Homo consumericus (mock Latin for consumerist person) is a neologism used in social sciences, notably by Gilles Lipovetsky in Le Bonheur Paradoxal (2006)Gilles Lipovetsky, Le bonheur paradoxal, Essai sur la société d'hyperconsommation, (éditions Gallimard, 2006) and Gad Saad in his 2007 book, The Evolutionary Bases of ConsumptionGad Saad, The Evolutionary Bases of Consumption (Routledge, 2007) According to these and other scholars, the phenomenon of mass consumption can be compared to certain traits of human psychology described by evolutionary scientists pointing out similarities between Darwinian principles and consumer behavior.Jill M. Sundie 'Where is Homo Consumericus', Contemporary Psychology: APA Review of Books (2007) George Siomkos, 'Homo Consumericus: The Coming of the Post-Modern Consumer', Marketing Week, Special Issue No. 1.000, April 5, 2004 Lipovetsky has noted that modern times have brought about the rise of a "third" type of Homo consumericus, who is unpredictable and insatiable.Detrás del Telón – Homo Consumericus A similar expression, Homo Consumens, was used by Erich Fromm in Socialist Humanism, written in 1965.Erich Fromm, "The Application of Humanist Psychoanalysis to Marx's Theory" in Erich Fromm (ed.), Socialist Humanism: An International Symposium, Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1965, p. 214. Fromm wrote: "Homo consumens is the man whose main goal is not primarily to own things, but to consume more and more, and thus to compensate for his inner vacuity, passivity, loneliness, and anxiety." The expression Homo Consumens has been used by several other authors, including Mihailo Marković.Mihailo Marković, "Economism or the Humanization of Economics", Praxis, international edition, 1969, no. 3–4, p. 452.
See also Anti-consumerism Commodity fetishism Cultural studies
References