Thursday, March 01, 2007

ccocd

[CONSUMER CULTURE OBSESSIVE COMPULSIVE DISORDER] :
A condition of paralysis created by moral panic about spending money created by contemplation of:
  1. the unequal distribution of resources and/or
  2. the way consumer goods participate in environmental destruction and slave-wage labor, etc. and/or
  3. the soullessness of desiring material things in the face of suffering in the world and/or
  4. the overabundance of choice that leads to endlessly comparing items particularly with respect to ones personal values (ethical/health/etc).

I have coined this term, CCOCD to describe a common malaise of affluent consumer-based societies. It is related to but not the same as the terms affluenza and shopaholic.