1 00:00:01,840 --> 00:00:07,840 Speaker 1: Welcome to Brainstuff, a production of iHeartRadio, Hey Brainstuff Lauren 2 00:00:07,840 --> 00:00:12,840 Speaker 1: Bobelbaum here. It's hard to say exactly when it started, 3 00:00:13,119 --> 00:00:16,079 Speaker 1: but in recent years there seems to be an increasing 4 00:00:16,120 --> 00:00:19,079 Speaker 1: tendency in the United States to use the term consumer 5 00:00:19,239 --> 00:00:23,280 Speaker 1: interchangeably with citizen, even when the discussion isn't taking place 6 00:00:23,440 --> 00:00:27,920 Speaker 1: strictly in an economic framework, and some political experts say 7 00:00:27,960 --> 00:00:30,720 Speaker 1: that this choice of words may reveal a subtle but 8 00:00:30,880 --> 00:00:34,120 Speaker 1: worrisome shift in how we see ourselves and our role 9 00:00:34,159 --> 00:00:37,760 Speaker 1: in American society, away from the notion of working together 10 00:00:37,800 --> 00:00:40,600 Speaker 1: with others toward the common good, and toward a nation 11 00:00:40,680 --> 00:00:46,520 Speaker 1: of individuals primarily motivated by self interest before. The article 12 00:00:46,520 --> 00:00:48,839 Speaker 1: of this episode is based on How Stuffworks. Spoke by 13 00:00:48,920 --> 00:00:52,160 Speaker 1: email back in twenty seventeen with Jason Sadowski, a senior 14 00:00:52,240 --> 00:00:55,800 Speaker 1: lecturer in the Department of Human Centered Computing at Monash University. 15 00:00:56,920 --> 00:01:00,480 Speaker 1: He said that using consumer interchangeably with citizen and a 16 00:01:00,560 --> 00:01:04,360 Speaker 1: quote has become part of our default discourse, the normal 17 00:01:04,400 --> 00:01:07,440 Speaker 1: way we viewed society and people just look at the 18 00:01:07,440 --> 00:01:12,039 Speaker 1: twenty sixteen presidential election. This consumer versus citizen language is 19 00:01:12,080 --> 00:01:15,640 Speaker 1: often used when analysts and pundits talk about elections of 20 00:01:15,760 --> 00:01:19,400 Speaker 1: voters are just consumers with preferences, and the election is 21 00:01:19,440 --> 00:01:23,080 Speaker 1: a marketplace of products to choose from in the store. 22 00:01:23,160 --> 00:01:26,040 Speaker 1: We vote with our dollar. We're told that elections are 23 00:01:26,080 --> 00:01:29,240 Speaker 1: functionally the same thing. You just use a ballot instead 24 00:01:29,240 --> 00:01:33,360 Speaker 1: of a buck to cast your vote. This understanding of 25 00:01:33,400 --> 00:01:36,839 Speaker 1: democratic processes as a marketplace is just one more place 26 00:01:36,880 --> 00:01:42,000 Speaker 1: where the citizen is overtaken by the consumer. Both words 27 00:01:42,040 --> 00:01:44,840 Speaker 1: have been around for centuries. A citizen dates back to 28 00:01:44,920 --> 00:01:48,400 Speaker 1: the thirteen hundreds, though it originally meant the inhabitant of 29 00:01:48,440 --> 00:01:51,160 Speaker 1: a city and didn't take on its present meaning a 30 00:01:51,280 --> 00:01:54,440 Speaker 1: person who has rights and responsibilities in the society until 31 00:01:54,440 --> 00:01:59,280 Speaker 1: around sixteen ten. The word consumer arose in the fourteen hundreds, 32 00:01:59,480 --> 00:02:03,600 Speaker 1: though back then it meant someone who squanders or wastes things. 