i think every single society is becoming more materialistic. In the space of twelve months, we go from one shopping occasion to another - February kicks off Valentine’s day, March is Easter, the beginning of summer we get bombarded with ads for shopping sales, no sooner is summer over then we ‘have’ to start fall shopping, and of course that falls into Halloween time; no sooner does November come then people start going hysterical about Christmas shopping. Then the whole damn cycle repeats itself.
Every single society is becoming so materialistic. i don’t have references so no one ask me, but i heard on tv that what we in the ‘west’ purchase in one week, is sufficient to buy groceries in the ‘developing’ world for one month and feed everyone comfortably. Does that sound too gross to anyone else?
What’s up with this mass consumerism? Is it meant to satisfy some other inner cravings inside us? With the divorce rates skyrocketing as they are, is shopping meant to be a substitute for happiness or contentment? Is that what corporations are trying to tell us subtly? What’s with all this materialism - every single society, both ‘developing’ and ‘developed’, IMHO, are afflicted with this. We have to redefine in an extremely drastic manner, what our ‘needs’ are versus our ‘wants’. And before anyone accuses me, yes i am guilty of it myself, i’m not saying i’m a saint. i definitely am guilty of it myself.
i think in 12-15 years, our materialism is just going to reach unsustainable levels (we’re almost at that threshold anyways). It’s the ecological footprint issue - our EFs in the ‘developed’ world are simply unsustainable for this planet. Pretty soon, consumerism will be our new religion whether or not we like it.
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*Originally posted by Nadia_H: *
Here's another of my doom-and-gloom threads:D
What's up with this mass consumerism? Is it meant to satisfy some other inner cravings inside us? With the divorce rates skyrocketing as they are, is shopping meant to be a substitute for happiness or contentment? Is that what corporations are trying to tell us subtly? What's with all this materialism - every single society, both 'developing' and 'developed', IMHO, are afflicted with this. We have to redefine in an extremely drastic manner, what our 'needs' are versus our 'wants'. And before anyone accuses me, yes i am guilty of it myself, i'm not saying i'm a saint. i definitely am guilty of it myself.
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Corporations benefit from mass consumerism! It's their bread and butter.
It's a tough choice but it's YOUR choice to make: to participate or not participate in this mass-hysteria of mass consumerism.
I wish sociologists conduct a study to find correlation between unhappiness and mass consumerism. It probably exists.
Its a perpetual cycle of endless shopping for occasions like Xmas, Valentines day etc cos thats how the economy works. Lets see, if no one goes to shop for such occasions or in general, the business will lose money and they wont be able to afford the employees and employees will lose jobs and those employees could be one of us. We will lose job, and then we wont have money to go there in the first place :D Thats just my theory.
You can also blame the marketing folks for outdoing eachother to sell their products or advertise on TV etc strategically. You can partly blame these guys for making the society so materialistic as it is now.
Myself, being a guy, I would want to have all the latest gadgets out there in the electronic world or some fast car that would go well with my peers and may impress some chick or two as well :D
The “ever-ending” consumerism makes the economy grow which keeps people employed. Don’t you think that if commerce took a greater importance than other garbage (e.g., religion, Allah miaN, Khatam-e-Nabuvat, nukes, political bickering, etc.) in poor countries, they could buy their own groceries than relying on the rich nations? If Macy’s not meeting it’s quarterly anticipated profits, that will translate into many sales clerks not having a job, which will mean they will collect welfare, which means, more tax increases, which translates into less disposable income. It’s as simple as that.
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I have no problem with businesses try to sell their wares, you can give in to it if you want, and not if you dont want. Its just the expectation that you must give in that is a bit idiotic. The diamond industry was smart in converting half the population inot its sales force by teh whole diamond engagemnt ring worth two months salary deal, and now with flowers, chocolate and what nots for valentines day and what the hell is that sweetest day and other stuff, its a bit annoying.
I like to take my wife out for dinner, and buy her roses and what nots, but I like to do it when I choose to do so, and on occassions that are important to us, not based on what my local greeting store has to say.
As a consumer, I will consume, what I want, when i want, how i want, how much i want..societal expectations can take a hike.