Toward the end of the essay, Etzioni complains that the things teenagers choose to buy with the money they earn from fast-food jobs represent “the most trite aspects of American consumerism: flimsy...

Toward the end of the essay, Etzioni complains that the things teenagers choose to buy with the money they earn from fast-food jobs represent “the most trite aspects of American consumerism: flimsy punk clothes, trinkets, and whatever else is the last fastmoving teen craze” (par. 19). His focus on what teens buy and why they buy it reveals Etzioni’s ideas about teenagers’ indoctrination into a consumerist culture.

Etzioni uses the words trite, flimsy, and trinkets to criticize the things teens buy, but if teens purchased items that were original, well-made, and valuable, do you think he would still object? What might he be criticizing other than teenagers’ taste? In referring to “fads” and “mass merchandising, ” he seems to assume teens are especially vulnerable to the influence of advertising (par. 20). To what extent, if any, do you agree?