33 00:02:04,280 --> 00:02:07,240 Speaker 1: It took on a less pejorative economic meaning, that is, 34 00:02:07,280 --> 00:02:10,840 Speaker 1: a person who purchases and uses goods and services around 35 00:02:10,960 --> 00:02:16,000 Speaker 1: seventeen forty five. If you look at the appearances of 36 00:02:16,040 --> 00:02:19,480 Speaker 1: each word in Google Books and gram Viewer, which isn't 37 00:02:19,520 --> 00:02:22,280 Speaker 1: always accurate, but gives us a pretty decent idea of 38 00:02:22,320 --> 00:02:24,639 Speaker 1: how often words were used in print in the English 39 00:02:24,720 --> 00:02:29,440 Speaker 1: language from eighteen hundred onward. The word consumer seldom appeared 40 00:02:29,480 --> 00:02:33,480 Speaker 1: in print until about nineteen hundred, but starting around then 41 00:02:33,600 --> 00:02:36,920 Speaker 1: it steadily rose until it passed up citizen and frequency 42 00:02:37,040 --> 00:02:40,160 Speaker 1: in the late nineteen twenties. The use of the word 43 00:02:40,200 --> 00:02:43,799 Speaker 1: consumer peaked in the nineteen eighties, but it's still used 44 00:02:43,800 --> 00:02:46,639 Speaker 1: more than one and a half times as often as citizen. 45 00:02:48,919 --> 00:02:51,520 Speaker 1: How stuff Works also spoke via email with Michael Munger, 46 00:02:51,800 --> 00:02:54,960 Speaker 1: director of the Philosophy, Politics, and Economics Program at Duke 47 00:02:55,040 --> 00:02:59,400 Speaker 1: University's Political Science Department. He theorizes that the shift in 48 00:02:59,560 --> 00:03:01,880 Speaker 1: usage had to do with the rise in the twentieth 49 00:03:01,880 --> 00:03:06,959 Speaker 1: century of progressive politics. He said the progressives primarily saw 50 00:03:07,000 --> 00:03:11,760 Speaker 1: citizens as being helpless trapped by large forces, especially corporations, 51 00:03:12,080 --> 00:03:18,000 Speaker 1: that citizens couldn't deal with. Starting in the nineteen sixties, 52 00:03:18,120 --> 00:03:23,000 Speaker 1: politicians increasing use of sophisticated marketing techniques borrowed from sellers 53 00:03:23,000 --> 00:03:26,960 Speaker 1: of products like breakfast, cereal, cars, and antiperspirants also may 54 00:03:26,960 --> 00:03:31,440 Speaker 1: have played a role. Today, campaigns gather and analyze mountains 55 00:03:31,440 --> 00:03:34,720 Speaker 1: of data to conduct micro targeting efforts, which look at 56 00:03:34,800 --> 00:03:38,360 Speaker 1: individual voters attitudes and behaviors and what might be the 57 00:03:38,360 --> 00:03:42,440 Speaker 1: best way to reach them. And the government itself is 58 00:03:42,520 --> 00:03:46,480 Speaker 1: being judged as if it were consumer business. The American 59 00:03:46,560 --> 00:03:50,520 Speaker 1: Customer Satisfaction Index rates twelve departments and agencies within the 60 00:03:50,520 --> 00:03:54,280 Speaker 1: federal government on how people feel about the accessibility and 61 00:03:54,320 --> 00:03:58,560 Speaker 1: efficiency of their services. In twenty twenty four, the federal 62 00:03:58,600 --> 00:04:01,760 Speaker 1: government overall got a sixty nine point seven out of 63 00:04:01,800 --> 00:04:04,640 Speaker 1: one hundred, a seven year high, up two point two 64 00:04:04,680 --> 00:04:10,040 Speaker 1: percent over the previous year. And this isn't just semantics. 65 00:04:10,480 --> 00:04:13,120 Speaker 1: The words we use can have an impact on how 66 00:04:13,160 --> 00:04:16,479 Speaker 1: we live. A twenty twelve study published in the journal 67 00:04:16,520 --> 00:04:19,880 Speaker 1: Psychological Science found that choice of words may exert a 68 00:04:19,880 --> 00:04:23,800 Speaker 1: subtle influence on how we see ourselves. In one part 69 00:04:23,839 --> 00:04:27,000 Speaker 1: of the study, people who answered a consumer response survey 70 00:04:27,360 --> 00:04:31,160 Speaker 1: but tended to express more materialistic, self centered values than 71 00:04:31,160 --> 00:04:36,320 Speaker 1: those who answered a citizen survey. In another part, the 72 00:04:36,360 --> 00:04:40,400 Speaker 1: researchers presented subjects with the hypothetical situation in which people 73 00:04:40,440 --> 00:04:43,200 Speaker 1: had to share water from a well and labeled them 74 00:04:43,240 --> 00:04:47,680 Speaker 1: as either consumers or citizens. The subjects who got the 75 00:04:47,760 --> 00:04:52,359 Speaker 1: consumer identity tended to distrust others more about sharing water, 76 00:04:53,040 --> 00:04:55,840 Speaker 1: felt less in partnership with the other subjects, and felt 77 00:04:55,960 --> 00:04:59,840 Speaker 1: less personally responsible compared with those who were labeled citizens. 