Materialism/Self-Esteem

Lightkeeper · #1 (**permalink**) 15th November 2007, 07:43 PM

Quote:

The Consumer Paradox: Scientists Find that Low Self-Esteem and Materialism Goes Hand in Hand
“Advertising has us chasing cars and clothes, working jobs we hate so we can buy **** we don't need.”

~From the movie Fight Club, based on the novel by Chuck Palahniuk

Researchers have found that low self-esteem and materialism are not just a correlation, but also a causal relationship where low self esteem increases materialism, and materialism can also create low self-esteem. The also found that as self esteem increases, materialism decreases. The study primarily focused on how this relationship affects children and adolescents. Lan Nguyen Chaplin (University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign) and Deborah Roedder John (University of Minnesota) found that even a simple gesture to raise self-esteem dramatically decreased materialism, which provides a way to cope with insecurity.

"By the time children reach early adolescence, and experience a decline in self-esteem, the stage is set for the use of material possessions as a coping strategy for feelings of low self-worth," they write in the study, which will appear in the Journal of Consumer Research.

The paradox that findings such as these bring up, is that consumerism is good for the economy but bad for the individual. In the short run, it’s good for the economy when young people believe they need to buy an entirely new wardrobe every year, for example. But the hidden cost is much higher than the dollar amount. There are costs in happiness when people believe that their value is extrinsic. There are also environmental costs associated with widespread materialism.

In the book “Happiness: Lessons From a New Science”, Richard Layard exposes a paradox at the heart of our lives. Most of us want more income so we can consume more. Yet as societies become richer, they do not become happier. In fact, the First World has more depression, more alcoholism and more crime than fifty years ago. This paradox is true of Britain, the United States, continental Europe and Japan.

Statistically people have more things than they did 50 years ago, but they are actually less happy in several key areas. There is also the considerable cost of what materialism does to the environment. We don’t yet know what final toll that could take in terms of quality of life and overall happiness. What many people don’t understand is that if we want to save the environment then at some level we have to buy and consume less. We don’t need to buy so much bottled water, for example. Studies have shown it’s usually not any purer than city tap water, which doesn’t leave mountains of plastic bottles strewn across the nations landfills. It also wastes energy and resources to make those plastic bottles and the many other unnecessary things that both youth and adults alike believe they need to have in order to enjoy life and feel good about themselves.

Mad Magazine summed it up with the statement, “The only reason a great many American families don't own an elephant is that they have never been offered an elephant for a dollar down and easy weekly payments.”

That funny statement, is only funny because it’s somewhat true. The reason people want whatever is currently “hot” is because they believe it will contribute towards their satisfaction and happiness in life. The word “believe” is the key here. People believe that buying more and more things will make them happy, when in fact research has shown time and time again that this simply isn’t the case. What we do know for sure is that buying more and more unnecessary things is damaging our planet and contributing to global warming.

Sure, one person being less materialistic isn’t going to make a noticeable impact on the environment, but it will make a positive impact in that one life. Once entire nations start to understand the myths about what really makes individuals happy, the world will stand a fighting chance.

http://www.dailygalaxy.com/my_weblog...nsumer-pa.html

Do you agree?

**metis** · #2 (**permalink**) 16th November 2007, 03:57 AM

"Following Christ in a Consumer Society: The Spirituality of Cultural Resistance" by Fr. John F. Kavanaugh, who's a research psychologist, says much the same in regards to self-esteem and materialism. One of the things he focuses on is how the "Barbi image" that is found in much of the media tends to make girls often feel low self-esteem since they cannot match that image. Also, one of the things he focuses in on is how much advertising tears you down in order to get you to buy their product.

Shalom,
Vern

vivamis123 · #3 (**permalink**) 16th November 2007, 12:17 PM

I think the concepts we have in our mind on how we should be, what we should have, what we should do is created by society (all of us).

If I lived in a trailer or in a mansion, how would the world think different of me? But the place I live in has nothing to do with my happiness. We have bought into the belief that some things are good and some are bad. These are judgments humans have placed on the appearance of things, and we fear, love, hate and live by judgment.

Why is one thing bad and one thing good? The only way out of judgment is to know thy self.

Eolas Pellor · #4 (**permalink**) 16th November 2007, 01:06 PM

...by "materialism", "consumertism", then I think it is probably true that it effects self-esteem in a negative way. "Who you are" does seem, increasingly to be "what you have."

