayed the same, but we shifted the poor to other countries through the exploitation of our commonwealth countries.
big historical mistake. Standard of living or GDP was not the same all the way to 1800s from beginning of history. Look at China, Japanese Empire, Mandinga empire in Mali 13th/14th century, the Muslim rule in Spain/Turkey.. People lived a fairly high standard with ease and were consumerists of sorts way before the video suggests..
Dutch economist Angus Maddison provides a dataset to show how slow the GDP was growing since 1AD to late 1600s. In the 18th century, during the Age of Enlightenment and Industrial Revolution, global economy experienced a spike in terms of GDP.
I couldn't help but crack up at the end, when it prompted me to see the store for stationary and gifts! Fantastic take on history, however. Shared it like it's my job.
that being said, he seems pretty biased towards capitalism so I doubt we'd get a fair assessment of anarchism. Watch his dismissal or communism and Karl Marx in the other videos.
it's not the major difference is that socialism believe in a "dictator of the proletariat" that's meant to guide the rest of the workers while anarchist denies this because they believe this dictator only will be come a new higher class
Tespri Disorder and civilriots are not the same as anarchism my friend. Just because these phenomenons have give given the name anarchism dosent mean it have anything to do with the ideology
@@phokrizatmayirnao3346 Indeed, it wasn't until the industrial revolution that shit could be produced in great enough quantities and cheaply that consumerism really took off.
This video indirectly points to minimalism: By avoiding the consumption of meaningless objects just for the sake of buying them and instead focusing on living with what really matters to us, means we will spend our money mostly on the goods we need as well as those that are contributive to society. This is minimalism at its essence and the video points directly towards that without even saying it.
when you realize that all of this was possible because of the plunder of the global south, and that the vast majority of humanity did not and NEVER shared in this prosperity, this is horrifying to watch… the greed, the decadence, and the lack of anti-imperialist analysis is wretched
Your work is so good that it terrifies me when I think you might stop creating them , or might delete them. Please keep up the good work. I really appreciate being educated by your channel.
Oh really???? Intellectually elevated and dirt poor? Mmmm...I don't think so. The smarter you are, the better you know how much you don't need all those useless luxurious items. Get out of here with 'demand made us wealthy' - demand made us dependable. While my grandparents didn't own much, it was theirs. I rent, because I can't afford to buy a house without creating a debt big enough that I won't be able to pay until the end of my days.
There's a really good article I read on the Foundation for Economic Education which strongly links Keynesianism (ie government mandated stimulus packages) on consumerism, since real growth on the back of aggregate supply in the economy is based on production of REAL demand - ie what people really demand rather than are forced to consume in an environment of unnaturally low interest rates (thank you central banks) and forced spending (thanks Keynes).
The problem of the utopian scenario you point out in this video is that the only way you could guarantee people don't consume frivolous products is to dictate to them what they can buy. As F.A. Hayek points out in his book "The Road to Surfdom", this only leads to dictatorship in the likeness of Hitler and Stalin.
Good reference, but i don't think that's what they meant. Maybe if you show to people rather than force them would be a better solution. Show them why is better to consume products and services focused on our higher needs as they've said, rather than to indulge frivolous and compulsive consumerism. You don't need to "guarantee" that people won't consume frivolous products - that's impossible and maybe pointless. If you instruct, educate and bring enlightenment to people maybe they will choose for themselves, and then maybe the industry of vanity and unnecessary goods will die out due to the gradual lowering of demand.
And it is certainly possible to a degree not to pitch the two against one another but I think in Europe in general people drive in smaller cars, go to restaurants more than to mcdonnalds, spend more money and time on vacation instead of working more for a bigger car,... lots of examples so it can be influenced without direct force
In his observations of Germany and the early Soviet Union, they tried more democratically socialist policies, having the people decide what was important. What happened was that nobody agreed and a much more inefficient system resulted. He posited that the only way to make sure people did what was best for the nation, they would have to be told. History so far leans in his favor, but who knows if there's some other way (my take is another historical example. War unifies in one direction. Just look at war bonds, rationing, etc. during WWII)
It reminds me of solving a difficult mathematics problem. Most of the times you begin by solving minor, simingly to be unused, aspects of the problem, which gradually and steadily becomes more and more easy until, the problem is solved before even noticing.
My thanks, +The School of Life, for some of the insights on consumerism I've needed for awhile now - gosh have I combated with my harsh judgments of (my own) participation in consumerism on an essentially daily basis. It's very refreshing to consider not just the alternatives, but the merit and varying lights of this essentially dominating consumerist culture. Indeed, it's not always the survival of the fittest, but instead the survival of that which reproduces itself most successfully (albeit destructively!)
Consumption doesn't drive the economy. Many people have infinite desires, and would consume without end if they could. What is required to create wealth is human labour organised efficiently in combination with capital. Capital and savings is what creates wealth, for without which, there would be nothing to consume
Wow, this is the best and most subtle self-advertising I ever heard! Thumbs up! i.e. The School of Life is selling services and goods that focus on higher "needs" like self-understanding and education of the others.
It actually probably does make you happier. Research shows that material goods and wealth increase happiness. Of course, it increases by a logarithmical curve, but it does make an average person happier. Even more, if he has something and others don't.
