Page 1 of 11
Journal for Studies in Management and Planning
Available at
http://edupediapublications.org/journals/index.php/JSMaP/
ISSN: 2395-0463
Volume 03 Issue 10
September 2017
Available online: http://edupediapublications.org/journals/index.php/JSMaP/ P a g e | 229
Challenges for the world at the beginning of 21st century - case
studies on selected examples.
Karolina Baraniak
PhD candidate at the University of Wrocław (Poland)
email: karolinabaraniak@interia.pl
Abstract:
Homo homini lupus est - this expression comes to mind when we look at the problems of
today's world, often resulting from human activity - excessive consumerism, uncontrolled
progress, poverty or migration caused by the unstable political and economic situation of
individual states. American essayist Ralf Waldo Emerson once said - The human race will
ultimately perish from a disease called civilization. Taking into account the constant impetus
of modern man for the perfection and negative effects of his inventions, this prophecy can be
made faster than we think.
Keywords: consumerism, progress, poverty, migration
„[...] All sorrows are less with
bread [...]”- repeated Miquel Cervantes1
.
It is a pity that we can not adhere to this
view, perhaps on Earth there would not be
so many undernourished people, sick
children and poor people. Perhaps this
world would be normal
for all, not just for the selected, with the
right number of zeroes in the account.
German philosopher and satirist Georg
Christoph Lichtenberg used to say that for
a poor man
the thought of the sky is so pleasant
1Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra > Quotes, [in:]
Official website of the Goodreads:
https://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/4037220
.Miguel_de_Cervantes_Saavedra (access;
27.09.2017)
because he believes in the greater equality
of states there2
. In a sense, this equation in
the status of wealth is already done here,
on earth. The poor are not only found in
the Third World, they also live in
prosperous countries in the international
arena. Regardless of where they live, they
struggle with the same social problems,
with hope and faith in the heart waiting for
a better tomorrow.
Pittacus of Mytilene underlined the
fact, that: "[...] The desire to profit can not
2 Georg Christoph Lichtenberg, [in:] Official
website of the Goodreads:
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/315770.G
eorg_Christoph_Lichtenberg (access; 27.09.2017)
Page 2 of 11
Journal for Studies in Management and Planning
Available at
http://edupediapublications.org/journals/index.php/JSMaP/
ISSN: 2395-0463
Volume 03 Issue 10
September 2017
Available online: http://edupediapublications.org/journals/index.php/JSMaP/ P a g e | 230
be saturated [...]" 3
. This maxim perfectly
suits to our times - we accumulate more
and more,
and so we think, that's not enough and we
drive a self-destructive machine that seems
to have no end – consumerism. This term
in economic sciences is understood as an
attitude consisting in the consumption of
material goods and services in a way
unjustified by real needs as well
as ecological, social and individual costs 4
.
Polish philosopher and sociologist
Zygmunt Bauman presents consumerism
from a wider perspective, separating it
from the consumption characterizing
humanity from the beginning of history.
Consumption is considered here
as a "metabolic cycle of assimilation,
digestion and excretion.”5
, consumerism is
linked to the emergence of a social system
where satisfaction of human needs, desires
and longings creates the main driving force
of society6
.
And human lusts are endless. The
research, made by Polish bank Millenium,
shows
that Polish female millionaires make up
3 Pitakos, [in:] Official website of Polish portal
Cytaty.info:
https://www.cytaty.info/autor/pittakos.htm
(access: 27.09.2017)
4 L. Krzyżanowski, O podstawach zarządzania
inaczej, PWN, Warszawa 1995; M. Golka, W
cywilizacji konsumpcyjnej, Wydawnictwo Naukowe
UAM, Poznań 2004.
5 Z. Bauman, Konsumowanie życia, Wydawnictwo
Uniwersytetu Jagiellońskiego, Kraków 2009, p.33.
6
Ibidem,p. 36.
almost 29% of their income on footwear,
clothing
and accessories (in the case of male
millionaires is is about 14% of income)
and 7%
on cosmetics (in the case of male
millionaires it is 2.8 % of income)7
. For
comparison, the rich man in the USA
spends 6.7% of what he owns every year,
and 15% of his earnings are invested
in the stock market8
.
Staying on the subject of shopping,
the government of the USA, based on its
data, assumes,that as many as 18 million
Americans can safely be considered for
shopaholics - their average monthly
spending on clothes, shoes and accessories
fluctuates around $ 148 a month,
with Bakersfield in California spending
about $ 201 and $ 263 in Washington9
.
