Access to consumption has become key among these factors, part of a global phenomenon that is particularly intense in Argentina. Though more spasmodically, consumption also moved its way into a central role in the country’s political life. Whether due to the influence of European immigration or the egalitarian principles behind public education and early access to social rights, it is clear that in Argentina consumption is the fundamental pillar on which power is accumulated. This created a previously non-existent intermediate segment between the lavish aristocracy and the subsistence consumers of the rest of society. But the central idea is that since its disruptive beginnings two centuries ago, consumption has been occupying more and more ground in our social lives.

Source: The Argentina Independent July 13, 2016 17:15 UTC