From what I know money does make you happier up to a certain point, then it actually goes down, that's cause most billionaires are miserable, and it also depends on how you were raised, poor background and all that influences
This is a query to the school of life team. Writing and reading seems to have a much more powerful effect on ones mind and in expression than a video may be. So therefore can you help your audience with sources of knowledge you've found helpful to attaining such profound wisdom? thank you
I think the video points at some very important topics, as far as consumerism working to meet and grow our higher human needs and providing services to help each other grow, as is happening today, what with the explosion of the Self Help industry, Success Coaches and Motivational Speakers like Dr. Eric Thomas, Les Brown, Zig Ziglar, Tony Robbins, etc. Oh, and Denis Waitley. Awesome bro. The beginning of the video did fall short a bit in that it focused on the dawn of consumerism mainly from a Eurocentric point of view. Other great nations have had much wealth and consumerism. One nation that comes to mind is the one lead by King Mansa Musa. Dude had gold in droves and ran a very powerful nation that also had developed consumerism. Then invaders came and did what they usually do. Something that stands out is the propping up of society on the backs of purchasing goods that are merely for vanities sake. Do such purchases really benefit society in the long run? Will buying A Prada bag really benefit the hospitals? Maybe I should watch this video again, as it was packed with a lot of information. A dichotomy that I disagree with, much like Smith, was the idea of being noble and thus poor versus rich and henceforth unscrupulous. I think that a nation can be built on a God or faith driven culture AND be rich as well. It's a culture context and in many was religion was used to keep some people in certain mindsets that were not necessarily garnering of wealth #Hegemony. I think a sound society has people who are strong financially, morally, physically, familial-ly (?) and so forth. That's what I think. Great job on the video! I would hope in the future though that they could be a bit more rounded, culturally, since the dawn of life/civilization wasn't in Europe and many cultures have scintillating tales of development. Though I would then have to postulate (no offense intended) that you, the makers of this video don't come from a multicultural background, hence the Eurocentrism, which is actually natural since we humans tend to care about that which resembles us the most #ethnocentrism. No worries, just saying my piece. Since I am a genetic composite of most main groups on this planet, I see things from a ‘rounded view point’. Centrism being kinda like a situation where a man could never really understand a day in the life of a woman, unless he was one for a day, and after being one for a day and seeing what it’s like on the “front lines”, cat calls, groping, stares, suggestive remarks, etc. then he’d be like WTF! #Womenarepeopletoo. In the end though, good video. It showed me a good light at the end of the consumerism tunnel. Keep up the good work, Cheers. P.S. This video really got me thinking…feels like the good old days back in Uni. Thank you.
To be fair... A vast majority of consumerism in the Renaissance and Victorian eras were not frivolous. Most of it were normal people purchasing very important things. Perhaps a guy working in a factory buying a third set of clothing was extravagant by historical context, but most people were not purchasing bejeweled snuff boxes, they were buying food, soap, clothing, bedding, and fairly basic human needs. They were just buying more of them. Family members now each had their own beds instead of sharing one. People acquired a few outfits rather than just one. People developed a more diverse diet that included more important food groups more regularly. It wasn't conspicuous consumption of luxury goods, it was a very reasonable improvement in the over all standard of living for the middle class and working poor.
One minute in I have to comment because the narrative is biased...I'm disappointed School of Life. You've just made up your own history where the Indian silk trade with Africa etc didn't exist. That was going on for hundreds and hundreds of years before the Europeans (I'm English myself).It's why Spain, Britain and the Dutch set sail there, to get into that market. Where there's wealth, there is consumerism and there have been plenty of rich merchants and princes in history...
what's really worrying is that despite this massive growth in technological advancement it seems that we havent applied that knowledge to aid the world for the simple fact that we are human !!!! but rather alarmingly , we're still stuck on racial ignorance and inequalities and other complex ideas that should be used control power its so pathetic
Silk and spices were for the wealthy. The point of the video was that there used to be only two classes of people, and consumerism created more. Watch the video again maybe you'll see. Or at least, watch it all. To comment one minute in assumes you know all of the rest of it. That's a very closed off way to go through life.
Please make a video about hate crime, it is arguably one of the most hotly debated issues of the present time. I would like to know your thoughts on this matter, thanks
Hate crime laws are a very effective way of protecting the most hateful people, because of course, they are the people who are actually willing to use laws against their enemies. You currently see this with islamists using laws to silence legitimate criticism in Europe.
deni sherlock Complete bullocks. Hate crime is a meme, crime is crime, rape is rape murder is murder. Saying it was because color or sex some how makes it worse than that other murder is beyond ignorant.
Nothing describes us better than a quick glance on the things that we are willing to pay for.
Snacks, in my case
Lately, I have lived as some kind of monk would, abstained from consumption, I have been happier and saved 90 percent of my pay a year.
so true
@@michaelbalfour3170 I went from being upset I got booted from transitional housing (still was sober) losing some of my stuff...to living in a hostel downtown with just a computer and some clothes. It was a revelation. I was truly happy. Got back into drugs...lived in the worst apt of my life. Went to detox and transitional housing again. Stayed clean. Moved to a so so apt... And NOW, I'm more at peace than ever before. I don't think pot is so bad but I truly prefer being sober.
I'm going to get a job with the amazing social service place that got me clean. And when my grandmother's inheritance money arrives I'm going to build an amazing desktop computer. I buy used laptops. I have a modest clothes supply. I can dress nice but I don't care for fancy stuff. Other than a crazy powerful desktop I won't own a single luxury item. I'm happy with my used 10$ phone. I borrow WiFi from an athletic club nearby, and if I wasn't so embarrassed about bringing a woman back to an apt where we share a bathroom and shower with other tenets....I may never move.
I am going to seek that better job and a new desktop. But I'll buy thrift clothes, won't own a car, and I'm happy being somewhat a minimalist.
I've found the perfect inbetween that's right for me.
@@Cat_Magic811 Glad your happy, sound like you've had a journey getting there but when the revelation came you noticed it :). All the best and good luck with the job.
Doing well by doing good. That's the kind of entrepreneur the world needs.
the morality of good can be different for different persons and hard to decide. doing good is no more than a Christian idea and you can't find a subjective Good nor evil
you are looking at the wrong side of my argument. I'm saying you can't find a objective Good and evil but that's it depends of the time and society
it's because this channel mostly deals with the western world ergo Christianity or If you wanna stretch that Christianity Judaism and Islam
Amen
That's most, if not every, entrepreneur...
"we chose wealth over virtue" man that fucking hit me hard.
Why.
@@saladvolcano3103 shh, i think he is a romantic
dude? DUDE!!!
Money is the God of this World.
The phrase “god of this world” (or “god of this age”) indicates that Satan is the major influence on the ideals, opinions, goals, hopes and views of the majority of people. His influence also encompasses the world’s philosophies, education, and commerce. The thoughts, ideas, speculations and false religions of the world are under his control and have sprung from his lies and deceptions
As an After Effects nerd, this video was beautiful to watch. Do pass along my compliments to the animator(s).
Thank you for revealing the After Effects software tool. I'm looking to train in multimedia. What other software do you think School of Life uses to reduce these splendid pieces?
to "produce" these videos --sorry for the typo
Watching this video sparked a few really great hour long discussions over some drinks Saturday night with friends about Western Spirituality and how it correlates to wealth and virtue. Thank you being such an inspiration, I love your videos especially " On Romanticism "
Michael Luciano You’re fortunate to have friends who are interested in such matters, discussion over drinks an extra plus.
The problem with poverty and virtue is that they hardly ever coexist.
