1. Chapter 5 The Heritage of Abundance

2. A History of Abundance
The population of the US: only about 5% of the total population of the world;
Americans use up about 25% of the world’s energy each day, generating 7 pounds of trash and garbage per person each day.
Sometimes America has been criticized as a “throw-away” country.

3. This abundance is the gift of nature.
America 9,372,614 square kilometres : rich, fertile farmland, with an abundance of trees and animals.
Only about 1 million Native Americans lived on this land.
The beliefs, determination, and hard work of the early settlers were equally important.

4. In the aristocratic European nations
In the early years of the United States
From Producers to Consumers
In the 1799s and 1800s, most Americans thought of themselves more as producers than consumers.
It was not until the twentieth century that Americans began to think of themselves more as consumers than as producers.

5. This image change is probably due to the coming of mass advertising, made possible by the invention of the radio in the 1920s and the spread of television programming in the 1950s.
By the end of the 1960s, scholars had began to study the effect of mass advertising on American society.
1. Sponsors had some control over the content of television programs;

6. 2. Advertising techniques were so successful that over time they began to be used to change American’s attitudes, behavior, and beliefs.
What American Consumers Like
American consumers are particularly fond of four things: comfort, cleanliness, novelty and convenience.
American love of comfort perhaps goes back to the frontier experience, where life was tough and there were very few comforts.

7. Perhaps the Puritan heritage has played some role in the desire for cleanliness.
“Cleanliness is next to godliness”
Perhaps this love of novelty comes from their pride in their inventiveness.
The American desire for convenience also created the concept of fast-food restaurants.

8. An Abundance of Technology
New technologies have increased the hectic pace of life in the United States, and they have caused some important changes.
1. Technology has changed television viewing habits.
2. The technology revolution is changing how Americans get both entertainment and information.

9. Challenges of the Technological Revolution
There are several issues raised by the technological revolution.
1. The merging of technology providers;
2. The effect of all this technology on children;
3. There is concern about the growing “digital divide”.

10. The Ever-Expanding Pie?
Americans have believed that their economic pie would just continue to grow so that all people could get a bigger piece of a bigger pie.
This expectation was based on the early experience that as the new nation grew, the pie of wealth and abundance grew at an even faster rate.

11. Or the Decline of American Abundance?
Over the last few decades, the American economy has had its ups and downs.
A high standard of living has been at the heart of the American Dream—a house in the suburbs, one or two cars, a secure job, and enough money to go on vacations and to send the children to college.

12. What of the Future?
The American tradition of abundance has had a profound effect on the lifestyle and the values of the American people.
On the positive side, a decline in American abundance causes people to become less wasteful and more protective of their environment.
On the negative side, old habits are hard to change.