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Living Like Your "Friends" Instead of emulating folks with a similar income, people are taking their consumption cues from television characters (how do those under-employed women on "Friends" afford that great apartment?) relatives, friends and co-workers whose income often far exceeds their own. In a culture that seems to worship wealth and celebrity, this can get expensive. The bottom line, according to Schor, is that "who you choose as a reference group affects how you …showed first 75 words of 1206 total…

…showed last 75 words of 1206 total…a normally cynical media, but with the public at large. For her part, Schor remains hopeful that Americans are capable of overcoming the obstacles presented by our consumer culture. "It can hardly be possible that the dumbing-down of America has proceeded so far that it’s either consumerism or nothing," she writes. "We remain a creative, resourceful, and caring nation. There’s still time left to find our way out of the mall." ------------------------------------------------------------------------ **Bibliography**