Yes i agree, you are fortunate to have such friends..
@@mikitz yeah poverty often leads to desperate acts which harm others.
@@mikitz Right. There is no inherent virtue in poverty per se. On the other hand a truly virtuous person usually choose a lifestyle that correspond well with the naturally reduced needs that comes with having a virtuous mind. Not as a show-off but as a natural effect of reduced needs.
I love that the school of life, without fail, gives us a light at the end of the tunnel. Every day we are bombarded with opinions of all that is wrong with the world by news channels, social media, colleagues, friends and family, but no one really follows this up with a reasonable path forward.
The solutions-based approach of this channel has grounded me over the years.
“We have chosen wealth over virtue” -the School of Life
"capitalism will give you cancer and then tell you it's a good thing! It's certainly is good for the healthcare industry and actually does stimulate the economy. But if you getting cancer is beneficial for the economy, perhaps you need to adopt a new economy." - Angela Davis
For the sake of sanity.
PLEASE GOD! Time for change 🙂↔️
Well capitalism isn't the problem, but I would say this is one hell of a way to exploit it. Norway is capitalistic and it's one of the wealthiest and best countries to live in. One of the healthiest too and it's even hard to find a job there because they don't be firing people. Some of their stores are run by an honor system and no employees will be working a register. You walk in, grab what you need, scan and pay for it yourself, and then walk out. Their prison systems are amazing out there, too. They even take good care of prisoners. We can't even begin to imagine that here.
Capitalism isn't the issue. It's one of the best economies. This is just what happens if it's blended with corporatism and consumerism. This is capitalism when it's run by evil people. For centuries. There are very good and righteous people still in power though. And all you have to do is not buy any of what they're selling. No harmful content and no poisonous food. No materialism. None of that.
@@John-wb2kk What's "harmful" to you?
@@TheKingWhoWins you didn't interpret anything I said properly. You just hate capitalism Lol
@@TheKingWhoWins if you hate the current economy, quit voting for the current democratic party. Norway's economy is just fine and they're capitalistic.
I find it great to learn not only about how consumerism came to be instead of just how we live with it now and how it effects us. I feel its necessary to understand how something started in order to fix it
I ended up having ice-cream after looking at that ice-cream. Damn it! Consumerism!
😊sharing is powerful !
I find toilet golf deeply fulfilling of my basic need for escapism during trying periods.
I'm too lazy to play Pokémon Go... waiting for the version where they just come to you...
Just found your response!! Your very much like me in this respect.
Toilet golf is a basic human right and needs to be enforced by law to be taught from birth
yes, but that's escapism
It's actually a huge fallacy that consumer spending is what drives the economy. Consumerism is just what people choose to do with wealth once it exists. What is required to create wealth is human labour organised efficiently in combination with capital in the form of natural resources, infrastructure, tools and factories. If people decided to save more and spend less, the economy would not collapse. There would simply be a shift in economic production from consumer goods into capital goods, allowing further wealth creation in the future.
The final point of the video is still good though. Aside from the so-called "pointless" goods which many people spend their money on today, there are many things which we can now afford which genuinely improve human happiness. These kind of things were not available back in the time when there was less resources available, less infrastructure developed, and less technology discovered.
" If people decided to save more and spend less, the economy would not collapse. There would simply be a shift in economic production from consumer goods into capital goods, allowing further wealth creation in the future."
Only if you can export the (by then over-)production, if not you will have a collapse 1929 style
ThePreciseMoment There would be no over or underproduction, just a shift in the kinds of goods being produced.
Excuse my ignorance, please, but would you be so kind to tell me what capital goods are?
pennymac16 Goods used for production rather than consumption. E.g. raw materials, factories, infrastructure etc.
sharperguy
Ah, how stupid of me, I could and should have known - thanks, anyway.
But now I wonder: How would this shift of economic production from consumer goods to capital goods come about if people decrease their consumption (meaning lower demand) and save more? Why would you buy materials, factories and tools when you can't market the products you could produce with them due to low demand? What do I misunderstand here?
this is turning out to be the most interesting series of the school of life. I rewatched the entire series nearly everytime they upload a new episode LOL!
Thanks a lot for this excellent lesson! It is so true that we can learn to generate profit through helping people, and then use that profit to help even more people.
Apart from the obvious and wonderful example of The School of Life, here is another example I love:
Especially for friends who want to play rock and blues on the guitar, Justin Sandercoe is probably the best online guitar teacher. All his lessons are for free. But he has his own publishing company, based in London. So if you want to support him, you can buy his excellent Songbooks, CD's, DVD's... The products on his online shop are great and you know that by buying them you are supporting his free online lessons, so that everybody can learn how to play!
He has half a million subscribers on youtube. Indeed he is the kind of teacher who wants to teach the entire world! What I love about him is that he is a " virtuous" man too. For example, he posts a video to teach how to play a certain super famous song, knowing that he will get thousands of clicks, and at the end of the lesson he takes the opportunity to read you an article about the genocide in Darfur. Just to tell everyone that we should inform ourselves better and do what we can do.
On his excellent website he has sections like " Global Issues " and " Food for Thought" . And on his newsletter recently he mentioned that he was going to take a course on Philosophy at Oxford. ( He would learn much more at TSOL though....)
He is doing something he loves, he is enriching many people's lives, and he is making enough money to live with dignity. That's a very beautiful, meaningful life!
Adverts subvert our rational mind and tap into the primitive part of us!
Learn the tatics and subvert them.
Adverts try to appeal to our most complex and ethereal needs. They're an invitation to challenge your rational mind. What's primitive is the most interesting part of intellectualism. Happiness is primitive.
Sponsored by lootcrate! A source for geeky nerdy merch delivered right to your doorstep!!!!
Abhishek Balaji after all we are just "rational actors"
But can be attained through non-primitive ways.
One must always remember that every dollar you spend represents time that you have worked. We should be more thoughtful of how we spend and what is the benefit of spending rather than simply a bit of retail therapy.
The typical example is people who send their kids to ordinary schools and buy luxurious cars and houses. Their need to be seen as respectable is greater than their obligation to educate their children to the best of their ability.
Interesting to see what happens to consumerism when automation really starts to kick in
H. Anthony Ribadeneira permanent oppression time😎
The low classes will ge more desperate for pleasure that the system will crash once they cannot afford to live.
wars, theft, crisis, pandemics, death, you name it. When it balances itself (just enough people) it will be remember as another tragic event in the development of the human being like it has happened many times in the past.
