Capitalism is an economic system in which private entities (individuals and corporations) own the means of production and resources, and consumerism is the theory that consumer spending drives economic growth. Together, capitalism and consumerism propel 21st-century economies through consumer choices, market forces, and the profit motive. On one hand, capitalism and consumerism have created prosperity. According to the US Department of Agriculture, 89.5% of US households experienced food security in 2020 (US Department of Agriculture. Household Food Security in the United States in 2020, 2021). On the other hand, critics argue that capitalism and consumerism lead to wealth disparities, environmental degradation, worker exploitation, and the overvaluation of material goods. Juliet Schor’s book The Overspent American (1998), for example, investigates the negative effect of the American culture of consumption on personal well-being and social values.

This economic system provides the context for Brooks’s essay. One of his primary themes is the tension between the external achievement celebrated by modern American culture and the internal achievement of moral development. He sets up an opposition between the marketplace and character and then argues that American culture fosters an imbalance between them—with too much time focused on the former and not enough on the latter.