The Importance Of Materialism

780 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Ownership and self identity

Humans across time are and have been very attached to material items. Humanity as a whole seems undecided about whether this attachment is a good or bad thing. The central concept behind the buddhist religion is of distancing oneself from attachments to the material world (financial wealth, physical objects, etc...) in order to reach enlightenment, and in the afterlife, the heaven-like Nirvana. On the other hand, many socio-political systems, capitalism especially, rely on this materialism in order to thrive. In truth, materialism is not entirely good or bad, speaking in terms of both the self and society, and while it is capable of corruption, it can also be a driving motivation in improving one's identity.
As identity-destroying as obsessive …show more content…

The capitalist society in which we live has developed an unspoken caste system around the material wealth and worth of a person. Specific clothing brands, access to technology, access to education, and modes of transportation are all seen as indicative of not only a person’s social class, but often times also causes assumptions to be made about his or her character, and since this is such a major part of our society, we as people have been brainwashed into defining ourselves in the very same way. The desperate desire to be wealthy- and therefore valuable according to our social class system- has a rotting effect on the soul. Spending so much energy and attention on the superficial forces the individual to neglect other aspects of the world. To use an old aphorism, man cannot enjoy the color of the sky if his eyes are cast down at his pocketbook. The incredible beauty of the world in which we live soothes the soul, while the pursuit of material wealth corrupts it. Floating in a wealth-clouded oblivion to this beauty disconnects one from him/herself, and much of a person’s identity can be lost in this …show more content…

In careful amounts, identity can remain unharmed, or even be found anew, using material aid. However, the attention and time one spends on increasing his/her material value can very easily crowd out other more meaningful aspects of existence. Once an unfortunate soul is perverted in such a way, what remains of the identity can be altered to better satisfy the increasing need for material wealth. The line between safety and corruption in terms of ownership of earthly riches is maintained by the discipline to receive joy from these riches, while also keeping in mind the astronomical joy and tranquility that the simple, immaterial parts of existence can already

Show More
Related

  • The Connection between A Bug’s Life and The Chosen People

    2008 Words  | 5 Pages

    In the essay The Chosen People, Stewart Ewen, discusses his perspective of middle class America. Specifically, he explores the idea that the middle class is suffering from an identity crisis. According to Ewen’s theory, “the notion of personal distinction [in America] is leading to an identity crisis” of the non-upper class. (185) The source of this identity crisis is mass consumerism. As a result of the Industrial Revolution and mass production, products became cheaper and therefore more available to the non-elite classes. “Mass production was investing individuals with tools of identity, marks of personhood.” (Ewen 187) Through advertising, junk mail and style industries, the middle class is always striving for “a stylistic affinity to wealth,” finding “delight in the unreal,” and obsessed with “cheap luxury items.” (Ewen 185-6) In other words, instead of defining themselves based on who they are on the inside, the people of middle class America define themselves in terms of external image and material possessions.

    Read More

  • Cyranos De Bergerac Wealth

    1127 Words  | 3 Pages

    A well-known expression is that money can’t buy happiness, yet people fantasize of winning the lottery, living in their dream house, and possessing enough tangible objects to feel satisfied with their lives. Most are under the preconceived notion that the absence of wealth and power translates to hardship and despair. This, however, is not the case, because a self-effacing lifestyle is not an indication of a lower quality of life, and often is better than one of great fortune. People yearn to have the financial independence and capabilities of those in higher ranking positions, and are willing to abandon their morals and own personal well-being if it means being successful. It seems that by reaching a level of wealth in which money is no longer

    Read More

  • A Parallel Between Two Worlds: Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury

    693 Words  | 2 Pages

    ...hat materialistic attitudes are harmful to one's well-being. “The psychological perspective attributes the development of materialistic values to family circumstances that create stress and self esteem issues that promote materialistic values,” (Hung Vu Nguyen.) Many people in our culture attribute material goods to personal achievement. Truth rings true with Bertrand Russell’s statement “It is the preoccupation with possessions, more than anything else that prevents us from living freely and nobly.” Even at young ages children are competing and bragging to one another of who has more possessions. Past studies by Rindfleisch say that materialism developed over time as a response to stress due to family issues such as divorce, separation, and loss of loved ones. Materialism leads consumers to put a disproportionate amount of their resources into acquiring goods.