@Ma Rk population control
@Ma Rk While it is very possible it will result in a great depression the other possibility is that the freed up labour will go into supplying services which cater to higher needs such as arts, self understanding and entertainment. Things that robots won't be able to provide........yet
I love all your takes and ideas, and your ability to show what you want. The freedom of expression on this channel is as real as the greatness it teaches. Kudos, and dont mind the commentsthat feel irked at your video choices. I love your minds, and what lessons you teach me :) Thank you.
This was an excellent video. Really enjoyed this one. i would like to point out that if you had an economy based off of our psychological needs it would essentially become big business to manipulate people. It already is in many of those fields. Another thing I would like to point out is that people choose to buy frivolous things if they want and they don't necessarily have to sacrifice their virtues and morals to enjoy those things. If they do that, it is their own fault not the economic system they reside in's fault. Still, amazing work. Love these topics.
That was the smoothest ad at the end that I've ever seen, well done school of life. ;)
Forgot to mention the centrality of slavery and colonial theft in amassing wealth within these consumerist societies ...
👍🏼
Exactly - in this narrative wealth just appears out of 'nowhere' in the 1800s.
It's amazing how much credit some people want from back when white people had Child Labor and the industrial revolution.
@@irrealislife irrespective of whether the “holy” Adam Smith argued that slavery was less *efficient* than waged labour, the UK / many countries in Europe / US did kidnap, brutalise, murder, rape, terrorise and torture people from Africa on mass in order to force them to work every waking moment for no pay, for hundreds of years. It’s wholly absurd to say that slavery played no part in amassing wealth for slave owners and the nations they payed taxes to / invested in. Even if Adam Smith argued they could have made greater profits by actually paying people, entire industries were still founded upon slavery. It was an industry in itself. It’s a demonstrable fact. It doesn’t really matter how efficient it was, as assessed by Adam Smith’s speculations, it was still very profitable for a long time. I’d also suggest you look into modern slavery and you’ll see that it still exists in most nations on earth in various forms, regardless of how wealthy a nation is. Many nations who are experiencing huge / the fastest growth are utilising slave labour - see Qatar World Cup as an example. In 2021 almost 13000 potential victims of slavery in the UK were referred to the Home Office. Re. Colonial theft - to put it simply, when a country invades another country and extracts valuable resources that it then hoards and / or sells for profit, it makes the invaders more wealthy…
@@irrealislife I don’t quite understand how you can say that every country in the world uses slave labour but then also say that western nations have supposedly eradicated it …? Yes slavery has existed throughout history across the world. The transatlantic slave trade however is a very specific part of modern history that contributed significantly to the current world order. This involved a state sponsored industry in kidnapping and farming slaves from Africa on mass, which is structurally very different from the mostly underground forms of modern slavery in the world today. Slavery is not a huge contributor to any nation’s economy as it once was. You originally made this misleading transhistorical comparison by saying that today ‘poor’ nations use slave labour but they are still poor and supposedly the west is squeaky clean. I only mentioned modern slavery to remind you that slavery still exists EVERYWHERE, not just in developing nations you might wish to demonise. But it is a very different situation to the transatlantic slave trade which took it to a global industrial scale. Why is it so difficult to acknowledge that colonialism and slavery created a huge amount of wealth and power for the west …?
I'm learning so much here. Its really exciting to know that you don't need a University for education. I love this channel.
Yes😊😊😊😅
Really nice ad for the school of life shop. Great vid non the less!
We should shop for art, books and local produce. Beauty and the appreciation of masterful skills. We should shop for items and objects that engage our minds so we don't sit idle in waste.
We should shop for improvement to the disciplines that engage our scenes and indulge in the imagination of those that experience our brought goods.
Extremely well thought and put.
No, we should shop for things we actually want
This is just an advertisement for the status quo, how can you talk about consumerism and not point out the real costs of slave wages, environmental degradation and out of control wealth accumulation at the top? The future is going to be shaped by our understanding of history and right now it looks incredibly bleak.
To the contrary, this is not at all calling for the status quo. They say several times that a combination of economic activity and virtuous ideals is possible and will likely benefit all through imparting wisdom and worldly comfort. This isn't what we have now at all and is a system to move towards. To slave wages, wealth inequality and exploitation, those will be seen for what they are: horrible crimes against fellow beings who are no better or worse than we are. Those problems will only be solved when we have the collective wisdom to recognize their existence and our responsibility to end it and through the economic power to do so. Either alone won't solve these problems, it needs to be both together.
+Ryan Lacroix Let's just throw more money at the problem; that'll totally work! :-P
da fuq?
Very subjective and false view is what you portray.
Wages are a mutual agreement between an employer & an employee. If the employee finds the wage is too low, then he is free to quit if and when he chooses.
The environment is always changing, for good or for bad over millions of years. Forests grow and die, land is formed and destroyed, and continents disappear into the ocean. Say you observe the earth at a 1sec=10 000 years speed, you will see many things about it change every second. We humans really can't impact it permanently.
You can't control wealth accumulation.
Oh, but we can, and we have. That's why we're in the anthropocene. Humans have become so powerful that they are a geological force, and one to be reckoned with if we continue on our path of infinite growth and increasing resource extraction. It is almost certain at this point that we will even cause our own extinction as a result of our voluntarily suicidal societal behavior.
Business........it truly does make the world go round.
First SoL video in a while that is nuanced and makes a good attempt to analyze a complex topic without being overly biased towards a particular opinion.
I thought the video was trying to pull us towards the opinion of schools and universities being privatised being a good thing.
Maybe Capitalism is only capable of delivering the unimportant, silly and vain things. Every time Capitalism tries to move into the the realm of the important things like education, healthcare, justice-system and infrastructure, it doesn't go so well.
I used to be an anti-capitalist but not anymore completely. I don't support capitalism as it has many flaws but it also has allowed many people to lift themselves out of poverty. The issue with capitalism is that it's not effective at creating equity. It's a system that provides opportunity but not equally to all. And you're right about the profit motive being inappropriate for things like health care, education (higher and elementary), and criminal reform but when purchasing small consumer items it has driven economies to larger sizes enabling more wealth for more people. But this can be very vicious and destructive as we've seen in modernity since the industrial revolution and post-WWII American economic and foreign policy. Modern capitalism with its huge output and waste for the generations that came after its inception just seems to be that way things have always been and that's where the issue comes from: the fish don't know their in water until they're taken out of it.
