The Tyranny of the Customer and the Cost of Consumerism: An Analysis Using Systems and Psychoanalytic Approaches to Groups and Society

Abstract

This paper argues that an organizational discourse on consumerism is replacing a prior discourse of dependency. This discourse encourages, and is encouraged by, economic rationales for behavior and is marked by the collapse of many complex societal roles into the simpler category of "customer." Moreover, practices emergent from consumerism and economic rationalism often act as organizational and social defences against anxieties about the uncertainties and changes occurring in a world increasingly dominated by global markets where the customer is "sovereign." Six working hypotheses are proposed to explain the operation of these new social defences. Evidence in support of these hypotheses comes from collaborative action research projects in which the author is involved. The argument moves toward a consideration of the new "consumer-provider pair" which, it is proposed, has become a major signifier within the consumer discourse and which might be considered as a transitional pair in dealing with widespread organizational change.