The genealogy of consumption practices in European culture

The article draws attention to a new feature of the consumer society – the saving of money in the consumption of goods, the organisation of common capital and the relinquishing of the right of ownership for the right of use. The relevance of considering this feature of consumer society is conditioned both by the problem of overcoming poverty and by the attempt to understand the genesis of consumer practices in the historical development of European society. As a result of a comparative cultural and historical review, the author concludes that such tendencies originated long ago and largely under the influence of the Church. These practices appear to have been, as they are today, a means of combating poverty.