I finally read The Simpson's Generation by Chris Turner in the 10th anniversary issue of Shift on the train ride home last night from Burlington.

"We were being told - in emphatic terms - that the thing we were defending and the way to defend it were one and the same; we were the great globalized Republic of Buying Stuff, and so we should bravely go on buying stuff to protect our right - our most basic, most cherished right - to buy more stuff."