    Read More

  • Gilded Age Essay

    1900 Words  | 4 Pages

    The rich only select from the heap what is most precious and agreeable. They consume little more than the poor, and in spite of their natural selfishness and rapacity, though they mean only their own conveniency, though the sole end which they propose from ...

    Read More

  • Willy Loman Materialism

    924 Words  | 2 Pages

    The American Dream is what every US citizen desires to live their life which is the opportunity that every individual gets an equal chance at life such success. Willy Loman is a salesman who believes that someone's life will be successful if you have a popular stance socially, have a personality that everyone loves, or just pure luck. Willy was materialistic and he worried so much about providing for his family such as luxuries that he believed he deserved even though he did not have the sufficient funds to be able to afford these luxuries he still attempted his hardest to try and give his family everything he could.

    Read More

  • Plato's Concept Of Ownership Is Tangible Or Intangible

    85 Words  | 1 Pages

    In today’s society, materialistic objects are prized. We strive to gain a self-worth from the things we put our names to, whether it’s tangible or intangible. The term “ownership” can refer to many elements. I agree with Plato in that owning objects is an important factor in building one’s character but I also think that ownership extends beyond the tangible to talents and skill. Ultimately, ownership and the development of self are intricately intertwined, and our possessions often become fragile trophies of self-worth and achievement.

    Read More

  • Hard-Knock Life: The Modern Era Struggles

    724 Words  | 2 Pages

    Amidst this time, people, whether rich or poor, had plethoras of reasons to be depressed. For example, some of the wealthy people, even though they were attractive both mentally and physically, were not happy with their lives, and in the worst case, they “went home and put a bullet through his head” (“Richard Cory” 882). Likewise, even some wealthy women who had multitudes of men tied around their fingers felt unhappy with their lives despite being “more beautiful than anybody else” (Fitzgerald 955). Such unhappiness directly resulted from the shallow lives that many of the affluent people maintained. Often some of these people cared more about their appearances than their personalities and placed their character second to their reputation; for example, Bernice in Bernice Bobs Her Hair learned her cousin’s pick-up lines to win over local teenage boys, and she bobbed her hair to earn validation from her peers. Correspondingly, some poor people also grew depressed during the Modern Era. For instance, some observed the wealthy and aspired to be them, but unfortunately they could not become wealthy, which led to cases of alcoholism: “Miniver loved the Medici, albeit he had never seen one… and kept on drinking” (“Miniver Cheevy” 884-885). This discontent from both

    Read More

  • Religion and Materialism

    475 Words  | 1 Pages

    what you've got and what life has to give, and what you can give in

    Read More

  • The Theme Of Materialism In 'The Rocking Horse Winner'

    782 Words  | 2 Pages

    Instead they rely completely on money to be happy. People often do not appreciate what they have, and they feel like they deserve better, and they complain instead of making the best of what they have. It is not necessary to be rich to enjoy life. Often those who have everything tend to live miserably. People can become too attached to money to the point that they forget about enjoying life and caring for their family. The theme of materialism is shown throughout the story of “The Rocking Horse Winner” to explain how being too attached to money can ruin people’s lives.

    Read More

  • Cultural Materialism

    1063 Words  | 3 Pages

    The notion that environment can and does determine the way in which people navigate through the ecosystem in which they pursuing optimization of survival by adapting to the specifics of the environment in which they live is the principle thought of cultural materialism. Leading anthropologist Marvin Harris believing that theses actions are then turned into cultural thought, the thought is then solidified by attaching a religious ideology. Culture is the way in which humans adapt to an environment. Harris (1966) argues that cultural acts such as the “prohibition of killing cattle should be understood in relation to the role that cattle play in the production of food crops, fuel and fertilizer” (Mcgee, 2003;285). The large brained individual has the ability to formulate complex thought that has proven to be the ultimate environmentally adapted defense mechanism, culture. Such cultural adaptations give great purpose to ways of living, for example, the Turkana of Kenya and the pastoral relationship with cattle. Because milk is their primary source of nutrition, Turkana rarely slaughter cattle, they also apply rules to when and who can consume a cow.