78 00:05:02,000 --> 00:05:05,120 Speaker 1: How stuff Works also spoke with Josh Pasek, a professor 79 00:05:05,120 --> 00:05:08,040 Speaker 1: of communication in Media and Political science at the University 80 00:05:08,040 --> 00:05:12,359 Speaker 1: of Michigan. He explained that this shift in terminology a 81 00:05:12,440 --> 00:05:16,360 Speaker 1: quote seems to underscore a shift away from viewing Americans 82 00:05:16,360 --> 00:05:19,839 Speaker 1: as having responsibility in our political system and toward a 83 00:05:19,920 --> 00:05:22,480 Speaker 1: more individualist view of what it means to be American. 84 00:05:23,440 --> 00:05:26,400 Speaker 1: Your job as an American citizen requires that you fulfill 85 00:05:26,560 --> 00:05:31,040 Speaker 1: key democratic norms, such as being informed, deliberating about political issues, 86 00:05:31,160 --> 00:05:35,800 Speaker 1: and participating in civic and political life. As an American consumer, 87 00:05:36,160 --> 00:05:38,480 Speaker 1: your actions are relevant only to the extent that they 88 00:05:38,520 --> 00:05:42,919 Speaker 1: respond to economic incentives. The responsibility to be engaged and 89 00:05:43,000 --> 00:05:46,279 Speaker 1: participatory is not your own, but instead depends on a 90 00:05:46,320 --> 00:05:51,400 Speaker 1: system that is oriented to bring you in. How Stuff 91 00:05:51,440 --> 00:05:54,599 Speaker 1: Works also spoke via email with Frank Trentman, a professor 92 00:05:54,640 --> 00:05:57,240 Speaker 1: of history at the University of London and author of 93 00:05:57,279 --> 00:06:00,560 Speaker 1: the book Empire of Things, How he Became a World 94 00:06:00,640 --> 00:06:03,680 Speaker 1: of Consumers from the fifteenth century to the twenty first. 95 00:06:04,880 --> 00:06:08,600 Speaker 1: He thinks that the blurred distinction between consumer and citizen 96 00:06:09,160 --> 00:06:11,359 Speaker 1: may make it tougher for people to come together to 97 00:06:11,400 --> 00:06:15,839 Speaker 1: solve problems. He said, not all consumers see the world 98 00:06:15,880 --> 00:06:19,320 Speaker 1: in the same way, and hence concerted action is difficult. 99 00:06:22,000 --> 00:06:24,080 Speaker 1: All of this is why some people would like to 100 00:06:24,120 --> 00:06:27,600 Speaker 1: see us go back to viewing ourselves as active citizens, 101 00:06:27,800 --> 00:06:32,560 Speaker 1: not passive consumers. As political commentator Mark Shields wrote in 102 00:06:32,560 --> 00:06:36,240 Speaker 1: twenty twelve, maybe it's time that Americans started insisting that 103 00:06:36,320 --> 00:06:40,440 Speaker 1: leaders treat them not like consumers quote, but as citizens 104 00:06:40,480 --> 00:06:44,040 Speaker 1: who recognize that we have, in addition to rights and privileges, 105 00:06:44,400 --> 00:06:53,120 Speaker 1: real obligations and responsibilities. Today's episode is based on the 106 00:06:53,200 --> 00:06:57,640 Speaker 1: article when and Why did America start calling its citizens consumers? 107 00:06:57,760 --> 00:07:01,120 Speaker 1: On HowStuffWorks dot Com, written by Patrick J. Khigh. Brain 108 00:07:01,120 --> 00:07:03,840 Speaker 1: Stuff is production of iHeartRadio in partnership with ho stuffworks 109 00:07:03,839 --> 00:07:06,440 Speaker 1: dot Com and is produced by Tyler Klang. Four more 110 00:07:06,440 --> 00:07:10,040 Speaker 1: podcasts my heart Radio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, 111 00:07:10,120 --> 00:07:12,000 Speaker 1: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.