Kerryn Higgs

La Jornada, July 12, 2022 | By Victor M. Toledo* If you judge that the world is dominated by the American, Russian, Chinese or European empire, you are completely wrong. The real (silent and invisible) empire is that of the corporations (giant companies and banks) that today control practically all fields of human activity, including countless national governments.

Over the course of the 20th Century, capitalism moulded the ordinary person into a consumer. Kerryn Higgs traces the historical roots of the world’s unquenchable thirst for more stuff. The notion of human beings as consumers first took shape before World War One, but became commonplace in America in the 1920s. Consumption is now frequently seen as our principal role in the world.

By Kerryn Higgs, originally published by MIT Press Reader January 25, 2021 Over the course of the 20th century, capitalism preserved its momentum by molding the ordinary person into a consumer with an unquenchable thirst for more stuff. The notion of human beings as consumers first took shape before World War I, but became commonplace in America in the 1920s. Consumption is now frequently seen as our principal role in the world.