In so many ways this coming recession would seem much like so many in the past: An economy overindulged gets a good wringing out; a certain arrogance, on Wall Street or Main Street, gets its comeuppance; consumers cut back on spending, use more coupons, vow to pay off those pesky piles of credit card debt, then don't.

But this recession will be different. The signs are already there.

This time around consumers will be a lot less inclined to resume their lives of excess once the economy rights itself. What's going on, say retail economists, is a shift in values away from wanton spending and the accumulation of endless stuff that have ratcheted up personal debt to unprecedented levels.

Conspicuous consumption has been in place virtually since the end of World War II and the massive economic buildup the U.S. saw in its wake. As Americans made more, they spent more.

A number of forces are begetting this shift in values, and one is the high price at the gas pump. But it's not just the prices. It’s the dawning realization among consumers that gas prices won't come down for a long time, if ever. Consumer confidence is now at its lowest point since 1992.

There's also the psychological impact of the housing debacle. With prices tumbling, the American home is no longer a piggybank from which to draw cash. But worse, homeowners have come to see how paper-thin their presumptions of economic security really were.

Yet another factor is the resurging environmental movement, with its one pounding message that we are destroying the earth with our excessive consumption. Green is no longer just a feel-good catchphrase.

Also at work is the changing definition of wealth. Once rich meant being able to buy everything is sight, but now pretty much anyone can accumulate endless stuff. Simple possessions no longer differentiate the haves from the have-nots. The new Jones will own less, not more.

If the '80s were a time of carefree consumption, the '90s were a time of careless consumption, explains Neil Saunders, consulting director for Verdict Research, a London-based retail consultant. Folks spent more than they had on amassing mountains of stuff.

“This decade, but the end of it, will be about careful consumption, considered consumption,” says Saunders.

Saunders credits the fading U.S. economy for setting off the shift, though he notes it was already in place before, perhaps as early as 2005.

Verdict Research forecasts that U.S. retail sales will grow just 2.8 percent this year, a figure that would be lower if it weren’t for food and grocery inflation. That’s down from 4.3 percent in 2007 and 5.7 percent in 2006. And while 2009 looks better than this year, it won’t match 2006 or 2007, believes Verdict. It foresees growth of 3.2 percent.

Another retail expert who anticipates a longer-term effect of the slowdown is Kurt Barnard, of Barnard’s Retail Consulting Group of Nutley, N.J. He thinks it could last well into next year.

“That is a long time. It's absolutely long enough to change the way we think about what we need,” says Barnard. "And while that may sound worrying, it is not necessarily all bad. I think over the recent few years we have been living in a world of unrealistic dynamics and now we are paying the price."