Oral / Idea of Progress
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Message de marielh posté le 29-04-2014 à 12:49:08 (S | E | F)
Bonjour,
pourriez-vous m'aider à corriger mes fautes pour mon oral du baccalauréat s'il vous plaît ?
Merci beaucoup !!
I am going to talk about the idea of progress. First, I would like to give a definition of progress. The idea of progress basically consists in believing that the world could become better in terms of technology, liberty and quality of life and has shaped most of Western civilization’s vision of history. As the rhythm of progress seems to have accelerated these last few decades with an ever faster increase of major technological and scientific breakthroughs, the cult of novelty and progress is now being questioned. Indeed, a growing number of people voice their concern about the ethical, social and environmental consequences of such development and about the excesses of today’s consumer society. I have chosen to focus on this latter issue. How can people change their consumption habits ?
First, I will exhibit the way people nowadays consume and I will highlight the abuses of this way of consumption. Then I will show how people try to react to hyper-consumerism and are setting up new systems.
I- shopping habits
At the beginning of the 20th century Will Rogers highlighted how consumerism had generated a consumer society. He highlighted that people just want to fit in and not to be on the fringes of society. Large shopping malls, as well as local shops, have increased around the world. Over the past few years, the modes of consumption have greatly evolved and the development of the Internet has opened up new prospects with online shopping, which can be seen as the natural continuation of the “Consumer Society”. Nowadays people even shop from their living-rooms and they have access to a very extensive range of items. Online shopping is becoming more and more popular so that Amazon is the world’s largest marketplace. Consumption is become a way to enjoy freedom.
II- Excesses
However, more liberty thanks to a broader consumption was bring, consumption and the cult of novelty generate new concerns. People are become addicted to shopping and compulsive spending. We studied in class an excerpt from an article where the author related the death of a man and the verbal violence due to the hysteria generated by the Black Friday sales. This incident is a symbol of a fanatical, hyper-consumerist ethos, which has come to define us as individuals and as a community. It shows how people are infantile and no longer think for themselves. Consumerism is turned to a new cult religion.
III- Resistance and Alternative buying
Reacting to hyper-consumerism, uniformity and wastage, some people are setting up new systems to build a sustainable society. They criticize materialism and the eternal dissatisfaction that the Consumer Society brings. This new phenomenon may stem from either the need to spend less due to the economic recession, or a way of making a profit on discarded goods. We studied an article which exhibit several means such as exchanging goods, renting goods and bartering goods to take part in collaborative consumption. In addition to this, we studied an article entitled “A Freegan world”. It raises people’s awareness of the false needs created by advertisers and exhibits alternatives to berserk shopping. It promotes the Freegan’ s way of life, based on eating other people’s waste and the Fair trade products that often offer a better quality and a more respectful approach to consumption.
To conclude, the development of large shopping malls, advertisements and the Internet contribute creating a consumer society, where people are become materialist, eternally dissatisfied and act like fanatics. Thus progress is not always a complete improvement. In this case, it makes firstly people independent but finally creates addiction and modern enslavement. However, some resistances have emerged and promote a more respectful approach to consumption. Progress then leads the way towards sustainability.
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Modifié par lucile83 le 29-04-2014 12:59
Message de marielh posté le 29-04-2014 à 12:49:08 (S | E | F)
Bonjour,
pourriez-vous m'aider à corriger mes fautes pour mon oral du baccalauréat s'il vous plaît ?
Merci beaucoup !!
I am going to talk about the idea of progress. First, I would like to give a definition of progress. The idea of progress basically consists in believing that the world could become better in terms of technology, liberty and quality of life and has shaped most of Western civilization’s vision of history. As the rhythm of progress seems to have accelerated these last few decades with an ever faster increase of major technological and scientific breakthroughs, the cult of novelty and progress is now being questioned. Indeed, a growing number of people voice their concern about the ethical, social and environmental consequences of such development and about the excesses of today’s consumer society. I have chosen to focus on this latter issue. How can people change their consumption habits ?
First, I will exhibit the way people nowadays consume and I will highlight the abuses of this way of consumption. Then I will show how people try to react to hyper-consumerism and are setting up new systems.
