Book review: Spent: Sex, Evolution and the Secrets of Consumerism

Published on Friday 26 June 2009 17:16

SPENT: SEX, EVOLUTION AND THE SECRETS OF CONSUMERISM By Geoffrey Miller William Heinemann, £20 Review: ROSEMARY GALLAGHER

WE'RE all familiar with the notion that "sex sells" and it is certainly the central tenet of Geoffrey Miller's take on why we buy vast quantities of items we don't really need.

Miller, who brought us The Mating Mind, has now turned his attention to answering the rather depressing question of "why do we keep ourselves on the consumerist treadmill – working, buying, aspiring?"

However, Miller's book is far from being a rant on the evils of consumerism. Instead, he takes us on a long and winding, and at times insightful and entertaining, journey through how human emotions and personalities dictate our spending habits. He is critical of the extremism of most writing about consumerism for showing "either pure love or pure hate". He admits that consumerist capitalism holds many attractions for him. He's not averse to frittering money on almond croissants or splashing out on Tori Amos CDs.

Miller starts his treatise on evolutionary psychology and consumerism by taking us back to our prehistoric predecessors. He introduces us to some mythical "clever Cro-Magnons" who expose the ridiculous nature of our obsession with the latest expensive gadgets.

Miller hopes this time-travelling experiment will have shaken our faith that "humanity has ridden a one-way escalator of ever-increasing progress".

After a promising start, Miller starts to ramble in his explanations of consumerism. At times, his views are also slightly unoriginal – for example, comparing a man buying a Porsche to a peacock fluffing its tail to attract mates.

The book takes a turn for the better, and really gets to the crux of the matter, in chapter nine, The Central Six. Miller is referring to the six traits which psychologists say are "absolutely central" to understanding our shopping habits. They are: agreeableness; conscientiousness; extraversion; general intelligence; openness; and stability. He gives a riveting explanation of how our dominant personality traits dictate the things we buy, in a sometimes unsuccessful attempt to impress others. The book includes some lighthearted exercises to work out whether our personalities are serious and grouchy or playful and nice.

I found Spent informative in parts and it will make me think more about the methods corporates use to appeal to various personalities. For example, what advertising techniques does Porsche adopt to attract extroverts and how does Volvo ensure it maintains its safe image so liked by introverts?

However, it seemed slightly odd that a book on consumerist capitalism published by an American in 2009 could fail to even touch on the impact of the global recession on what we buy and how much we are willing to spend.