Tis’ the Season to Worship Shopping

Newswise — It's that time of year. Consumers are writing their lists, checking them twice and giving all kinds of things to both the naughty and nice. So says Dell deChant, University of South Florida religious studies faculty member and author of The Sacred Santa: Religious Dimensions of Consumer Culture, which explores the history and changes of American culture and its religious obsession with consuming.

"Holidays are packed with activities and 'rituals' that bring about good emotions," deChant said. "Because consumption makes us feel good, we spend excessive hours around holidays shopping, shopping, shopping."

In his book, deChant addresses how America has grown away from a production-based society and become a consumption-based society. Even with a slowly recovering economy, Americans still love to shop for seasonal items, eagerly anticipating the bombardment of retail catalogues and direct mail and television advertisements that herald a new holiday season of consumption. In particular, deChant argues that rather than being secular and nonreligious, America's late capitalist, postmodern culture is actually intensely religious with consumption itself serving as a sacred activity.

"We buy, not because something is worn out, but because it's what we do," deChant said. "It's a rush. We give up the money we labor so intensely for in order to obtain products to give away or consume ourselves."

The Sacred Santa was selected as one of three finalists to receive a 2003 Benjamin Franklin Award in the category of Religion from the Publishers Marketing Association. The book is now into its second printing in less than one year since its original release.