I used to be an anti-capitalist but not anymore completely. I don't support capitalism as it has many flaws but it also has allowed many people to lift themselves out of poverty. The issue with capitalism is that it's not effective at creating equity. It's a system that provides opportunity but not equally to all. And you're right about the profit motive being inappropriate for things like health care, education (higher and elementary), and criminal reform but when purchasing small consumer items it has driven economies to larger sizes enabling more wealth for more people. But this can be very vicious and destructive as we've seen in modernity since the industrial revolution and post-WWII American economic and foreign policy. Modern capitalism with its huge output and waste for the generations that came after its inception just seems to be that way things have always been and that's where the issue comes from: the fish don't know their in water until they're taken out of it.
source?
This was a good video that helped me understand how society got to the point of being so greedy. we slowly starting gaining more and more luxuries, until we had too many things we couldn't live without. And it's still going on to this day as people are recklessly ordering online for things they want but don't need.
Outstanding, timely and rather zen
Kudos - as per usual ღ ღ ღ wish you a successful ménage à trois for Xmas 💋
***** You're welcome 😸 had a giggle writing it too.
appreciate and recommend your exemplary work, keep it up ❣
thanks
Ingenious method of advertising your channel School of Life.
the animations in this video are fantastic.
Thank you. your video made me smile. I haven't truly smiled since I entered high school. this makes me happy to learn again
Fascinating video. I'd love to see something addressing modern household and national debt issues.
7:13 The take home message starts from here. It's absolutely brilliant!!
How on Gods-earth do you pack this much education in this short a video! Bravo! You my dear friend are doing exceptional work!
Anogoya Dagaati until you read what everyone writes in comments then (when you don't really understand the subject) you go from thinking they're good to errr or are they? Seems as though everyone has different ideas. My sad conclusion - it would seem people just can't agree and therefore can't really get along!
*gasps!!* this is the video I've been waiting for!!! Thank you School of Life!!! much love
comments:
5% about consumerism
5% about how this video is good
90% about toilet golf
I have a car, but I need it to go to my job. My job is now home (because of Covid 19), I don't need my car anymore. I could easily work from home, but my boss doesn't want me to. I work as a customer service representative, which is not really 'working'. I don't 'produce' anything, it's a job because there is something like 'money', which 'ownership' needs to be checked at all time. Throughout the latter decades, what is being defined as 'work', has become more futile.
This is a VERY Anglophile and Western video. It has great market for that purpose/audience, BUT is very high handed and dismissive to non-western cultures. From the start, Europe was focused on, and other cultures that had balanced themselves out long before where not mentioned. As a historian I am disappointed at the limitations of this video, However as mentioned before, it serves a Anglophile/ Western audience very well.
I would actually love to see a video on non consumeristic societies that flourished. By this I do mean non-western/European cultures. Perhaps this is why so many people seem to flourish to non western philosophies. They very upkeep of consumerism is exhausting and at time demeaning and demoralising.
It was a very well done 10 minute ad for their store and think of the origin of their face and producer. Pas de surprise.
To say this video was "a VERY Anglophile and Western video" seems to me a bit absurd and quite funny.
What small parts of the real world as it exists here and now does this video ignore ?
What parts of the world are truly isolated from the topic of consumerism?
I don't know many such isolated countries and i would be glad to be told i simply lack the knowledge and then be pointed to it.Also as a historian i wonder if you could tell me how relying on muscle horse/man mainly can make a culture flourish better than electricity and combustion engines.I don't know the answer.
You seem to be deflecting. I never said anything about only relying on muscle/horse etc, nor does consumerism have a reflection on the invention of electricity-the Minoans had batteries which rang their doorbells after all. My comment if you would care to reread it, simply stated that civilizations grew and flourished before consumerism outside of Europe-hence calling it a Anglophile video. Perhaps further study on world civilization outside of Europe would help your understanding. Beyond saying that, i don't think we are on the same page, as you don't seem to get what I am saying.
I know. I was just about to write this.
Best School of Life vid in a long while. Thanks guys!
Dear #TheSchoolofLife people ... thank you very very very much for all that you do and please give me a way of repaying you somehow on the level of my modest skils for all this knowledge that you bring into our lifes. I appreciate your videos and your good intentions enormously!
Thank you so much. These videos are inspiring, fascinating, informative, and empowering. A deep and sincere thank you.
I like your voice ♡
It is a great video and interesting information also of course but in the end, whatever you talk about, it always sounds good.
I (s) love (/s) that a video about consumerism is preceded by an ad.
This perspective gives me hope. Thanks for the video!
The fact we are all watching this great philosophical video on computers or smart phones alone proves that a middle ground is at least possible. Although we have a great deal more room for improvement, as the sustainability of our lifestyles is conveniently overlooked on mass.
I love this channel. Keep it up.
~ Harley
The school of life is the very best English speaking youtube channel
False dilemma: wealth and virtue are not correlated. Same as virtue and poverty. In the end, consumer products are cultural products, and culture has a value.
There is however definately an inverse correlation between virtue and puberty!
Can't virtue and perberty coexist?
That's exactly the conclusion of the video.
Jeffrey KRUPA
ups! hahaha
Sorry for the typo :P
Not exactly.
5:52 "We have chosen wealth over virtue."
Those aren't mutually exclusive. One might even say wealth is a virtue. There is certainly no virtue in poverty.
Interesting that we leave out the relationship between slavery + consumerism.
👌🏼
Well there are different relationships between slavery and consumerism. Perhabs the consumer becomes a slave to the product, by planned obsoletence. This means that a product is designed in such a way that it breaks donw, so you the consumer will (have to) buy a new product. For example the Iphone that went buggy and slow due to an update, just as a new Iphone hit the marker. Or the fact that you (no longer) can (easiliy) replace the battery of your phone by yourself and thus are a slave to others who will replace it for you or buy a new one.
Another form of slavery is the litteral version. Meaning humans being owned by other humans. This predates consumerism as it was (is) common in many cultures and civilisations. It was formally ended by the British empire (they payed a huuuggge number for it in terms of gold). The Arabic slave trade was far more deadly and bigger than western slavery.
But the weird thing is, because slavery was abolished, the wages increased,. You could no longer ''pay'' your slave with a bed and meal. No they needed / deserved, real payment. This caused of product to rise. This aided the industrial revolution. Because companies who created new ways of producing goods with few man / few working hours were ahead of the competition. They could sell their product cheaper.
