Tyranny of Choice

In this modern day world, many Americans are constantly making choices that range from the very basic to life changing. The word choice has become ubiquitous in today’s society. Individuals have to make choices on a daily basis, whether it is choosing between various products at a grocery store, what type of gas to choose at a gas station or choosing between the different sandwich combinations from Subway, that appeal to overeater as well as to the health conscious. But choice goes much further than these examples; in the world that we live in, we can build our identities to include personality, sexuality, gender, education and class. Many people tend to believe that the more you have the better. Barry Swartz “The Tyranny of Choice” essay alludes to the fact that we are faced when an abundant of choices that instead of leading to great happiness, it leads to less satisfaction and happiness.

In today’s society, Schwartz makes reference to those who always aim to make the best choice possible. These are the people Schwartz classified as “maximizers”. These people when faced with too many choices become obsessed with not making the wrong choice. When dealing with many obstacles or problems in the world today, one can honestly say that there is actually any such thing. These types of people also continue to worry after they have made their choice and become very vocal in defending it. The maximizer’s work can be seen through online forums where consumers voice their opinions over various brands of products.

On the other hand of the spectrum of maximizers, one could assume that there are people who once that find a product that meets their needs, stop looking. Schwartz refers to these people as “satisfiers”. Schwartz points out that there is a close relation between the amounts of decision making that goes into purchasing a product and the amount of satisfaction received from the purchase. The satisfiers are the ones that are seen as being more satisfied...