WEBVTT - When Did We Start Calling American Citizens 'Consumers'?

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to Brainstuff, a production of iHeartRadio, Hey Brainstuff Lauren

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<v Speaker 1>Bobelbaum here. It's hard to say exactly when it started,

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<v Speaker 1>but in recent years there seems to be an increasing

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<v Speaker 1>tendency in the United States to use the term consumer

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<v Speaker 1>interchangeably with citizen, even when the discussion isn't taking place

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<v Speaker 1>strictly in an economic framework, and some political experts say

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<v Speaker 1>that this choice of words may reveal a subtle but

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<v Speaker 1>worrisome shift in how we see ourselves and our role

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<v Speaker 1>in American society, away from the notion of working together

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<v Speaker 1>with others toward the common good, and toward a nation

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<v Speaker 1>of individuals primarily motivated by self interest before. The article

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<v Speaker 1>of this episode is based on How Stuffworks. Spoke by

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<v Speaker 1>email back in twenty seventeen with Jason Sadowski, a senior

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<v Speaker 1>lecturer in the Department of Human Centered Computing at Monash University.

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<v Speaker 1>He said that using consumer interchangeably with citizen and a

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<v Speaker 1>quote has become part of our default discourse, the normal

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<v Speaker 1>way we viewed society and people just look at the

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<v Speaker 1>twenty sixteen presidential election. This consumer versus citizen language is

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<v Speaker 1>often used when analysts and pundits talk about elections of

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<v Speaker 1>voters are just consumers with preferences, and the election is

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<v Speaker 1>a marketplace of products to choose from in the store.

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<v Speaker 1>We vote with our dollar. We're told that elections are

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<v Speaker 1>functionally the same thing. You just use a ballot instead

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<v Speaker 1>of a buck to cast your vote. This understanding of

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<v Speaker 1>democratic processes as a marketplace is just one more place

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<v Speaker 1>where the citizen is overtaken by the consumer. Both words

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<v Speaker 1>have been around for centuries. A citizen dates back to

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<v Speaker 1>the thirteen hundreds, though it originally meant the inhabitant of

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<v Speaker 1>a city and didn't take on its present meaning a

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<v Speaker 1>person who has rights and responsibilities in the society until

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<v Speaker 1>around sixteen ten. The word consumer arose in the fourteen hundreds,

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<v Speaker 1>though back then it meant someone who squanders or wastes things.

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<v Speaker 1>It took on a less pejorative economic meaning, that is,

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<v Speaker 1>a person who purchases and uses goods and services around

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<v Speaker 1>seventeen forty five. If you look at the appearances of

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<v Speaker 1>each word in Google Books and gram Viewer, which isn't

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<v Speaker 1>always accurate, but gives us a pretty decent idea of

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<v Speaker 1>how often words were used in print in the English

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<v Speaker 1>language from eighteen hundred onward. The word consumer seldom appeared

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<v Speaker 1>in print until about nineteen hundred, but starting around then

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<v Speaker 1>it steadily rose until it passed up citizen and frequency

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<v Speaker 1>in the late nineteen twenties. The use of the word

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<v Speaker 1>consumer peaked in the nineteen eighties, but it's still used

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<v Speaker 1>more than one and a half times as often as citizen.

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<v Speaker 1>How stuff Works also spoke via email with Michael Munger,

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<v Speaker 1>director of the Philosophy, Politics, and Economics Program at Duke

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<v Speaker 1>University's Political Science Department. He theorizes that the shift in

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<v Speaker 1>usage had to do with the rise in the twentieth

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<v Speaker 1>century of progressive politics. He said the progressives primarily saw

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<v Speaker 1>citizens as being helpless trapped by large forces, especially corporations,

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<v Speaker 1>that citizens couldn't deal with. Starting in the nineteen sixties,

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<v Speaker 1>politicians increasing use of sophisticated marketing techniques borrowed from sellers

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<v Speaker 1>of products like breakfast, cereal, cars, and antiperspirants also may