By multiplying the average value of
purchases and the number of addicted to
shopping
7 E. Wesołowska, Milionerki są wśród nas. I
najwięcej pieniędzy wydają na ubrania oraz buty,
[in:] Official website o of Polish economic portal
TwarzeBiznesu:
http://twarzebiznesu.pl/artykuly/600838,milionerki
_sa_wsrod_nas_i_najwiecej_pieniedzy_wydaja_na
_ubrania_oraz_buty.html (access: 27.09.2017)
8 M. Łagowski, Żyć jak milioner, [in:] Official
website of Polish informational portal Najbogatsi:
http://www.najbogatsi.pl/index.php?dz=artykuly&i
d=43&urlt=Zyc-jak-milioner&s=calosc (access:
27.09.2017)
9Amerykanie to zakupoholicy. W tych miastach
wydają najwięcej, [in:] Official website of Polish
portal Sfora http://www.sfora.pl/Amerykanie-to- zakupoholicy-W-tych-miastach-wydaja-najwiecej- g37471-34180
(access: 27.09.2017)
Page 3 of 11
Journal for Studies in Management and Planning
Available at
http://edupediapublications.org/journals/index.php/JSMaP/
ISSN: 2395-0463
Volume 03 Issue 10
September 2017
Available online: http://edupediapublications.org/journals/index.php/JSMaP/ P a g e | 231
in America, we receive nearly $ 2.7 billion
a month, a 4-times equivalent of the
financial support program for children
under 10 in Mozambique, Malawi and
Zambezi in 2004 10
.
Europeans are buying more and
more products online over the Internet
every year.
In 2011 they spent 9.05 billion euros for
this purpose 11
- so 22 times as much as the
European Union's support for Bangladesh
for 2007-201312. The British (3.5 billion
euros), Germans (1.98 billion euros) and
the French (1.28 billion euros) were the
biggest contributors to online trade13
.
Looking at consumption from the
food point of view, one can come to
interesting observations. Specialists from
the National Council for the Protection of
Natural Resources warn that the world
10 K. Zegadło, Pomoc finansowa dla Afryki, [in:]
Official website of Polish informational portal
GlobalnePołudnie
http://globalnepoludnie.pl/Pomoc-finansowa-dla- Afryki (access: 27.09.2017)
11 Europejczycy wydali 9,05 mld euro na mobilne
zakupy w 2011, Polacy- 130 mln euro, [in:] Official
website
of Polish technical portal:
http://www.techtrend.pl/2012/02/europejczycy- wydali-9-05-mld-euro-na-mobilne-zakupy-w-2011-
polacy-130-mln-euro/ (access: 27.09.2017)
12 X. Nuttin, Kraje Azji Południowej i
Subkontynentu Indyjskiego, [in:] Official Polish
website of European Parliament:
http://www.europarl.europa.eu/ftu/pdf/pl/FTU_6.4.
11.pdf (access: 27.09.2017)
13 Europejczycy wydali 9,05 mld euro na mobilne
zakupy w 2011, Polacy- 130 mln euro, [in:] Official
website
of Polish technical portal:
http://www.techtrend.pl/2012/02/europejczycy- wydali-9-05-mld-euro-na-mobilne-zakupy-w-2011-
polacy-130-mln-euro/ (access: 27.09.2017)
consumes 30 to 50% of the world's food
unnecessarily when every seventh resident
in the world is starving14. They show, that
the average American throws
about 15 kilograms of food worth $ 40 a
month in the trash. Considering the whole
year, it is over 180 kilograms of food, that
is how much an adult gorilla weighs 15
.
Germany, according to researchers at the
University of Stuttgart, gets rid of nearly
6.7 million tonnes of unused food every
year, where every German citizen removes
from the home an average of 81.6
kilograms of food products worth 235
euros16. The UK wastes around 4.1 million
tonnes of food a year, focusing solely on
one household, we are dealing with
uneaten products for £ 420 a year,
and 30% of bought food ends its fate in the
British refuse dumps17. During the year in
the trash of each Italian family landed food
worth 515 euros, what gives 10% of
monthly purchases18
.
14 Świat wyrzuca połowę żywności, [in:] Official
website of Polish informational portal Stefzyk
http://www.stefczyk.info/wiadomosci/swiat/swiat- wyrzuca-polowe-zywnosci (access: 27.09.2017)
15 Ibidem.
16 Niemcy wyrzucają jedzenie tonami, [in:] Official
website of Polish newspaper WPROST
http://www.wprost.pl/ar/310701/Niemcy-tonami- wyrzucaja-jedzenie/ (access: 27.09.2017)
17 M. Krążlewicz- Dzieciątek, Jedzenie na śmietnik,
jedzenie ze śmietnika, [in:] Official website of
Polish informational portal Życie Warszawy:
http://www.zw.com.pl/artykul/267128.html?print=t
ak (access: 27.09.2017)
18 S. Wysocka, Wyrzucają jedzenie, którym można
by nakarmić 44 mln ludzi, [in:] Official website of
Polish informational portal Wirtualna Polska:
http://polonia.wp.pl/title,Wyrzucaja-jedzenie-
