Boomers and the Revolt Against Mass Overconsumption

Readers of the Bacon’s Rebellion blog will find the theme of the latest column, “Boomers and the Revolt Against Consumerism,” to be familiar. Indeed, if you take the insights of generational analysis and cross-fertilize them with the critique of Mass OverConsumption on this blog, you wind up with the thesis of this op-ed piece: After years of excessive consumption, the United States is rediscovering the virtues of thrift and frugality. From the op-ed piece:

We believe this change is being driven by more than temporary financial hardship. Long-term, the consumerist backlash is energized by: (1) the natural maturation of the boomer cohort, (2) a dawning recognition that longer life spans and longer retire ments require more money, and (3) the spread of a “sustainability” ethic among all segments of the population.

Boomers now range in age from 44 to 62 years old. Following the path of previous generations, they are now at the age where they derive their self-identity less from their material trappings and social status than from their own inner compass. They are less concerned about acquiring status symbols like Beemers, vacation homes, granite kitchen countertops, and $1,200 purses and more about building ties to friends and family, and nurturing their self-identity and self-respect. Deriving less satisfaction from the accumulation of “stuff,” they are seeking the financial security and flexibility in their extended, post-65 lives that only saving, paying down debt, and investing can get them.

The growing anti-materialism of the boomer generation dovetails with the spreading environmental revolt against an economy organized around mass consumption. Creating an environmentally sustainable society entails buying less stuff: plundering less land for the extraction of raw materials, consuming less energy during production and distribution, and filling fewer acres of landfills when the stuff wears out.

The leading edge of this movement is driven by what Harvard Business School professor John Quelch calls the “middle-aged simplifier” — well-off people who are turning their backs on conspicuous consumption and the accumulation of stuff. Turning their backs on Hummers, McMansions and other symbols of material success, many of these are he writes in his blog, includes “empty-nester baby-boomers . . . who are tired of heating unused spaces in cavernous mansions, now preferring smaller houses with architectural character and intimate spaces, more charm and less maintenance.”

Implications for Virginia: So, why post on this topic on a blog of Virginia-specific politics? Because the trend is national in scope and will change consumer behavior in Virginia as it will the rest of the country. The quest for “simplification” and “frugality,” I hypothesize, will manifest itself as reduced demand for the traditional symbols of conspicuous consumption: huge houses, multiple cars in the garage, lavish vacations, frequent dining out, shopping as entertainment and the accumulation of stuff. These changes, in turn, will impact human settlement patterns, transportation systems, retail sales (and sales tax revenues) and any number of other pillars of Business As Usual.

It would be a huge mistake for public policy makers to assume that the patterns of the past half century will continue in a straight-line projection from the past. We have reached an inflexion point. Policy makers take heed.