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<v Speaker 1>have played a role. Today, campaigns gather and analyze mountains

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<v Speaker 1>of data to conduct micro targeting efforts, which look at

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<v Speaker 1>individual voters attitudes and behaviors and what might be the

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<v Speaker 1>best way to reach them. And the government itself is

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<v Speaker 1>being judged as if it were consumer business. The American

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<v Speaker 1>Customer Satisfaction Index rates twelve departments and agencies within the

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<v Speaker 1>federal government on how people feel about the accessibility and

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<v Speaker 1>efficiency of their services. In twenty twenty four, the federal

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<v Speaker 1>government overall got a sixty nine point seven out of

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<v Speaker 1>one hundred, a seven year high, up two point two

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<v Speaker 1>percent over the previous year. And this isn't just semantics.

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<v Speaker 1>The words we use can have an impact on how

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<v Speaker 1>we live. A twenty twelve study published in the journal

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<v Speaker 1>Psychological Science found that choice of words may exert a

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<v Speaker 1>subtle influence on how we see ourselves. In one part

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<v Speaker 1>of the study, people who answered a consumer response survey

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<v Speaker 1>but tended to express more materialistic, self centered values than

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<v Speaker 1>those who answered a citizen survey. In another part, the

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<v Speaker 1>researchers presented subjects with the hypothetical situation in which people

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<v Speaker 1>had to share water from a well and labeled them

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<v Speaker 1>as either consumers or citizens. The subjects who got the

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<v Speaker 1>consumer identity tended to distrust others more about sharing water,

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<v Speaker 1>felt less in partnership with the other subjects, and felt

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<v Speaker 1>less personally responsible compared with those who were labeled citizens.

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<v Speaker 1>How stuff Works also spoke with Josh Pasek, a professor

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<v Speaker 1>of communication in Media and Political science at the University

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<v Speaker 1>of Michigan. He explained that this shift in terminology a

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<v Speaker 1>quote seems to underscore a shift away from viewing Americans

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<v Speaker 1>as having responsibility in our political system and toward a

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<v Speaker 1>more individualist view of what it means to be American.

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<v Speaker 1>Your job as an American citizen requires that you fulfill

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<v Speaker 1>key democratic norms, such as being informed, deliberating about political issues,

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<v Speaker 1>and participating in civic and political life. As an American consumer,

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<v Speaker 1>your actions are relevant only to the extent that they

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<v Speaker 1>respond to economic incentives. The responsibility to be engaged and

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<v Speaker 1>participatory is not your own, but instead depends on a

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<v Speaker 1>system that is oriented to bring you in. How Stuff

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<v Speaker 1>Works also spoke via email with Frank Trentman, a professor

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<v Speaker 1>of history at the University of London and author of

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<v Speaker 1>the book Empire of Things, How he Became a World

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<v Speaker 1>of Consumers from the fifteenth century to the twenty first.

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<v Speaker 1>He thinks that the blurred distinction between consumer and citizen

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<v Speaker 1>may make it tougher for people to come together to

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<v Speaker 1>solve problems. He said, not all consumers see the world

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<v Speaker 1>in the same way, and hence concerted action is difficult.

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<v Speaker 1>All of this is why some people would like to

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<v Speaker 1>see us go back to viewing ourselves as active citizens,

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<v Speaker 1>not passive consumers. As political commentator Mark Shields wrote in

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<v Speaker 1>twenty twelve, maybe it's time that Americans started insisting that

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<v Speaker 1>leaders treat them not like consumers quote, but as citizens

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<v Speaker 1>who recognize that we have, in addition to rights and privileges,

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<v Speaker 1>real obligations and responsibilities. Today's episode is based on the

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<v Speaker 1>article when and Why did America start calling its citizens consumers?

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<v Speaker 1>On HowStuffWorks dot Com, written by Patrick J. Khigh. Brain

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<v Speaker 1>Stuff is production of iHeartRadio in partnership with ho stuffworks

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<v Speaker 1>dot Com and is produced by Tyler Klang. Four more

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