1. General

Before examining the impact of consumerism on industrial products, it's worth recalling the definition of this term, which recently appeared in the French vocabulary. According to the Petit Robert, "consumérisme" is a term imported from the United States in 1972 to designate "consumer protection by associations". The term "consumer" already existed, but synonyms such as "acheteur" (buyer) or "client" (customer) were used interchangeably, lacking the special connotations of today's "consommateur" (consumer).

Why was consumerism so late in coming, when trade had already played a major role in our society for centuries? The reason is as much economic as it is sociological: in order to see the light of day and then develop, consumerism needed the modern economic system, opposing supply and demand, production and...