One of the things I think that tends to underpin "overconsumption" arguments is the idea of consumerism as a cultural force: The idea that if you're leaving you

One of the things I think that tends to underpin "overconsumption" arguments is the idea of consumerism as a cultural force: The idea that if you're leaving your home and going to public space, your business will involve, at some point, making a purchase, and this purchase is intended to reflect on your identity. Now, of course that isn't what people actually do, but that's how we've aligned everything: If you "go out" but you don't do work or buy something while you're out, you're transgressing the cultural rules. But if we design spaces and situations that are only for buying, we cut off other avenues of experience. An idea I recall from a well-known chef, which I'm probably butchering a bit, is that a high-end restaurant experience isn't there just to be everyday consumption, but to inspire one's own cooking as well. That's very different from the purpose of going to a McDonald's, and the simplistic branding wars of "McDonald's vs. Burger King" or "Coke vs. Pepsi." It's the latter type of thing that anticonsumerism really seeks to stamp out.