From the Consumer Society to Satisfaction Societies

While the French were slowly coming out of the lockdown introduced in spring 2020 to cope with the Covid-19 pandemic, our colleague Jean Haëntjens was bringing out a new book arguing for ‘a satisfaction economy’. Striking a particular chord with the spirit of this period, in which many have once again learned to take time and to consume less and differently, the book advocates a changed frame of reference, in which we abandon the dominant principle of ‘all-out consumption’ that is currently dominant in developed societies. In this article, Haëntjens shows how the currently emerging propensity among our fellow citizens to move from a consumer society to a satisfaction society might be helped along. This is because reasoning in terms of satisfaction – rather than consumption at all costs or the accumulation of wealth – represents a way of incorporating the changes that have become essential for paying heed to the resource limitations of our planet. Societies seem increasingly inclined to go in this direction. It is now down to politicians to get on board with this change and give them the means to move to a ‘satisfaction economy’.