If the wages were low (slave wages so a bed and a meal) than it makes no sense to invest $$$ in a machine which will not turn a profit. But because slavery ended, it was wise to tinvest $$$ in a machine. because the machine, relatively, became cheaper.
Just my two cents. Lemme know what you think of it @Damilare Oyefeso.
Exactly consumerism has not ended Poverty it made it worst. For sure now when people don't have their own grown food to feed themselves or houses to live in.
They didn't really go into any depth about the reasons for why this consumerism started.
Besides, slavery existed for thousands of years before consumerism. It was not the cause.
@@oscarstenberg2745 agreed but they are linked.
In defence of this deep video that has successfully managed in 10 minutes to brush on some of the key points (and people) pertaining to the history of consumerism and has clearly illustrated an unsurprising but much-neglected path for a wiser future, the outpour of negative comments defy this illustration with its own illustration of how much the world is just not ready to appreciate that making a conscious consumption choice, can in many ways, be the right choice.
interesting video, but should have focused more on ecological impacts of consumerism and the fact that resources are finite
Marie-Pierre Renaud a growing economy doesn’t need infinite resources, it relies on the subjectivity of value and trade surplus(if we trade something we each value what we got more than what we gave, so we both won).
What about replacing money for favors and credit to address wants and needs?
I really agree, this is the first time I have been so deeply disappointed by a School of Life video.
Then you make a video you idiot. This video is exactly what it claims to be you loser critic fail
Best youtube channel worldwide!
Great video, as always. Thanks.
Great video. I currently have two jobs that are opposite ends of spectrum and this echoed throughout my mind and had me thinking at every point!
you should make a video, on how all the comments below sounded so smart and i cant wait for them to make their own videos!
i'm very happy everytime when I see a new video from this channel! Awesome 🙌🙏
I'm somewhat disappointed that this video does not even mention the stagnation of wages and the resurgence of immense disparity in wealth. But this is a North American perspective. Perhaps it is not on the forefront of this man's thoughts.
Jacob Lund Fisker might be more correlative to what you're looking for? He wrote "Early Retirement Extreme" and it's his sort of manifesto for reducing consumption in a modern society. There's also the History of Finance documentary floating around youtube somewhere
Alejandro Betancourt the type of wealth disparity we see in the US today is not a difficult concept to explain. To put it simply the wealthy had more wealth before the financial crisis, allowing them to weather it better then those with less (due in part to exponential growth and capital accumulation). In post recession eras (like today) there is a lag on wage rises as businesses need to reaccumulate capital and their strength. Plus especially after 2008 most consumers are still very pessimistic about the market, leading to lower consumption and lower wages/profits accordingly. This phenomenon is especially true in larger countries like the US, smaller ones don't have to accumulate the same about of capital before their GDP/Cap or PPP indexes rise to higher levels (more people more time). Hopefully this helps a little, if you wish to further look into it the Solow growth model is the crux of this argument.
Have u also noticed how it claims that making a profitable market out of Higher Education will help the poor, haha. Those same poor of course whom under the capitalist society of America can sweep their dreams of higher education forever under the rug!
TheAlmostbob Look i understand what is going on economically. I was looking for Mr. DeBotton's insight on the matter in a philosophical light. I disagree with your analysis though. It implies that the rich have every intention of raising wages on their own as soon as a certain level of capital has been recollected. The stock market is better than ever and 99 percent of new income created since the great recession is in the hands of the top 1 percent of income earners. Only a strong government action has any hope of increasing wages and let us not even begin to talk about reappropriating money that has been sheltered in foreign tax havens. I saw a report yesterday saying that the total amount of money held in these tax havens exceeds total US GDP. These problems are way older than the recession. The VOODOO economics of Reagan; the Trickle down economics of the 80s and the trade deals of the 90s are the main culprits. Information is power and the average person in the US hasn't even heard the TPP be mentioned in print or speech ONCE according to a recent poll. Also the term trade deal is misleading. The average person says TRADE? Trade is GOOD. Whatever. Almost half of my country believes that if you cut a rich man's taxes he will hire more people. When in fact these multinationals have a fiduciary responsibility to NOT hire someone if they can get away with it. I could go on all fucking day. This video failed. Perhaps Alain is not a politiphile as I am.
Your argument ignores the fact that benefits have been rising for the worker, which adds to the total cost of labor. From a producer standpoint the cost of employment has been rising. However the impact on the labor side is a expansion of benefits, not a rise in wages. Also, if you look at the data you will see an expansion of wages. Also, your argument ignores the business cycle, which has fluctuated since the 80's and 90's.
I would like to thank you for the illumination. I can not describe how much further I can see now. Thank You :')
These videos are normally super on point...but there was no mention of SLAVERY and exploitation in building European economies considering the animation literally featured 2 IMAGES OF SLAVE WORKERS serving rich Europeans?!? (3:00 min and 8:16 min , 8:54 min !) Come one guys...really! i think you skipped over that just a little-Don't you think?
No. He never once talked about how anything was made, regardless. That's a side point which does not make nor break his point. Just because there's a specific aspect that touches you personally doesn't mean it's significant to the overall points he was making. It was about poverty/virtue vs lavishness/excess. Nothing more.
@@jasondashney I mean...products are a central part of the consumerist vision, and they don't materialize in thin air you know what I'm saying, so OP's point is valid
FINALLY SOMEONE SAID SOMETHING. STAY WOKE.
He left everything of importance out, consumerism serves to keep the monetary/market system alive and this causes damage to human and nature that is comparable to a nuclear apocalypse, the biodiversity shrunk by 78% since 1970's, 78% of all being have been eradicated, every year 18 million people die due to structural violence, climate catastrophe and so on. This is the worst explanation of consumerism I ever heard, it is a little piece of the beginning of capitalism but not consumerism, consumerism began with Edward Bernays and re-education of the needs-society to a desire-society, people knew very well the difference between needs and wants before and wasn't consuming enough so the monetary/market system = capitalism could work and this lead to the great depression, this was when they decided to reprogram societies and breed consumers.
awesome video. I'm not sur what to think about our current society. The worst thing is seeing the deep poverty in third world contries compared to our wealth, and the persisting ignorance and uneducatdness even in modern societies... I guess we have to keep faith.
You miss that as more had wealth in the UK, the UK exploited the poor and slaves of/in other countries. Rather than a consumer shift where there were more consumers and less poor, taken globally, the poor/rich ratio stayed the same, but we shifted the poor to other countries through the exploitation of our commonwealth countries.