    Read More

  • Materialism Vs Idealism Essay

    941 Words  | 2 Pages

    After Immanuel Kant, there was so much that went on such as the start of the Contemporary theory of science. Before all of this aroused, the big argument was idealism versus materialism. This was big because modernism had made people choose which side between the two concepts. There were a lot of disagreements between the two because a lot of people were still stuck on the concept of materialism. Materialism is the physical appearance of everything , and that everything is made out of atoms and matter instead of just being the physical appearance of the object. At this point in time Materialism was the dominant voice in science. But as time starts to go on more and more people start to turn towards the new concept of idealism, which is basically stating that instead of the physical appearance of an object is actually not made of atoms, and it is just perceived that way in our mind. For example, people who believe in Materialism would say that a cup itself is not just a solid, but it is made up of atoms and electrons. On the other hand, Idealists would say that the cup is just a solid, they wouldn’t mention anything about the atoms or electrons. Along with the disagreement between Idealism and Materialism, there were also many developments that aroused after Immanuel Kant. These developments range from non-Euclidean geometry, to several philosophers working with the quantum theory, to Werner Heisenberg discovering the uncertainty principle.

    Read More

  • Alan Scorkey Materialism

    1430 Words  | 3 Pages

    Material culture or materialism refers to objects as resources and spaces that people use to define their culture. In which cultural value placed on the accumulation of material possessions, a process in which people base their sense of themselves, their well-being, and social standing on possession- Ashley Crossman. Such aspects of culture are used to define one’s social status. Where in the west, the standards of living has never been higher. To a point a ‘hyper-reality’ started to form in our society where it affects everyone’s expectation of life. The main source of these pressure is from people closest to them such as parents and mainly friends and society at large.

    Read More

  • WHAT IS MATERIALITY?

    612 Words  | 2 Pages

    According to the auditing standard, “Materiality means the amount or amounts set by the auditor at less than materiality for the financial statements as a whole to reduce, to an appropriately low level the probability that the aggregate of uncorrected and undetected misstatements exceeds materiality for the financial statements as a whole” (Canadian Institue of Chartered Accountants 2012a). We might also consider out textbooks definition “The magnitude of an omission or misstatement, in the light of surrounding circumstances, makes it probable that the judgment of a reasonable person relying on the information would have been changed or influenced by the omission or misstatements (Arens, et al 2012). As we can see the definition of materiality can vary based on the source. In our own words we view materiality as whether or not omitted or missing information would affect a decision made by someone who was relying on the information.

    Read More

  • Material Monism Essay

    975 Words  | 2 Pages

    Material monism is the belief that the whole world and universe are made of just one material. Material monists are the people who supported this belief and dedicated themselves to support their premise. These thinkers believed that if the world and universe were made up of just one material, it would be easier to explain and understand. Furthermore, they genuinely believed in this approach and lived by it. Aside from providing a simpler explanation of the world and universe, having a material be the sole component of them, would help the people learn the behavior of this material, ultimately providing a deeper understanding of the world and universe. Presumably if a single material composed the earth and universe, an explanation for every

    Read More

  • Materialism and the Negative Effects

    601 Words  | 2 Pages

    E.B. Forster’s symbolic and satirical essay, “My Wood”, is about materialism and its negative effects on human character. It has a self-deprecating, ironic approach, illustrating his personal journey of material ownership, painted with a shameful, dark undertone. He seems to be aware of these negative effects as he experiences them, but it does not detract from his want for more, which will compound the problems. This odyssey, though based on his personal feelings, could just as easily symbolize societies as a whole. “My Wood”, was published in 1926, but as a reader in the twenty first century, it may actually be more pertinent to current culture. We live in a society in which we are conditioned to think of the world in a material light. Materialism is described by the Merriam-Webster Dictionary as “a way of thinking that gives to much importance to material things rather than spiritual or intellectual things”. Forster explores the negative effects of materialism on the human character in some distinct ideas and feelings; the weight on spirituality, greed and ego.

    Read More

More about The Importance Of Materialism

Open Document