It's sad, because it can't be sustained. Eventually the debt overwhelms the income, and the realization that possessing things is not the same as being something has to hit home. I expect most of the Boomers, who had a choice to be different and rejected it, will not suffer from that criosis as much as the Xers and Echoers. Typical of the Boomers, that.

"Be seeing you..."

Lightkeeper · #5 (**permalink**) 16th November 2007, 07:29 PM

Quote:

Also, one of the things he focuses in on is how much advertising tears you down in order to get you to buy their product.

This caught my eye. Does anyone have any examples of how advertising tears us down? Is it outright or suggested?

**metis** · #6 (**permalink**) 16th November 2007, 07:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lightkeeper

This caught my eye. Does anyone have any examples of how advertising tears us down? Is it outright or suggested?

You have bad breath. But if you take _____, you will have breath so fresh you'll attract all the girls.

Sex sells. But why? Isn't the implication that you can have better men or women than what you already have if you buy Brand X? And what about status? If you buy the car I make, you'll be exciting and people will admire you. The implication is that they don't now.

IOW, the commercialization process often involves more than just telling you about a product. Typically they attempt to convince you and I that we are somehow inadequate without Brand X.

And it works.

Shalom & have a nice weekend,
Vern

Nick_A · #7 (**permalink**) 16th November 2007, 11:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lightkeeper

This caught my eye. Does anyone have any examples of how advertising tears us down? Is it outright or suggested?

I don't believe it tears us down but rather reveals our emptiness. We are in the dark in Plato's cave and attached to our interpretations of the shadows on the wall. Advertising seeks to make the shadows more attractive influencing our interpretations and creating a need for the shadow..

vivamis123 · #8 (**permalink**) 17th November 2007, 01:37 AM

I some what agree with Nick. I see advertisment not as a source that pulls us down, but an appearance that reflects our beliefs. We as humans believe the physical realm to be true and to be the source of our happiness. As we seek it... advertisment shows up : ) Advertisment is not a danger, but a reflection.

aged hippy · #9 (**permalink**) 18th November 2007, 09:57 AM

I agree with metis - that the advertisers create in us the belief that we are inferior to others, but that if we buy "x" product we will suddenly become at least equal - and probably superior - to them.

Advertisers who use this tactic - in my opinion - bring all who believe the lie down to their own level.

Peace, Love, & Light

Nick_A · #10 (**permalink**) 19th November 2007, 02:50 AM

Maybe this excerpt from the introduction to Jacob Needleman's book: "The American Soul" may help to clarify what I mean.

Quote:

Our world, so we see and hear on all sides, is drowning in materialism, commercialism, consumerism. But the problem is not really there. What we ordinarily speak of as materialism is a result, not a cause. The root of materialism is a poverty of ideas about the inner and outer world. Less and less does our contemporary culture have, or even seek, commerce with great ideas, and it is the lack that is weakening the human spirit. This is the essence of materialism. Materialism is a disease of the mind starved for ideas.

Throughout history ideas of a certain kind have been disseminated into the life of humanity in order to help human beings understand and feel the possibility of the deep inner change that would enable them to serve the purpose for which they were created, namely, to act in the world as conscious,individual instruments of God, and the ultimate principle of reality and value. Ideas of this kind are formulated in order to have a specific range of action on the human psych: to touch the heart as well as the intellect; to shock us into questioning our present understanding; to point us to the greatness around us in nature and the universe, and the potential greatness slumbering within ourselves; to open our eyes to the real needs of our neighbor; to confront us with our own profound ignorance and our criminal fears and egoism; to show us that we are not here for ourselves alone, but as necessary particles of divine love.

These are the contours of the ancient wisdom, considered as ideas embodied in religious and philosophical doctrines, works of sacred art,literature and music and, in a very fundamental way, an indication of practical methods by which a man or woman can work, as is said, to become what he or she really is. Without feeling the full range of such ideas, or sensing even a modest, but pure, trace of them, we are bound to turn for meaning.

We need help in developing our inner quality and a lot of it can come from ideas and art of a certain quality. Without it we collectively fall further into darkness. As soon as I read this, I knew he was right. It is frightening for me but I see the young unnecessarily dying inwardly because of this lack of depth. Advertising is only making a profit off of people inwardly starving. It is no wonder than that starving psychs turn to materialism. And when we finally collectively learn that it is empty then the blame game and ensuing wars begin to determine whose fault it is.

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