Shit I was hardcore communist and against consumerism before I saw Toilet Golf 5:45 . Take my money, I want entire fucking stock.
big historical mistake. Standard of living or GDP was not the same all the way to 1800s from beginning of history. Look at China, Japanese Empire, Mandinga empire in Mali 13th/14th century, the Muslim rule in Spain/Turkey.. People lived a fairly high standard with ease and were consumerists of sorts way before the video suggests..
Dutch economist Angus Maddison provides a dataset to show how slow the GDP was growing since 1AD to late 1600s. In the 18th century, during the Age of Enlightenment and Industrial Revolution, global economy experienced a spike in terms of GDP.
I couldn't help but crack up at the end, when it prompted me to see the store for stationary and gifts! Fantastic take on history, however. Shared it like it's my job.
Please have a sequel to this video to give us hope that it may actually happen.
اللَّهُمَّ اسْتُرْ عَوَرَاتِي ، وَآمِنْ رَوْعَاتِي ، وَاحْفَظْنِي مِنْ بَيْنِ يَدَيَّ وَمِنْ خَلْفِي ، وَعَنْ يَمِينِي وَعَنْ شِمَالِي ، وَمِنْ فَوْقِي ، وَأَعُوذُ بِكَ أَنْ أُغْتَالَ مِنْ تَحْتِي
SCHOOL OF LIFE have you thought about doing a video on anarchist ideology? which in some way are very different from capitalism and socialism
that being said, he seems pretty biased towards capitalism so I doubt we'd get a fair assessment of anarchism. Watch his dismissal or communism and Karl Marx in the other videos.
it's not the major difference is that socialism believe in a "dictator of the proletariat" that's meant to guide the rest of the workers while anarchist denies this because they believe this dictator only will be come a new higher class
Tespri Disorder and civilriots are not the same as anarchism my friend. Just because these phenomenons have give given the name anarchism dosent mean it have anything to do with the ideology
Valuable. How we figure out what products support that higher level of consumerism is the quest.
Consumerism also existed in ancient societies right? Maybe only for the upper layers but it certainly did exist.
It did. It did. Although the intensity was much less.
@@phokrizatmayirnao3346 Indeed, it wasn't until the industrial revolution that shit could be produced in great enough quantities and cheaply that consumerism really took off.
This video indirectly points to minimalism:
By avoiding the consumption of meaningless objects just for the sake of buying them and instead focusing on living with what really matters to us, means we will spend our money mostly on the goods we need as well as those that are contributive to society. This is minimalism at its essence and the video points directly towards that without even saying it.
when you realize that all of this was possible because of the plunder of the global south, and that the vast majority of humanity did not and NEVER shared in this prosperity, this is horrifying to watch… the greed, the decadence, and the lack of anti-imperialist analysis is wretched
Your work is so good that it terrifies me when I think you might stop creating them , or might delete them. Please keep up the good work. I really appreciate being educated by your channel.
Oh really????
Intellectually elevated and dirt poor? Mmmm...I don't think so.
The smarter you are, the better you know how much you don't need all those useless luxurious items.
Get out of here with 'demand made us wealthy' - demand made us dependable. While my grandparents didn't own much, it was theirs.
I rent, because I can't afford to buy a house without creating a debt big enough that I won't be able to pay until the end of my days.
This video; one big, well animated and narrated advert for The School of Life
Interesting. Did Adam Smith directly respond to The Fable of the Bees? I might need to open up The Wealth of Nation again as I'm really curious.
There's a really good article I read on the Foundation for Economic Education which strongly links Keynesianism (ie government mandated stimulus packages) on consumerism, since real growth on the back of aggregate supply in the economy is based on production of REAL demand - ie what people really demand rather than are forced to consume in an environment of unnaturally low interest rates (thank you central banks) and forced spending (thanks Keynes).
The problem of the utopian scenario you point out in this video is that the only way you could guarantee people don't consume frivolous products is to dictate to them what they can buy. As F.A. Hayek points out in his book "The Road to Surfdom", this only leads to dictatorship in the likeness of Hitler and Stalin.
Good reference, but i don't think that's what they meant. Maybe if you show to people rather than force them would be a better solution. Show them why is better to consume products and services focused on our higher needs as they've said, rather than to indulge frivolous and compulsive consumerism. You don't need to "guarantee" that people won't consume frivolous products - that's impossible and maybe pointless. If you instruct, educate and bring enlightenment to people maybe they will choose for themselves, and then maybe the industry of vanity and unnecessary goods will die out due to the gradual lowering of demand.
And it is certainly possible to a degree not to pitch the two against one another but I think in Europe in general people drive in smaller cars, go to restaurants more than to mcdonnalds, spend more money and time on vacation instead of working more for a bigger car,... lots of examples so it can be influenced without direct force
(in comparison to the USA (minus hipsters probably :p))
uk.businessinsider.com/here-are-the-vainest-countries-in-the-world-2015-8?r=US&IR=T
GOOD example
In his observations of Germany and the early Soviet Union, they tried more democratically socialist policies, having the people decide what was important. What happened was that nobody agreed and a much more inefficient system resulted. He posited that the only way to make sure people did what was best for the nation, they would have to be told. History so far leans in his favor, but who knows if there's some other way (my take is another historical example. War unifies in one direction. Just look at war bonds, rationing, etc. during WWII)
It reminds me of solving a difficult mathematics problem. Most of the times you begin by solving minor, simingly to be unused, aspects of the problem, which gradually and steadily becomes more and more easy until, the problem is solved before even noticing.
Does anyone know this type of editing is called? With the cut out pictures. Any tutorials on that? LOOKS SO SICK!
i am curious too :O
Slideshows?
Would love to know as well.
Terry Gilliam style!
I don't think it would be terribly hard to do, I think it would take forever though
My thanks, +The School of Life, for some of the insights on consumerism I've needed for awhile now - gosh have I combated with my harsh judgments of (my own) participation in consumerism on an essentially daily basis. It's very refreshing to consider not just the alternatives, but the merit and varying lights of this essentially dominating consumerist culture. Indeed, it's not always the survival of the fittest, but instead the survival of that which reproduces itself most successfully (albeit destructively!)
5:45 where can i buy toilet golf plz
Great video to understand how consumerism came to be and how it has affected our society.