I- shopping habits
At the beginning of the 20th century Will Rogers highlighted how consumerism had generated a consumer society. He highlighted that people just want to fit in and not to be on the fringes of society. Large shopping malls, as well as local shops, have increased around the world. Over the past few years, the modes of consumption have greatly evolved and the development of the Internet has opened up new prospects with online shopping, which can be seen as the natural continuation of the “Consumer Society”. Nowadays people even shop from their living-rooms and they have access to a very extensive range of items. Online shopping is becoming more and more popular so that Amazon is the world’s largest marketplace. Consumption is become a way to enjoy freedom.
II- Excesses
However, more liberty thanks to a broader consumption was bring, consumption and the cult of novelty generate new concerns. People are become addicted to shopping and compulsive spending. We studied in class an excerpt from an article where the author related the death of a man and the verbal violence due to the hysteria generated by the Black Friday sales. This incident is a symbol of a fanatical, hyper-consumerist ethos, which has come to define us as individuals and as a community. It shows how people are infantile and no longer think for themselves. Consumerism is turned to a new cult religion.
III- Resistance and Alternative buying
Reacting to hyper-consumerism, uniformity and wastage, some people are setting up new systems to build a sustainable society. They criticize materialism and the eternal dissatisfaction that the Consumer Society brings. This new phenomenon may stem from either the need to spend less due to the economic recession, or a way of making a profit on discarded goods. We studied an article which exhibit several means such as exchanging goods, renting goods and bartering goods to take part in collaborative consumption. In addition to this, we studied an article entitled “A Freegan world”. It raises people’s awareness of the false needs created by advertisers and exhibits alternatives to berserk shopping. It promotes the Freegan’ s way of life, based on eating other people’s waste and the Fair trade products that often offer a better quality and a more respectful approach to consumption.
To conclude, the development of large shopping malls, advertisements and the Internet contribute creating a consumer society, where people are become materialist, eternally dissatisfied and act like fanatics. Thus progress is not always a complete improvement. In this case, it makes firstly people independent but finally creates addiction and modern enslavement. However, some resistances have emerged and promote a more respectful approach to consumption. Progress then leads the way towards sustainability.
-------------------
Modifié par lucile83 le 29-04-2014 12:59
Réponse: Oral / Idea of Progress de bluestar, postée le 30-04-2014 à 09:57:11 (S | E)
Bonjour...
I am going to talk about the idea of progress. First, I would like to give a definition of progress. The idea of progress basically consists in believing that the world could become better in terms of technology, liberty and quality of life and this idea has shaped most of Western civilization’s vision of history. As the rhythm of progress seems to have accelerated these last few decades with an ever faster increase of major technological and scientific breakthroughs, the cult of novelty and progress is now being questioned. Indeed, a growing number of people voice (temps: passe compose) their concerns about the ethical, social and environmental consequences of such development and about the excesses of today’s consumer society. I have chosen to focus on this latter issue. How can people change their consumption habits ?
First, I will exhibit the way people nowadays consume and I will highlight the abuses of this way of consumption. Then I will show how people try to react to hyper-consumerism and are setting up new systems.
I- Sshopping Hhabits
At the beginning of the 20th century Will Rogers highlighted how consumerism had generated a consumer society. He
II- Excesses
However,
become addicted to shopping and compulsive spending. We studied in class an excerpt from an article where the author related the death of a man and the verbal violence due to the hysteria generated by the Black Friday sales. This incident is a symbol of a fanatical, hyper-consumerist ethos, which has come to define us as individuals and as a community. It shows how people are infantile and no longer think for themselves. Consumerism is turned into a new cult religion. III- Resistance and Alternative buying
Reacting to hyper-consumerism, uniformity and wastage, some people are setting up new systems to build a sustainable society. They criticize materialism and the eternal dissatisfaction that the cConsumer sSociety brings. This new phenomenon may stem from either the need to spend less due to the economic recession, or it may be a way of making a profit on discarded goods. We studied an article which exhibit several means such as exchanging goods, renting goods and bartering goods to take part in collaborative consumption. In addition to this, we studied an article entitled “A Freegan world”. It raises people’s awareness of the false needs created by advertisers and exhibits alternatives to berserk shopping. It promotes the Freegan’ s way of life, based on eating other people’s waste and the Fair Ttrade products that often offer a better quality and a more respectful approach to consumption.
To conclude, the development of large shopping malls, advertisements and the Internet contribute creating(infinitif) a consumer society, where people are become materialist, eternally dissatisfied and act like fanatics. Thus progress is not always a complete improvement. In this case, it first makes
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