Consumption doesn't drive the economy. Many people have infinite desires, and would consume without end if they could. What is required to create wealth is human labour organised efficiently in combination with capital. Capital and savings is what creates wealth, for without which, there would be nothing to consume
SuperiorSeven hence without consumption capital and human labour wouldn’t exist. It’s the first perpetuum mobile that has been created.
Wow, this is the best and most subtle self-advertising I ever heard! Thumbs up!
i.e. The School of Life is selling services and goods that focus on higher "needs" like self-understanding and education of the others.
without consumerism we wouldn't have laptops or phones to watch this video, does my phone make me a better person or happier? probably not...
oh and the ad at the end... feels weird after a video on consumerism 😂
It actually probably does make you happier. Research shows that material goods and wealth increase happiness. Of course, it increases by a logarithmical curve, but it does make an average person happier. Even more, if he has something and others don't.
You should send a large donation so they can keep working on this videos. People gotta eat you know?
***** can you link the research? I've never seen one that claims oposite correlation. Maybe in anxiety, but not overall well being.
From what I know money does make you happier up to a certain point, then it actually goes down, that's cause most billionaires are miserable, and it also depends on how you were raised, poor background and all that influences
best video yet, in terms of both intellectual capacity and inventive video craftmanship
This is a query to the school of life team. Writing and reading seems to have a much more powerful effect on ones mind and in expression than a video may be. So therefore can you help your audience with sources of knowledge you've found helpful to attaining such profound wisdom? thank you
I enjoyed watching this video a lot.
2:08 I can't help but think when I see that image. "WHAT THE HELL AM I READING?"
Puts up a notification for merchandise as soon as he says "shopping for pleasure"
Clever.
I thought the end got a bit abstract. What exactly are "higher needs"?
Noah Nobody Check out Maslow's pyramid of needs
Which now has WiFi added
And, interestingly, needs catered to by the school of life's shop
Higher than spiritual ?
420.
I think the video points at some very important topics, as far as consumerism working to meet and grow our higher human needs and providing services to help each other grow, as is happening today, what with the explosion of the Self Help industry, Success Coaches and Motivational Speakers like Dr. Eric Thomas, Les Brown, Zig Ziglar, Tony Robbins, etc. Oh, and Denis Waitley. Awesome bro. The beginning of the video did fall short a bit in that it focused on the dawn of consumerism mainly from a Eurocentric point of view. Other great nations have had much wealth and consumerism. One nation that comes to mind is the one lead by King Mansa Musa. Dude had gold in droves and ran a very powerful nation that also had developed consumerism. Then invaders came and did what they usually do. Something that stands out is the propping up of society on the backs of purchasing goods that are merely for vanities sake. Do such purchases really benefit society in the long run? Will buying A Prada bag really benefit the hospitals? Maybe I should watch this video again, as it was packed with a lot of information. A dichotomy that I disagree with, much like Smith, was the idea of being noble and thus poor versus rich and henceforth unscrupulous. I think that a nation can be built on a God or faith driven culture AND be rich as well. It's a culture context and in many was religion was used to keep some people in certain mindsets that were not necessarily garnering of wealth #Hegemony. I think a sound society has people who are strong financially, morally, physically, familial-ly (?) and so forth. That's what I think. Great job on the video! I would hope in the future though that they could be a bit more rounded, culturally, since the dawn of life/civilization wasn't in Europe and many cultures have scintillating tales of development. Though I would then have to postulate (no offense intended) that you, the makers of this video don't come from a multicultural background, hence the Eurocentrism, which is actually natural since we humans tend to care about that which resembles us the most #ethnocentrism. No worries, just saying my piece. Since I am a genetic composite of most main groups on this planet, I see things from a ‘rounded view point’. Centrism being kinda like a situation where a man could never really understand a day in the life of a woman, unless he was one for a day, and after being one for a day and seeing what it’s like on the “front lines”, cat calls, groping, stares, suggestive remarks, etc. then he’d be like WTF! #Womenarepeopletoo. In the end though, good video. It showed me a good light at the end of the consumerism tunnel. Keep up the good work, Cheers.
P.S. This video really got me thinking…feels like the good old days back in Uni. Thank you.
To be fair... A vast majority of consumerism in the Renaissance and Victorian eras were not frivolous. Most of it were normal people purchasing very important things. Perhaps a guy working in a factory buying a third set of clothing was extravagant by historical context, but most people were not purchasing bejeweled snuff boxes, they were buying food, soap, clothing, bedding, and fairly basic human needs. They were just buying more of them. Family members now each had their own beds instead of sharing one. People acquired a few outfits rather than just one. People developed a more diverse diet that included more important food groups more regularly. It wasn't conspicuous consumption of luxury goods, it was a very reasonable improvement in the over all standard of living for the middle class and working poor.
Where can I possibly see sources on the claims on living conditions pre-Industrial Revolution era?
@@flamethrower883 internet
This Video really helped me understand how consumerism effects our history.
One minute in I have to comment because the narrative is biased...I'm disappointed School of Life. You've just made up your own history where the Indian silk trade with Africa etc didn't exist. That was going on for hundreds and hundreds of years before the Europeans (I'm English myself).It's why Spain, Britain and the Dutch set sail there, to get into that market. Where there's wealth, there is consumerism and there have been plenty of rich merchants and princes in history...
its more like eurocentrism it's inevitable in present day!!!!
what's really worrying is that despite this massive growth in technological advancement it seems that we havent applied that knowledge to aid the world for the simple fact that we are human !!!! but rather alarmingly , we're still stuck on racial ignorance and inequalities and other complex ideas that should be used control power its so pathetic
Silk and spices were for the wealthy. The point of the video was that there used to be only two classes of people, and consumerism created more. Watch the video again maybe you'll see. Or at least, watch it all. To comment one minute in assumes you know all of the rest of it. That's a very closed off way to go through life.
This might be my favorite one yet
Please make a video about hate crime, it is arguably one of the most hotly debated issues of the present time. I would like to know your thoughts on this matter, thanks
Hate crime laws are a very effective way of protecting the most hateful people, because of course, they are the people who are actually willing to use laws against their enemies.
You currently see this with islamists using laws to silence legitimate criticism in Europe.
deni sherlock
Complete bullocks.
Hate crime is a meme, crime is crime, rape is rape murder is murder.
Saying it was because color or sex some how makes it worse than that other murder is beyond ignorant.
Like, it’s bad???? What do u want to know more about it?
Wonderful! Thanks!