Research Paper On Materialistic Society

One of the essay our group represents is “Freaks, Geeks, and Cool Kids”. The author of this essay is Miller Milner, professor of sociology at the University of Virginia and senior fellow of the Institute for Advanced Studies in Culture. In his essay he showed how consumer culture has changed in United States. The social ideal becomes the person who both works hard and plays hard. Young people try to get a good education and work hard in order to attain a status that they become a lavish consumer. Most of these young people may or may not care about learning and ideas, but they concerned about getting decent grades to avoid be labeled as “looser” and in their adulthood to have a luxury life.

With social media playing a huge role in society, us Americans are becoming more materialistic. We are being influenced by people who give us these unrealistic expectations in life and always making us want more in life than what we have. We try living up to these expectations by buying elaborate accessories, when in reality they serve no purpose to us, making us feel empty on the inside.  Like Steinbeck said, “We trample friends, relatives and strangers who get in the way of our achieving it; and once we get it we shower in on psychoanalysts to try to find out why we are unhappy” (Steinbeck). Despite all of this, us Americans still claim to be realistic, yet we pay $800 for a phone just so we can be like everyone else. We buy name brand clothes that are overpriced. We pay $7 for a cup of coffee. The list goes on and on. The American Dream Steinbeck relates to is not something someone can buy, rather is it something you earn. As Steinbeck said, the American Dream is “yearnings toward what we wish were and hope we may be: wise, just, compassionate, and noble. The fact that we have this dream at all is perhaps an indication of its

If a man were to wake up one morning and decide he wanted a new car it would not be unusual. However, if he decides he wants to upgrade his Toyota Camry to a Ferrari then he is being materialistic. Odds are that this man cannot afford this superfluous vehicle and his fantasies are getting the best of him. He is wasting money on unimportant things.

“But the prospect of an end to plenty has uncovered what maybe a pernicious problem, an addiction so out of control that is qualifies as a sickness.” (paragraph 2) In the famous essay “Why Stuff Is Not Salvation” by Anna Quindlen, Quindlen denounces the consumer values of the modern century. She states in paragraph 6: “Now much of the country is made up of people with the acquisition habits of a 7-year-old, desire untethered from need, or the ability to pay.” This quote unveils that a large amount of the United States population spends more money on desired items, that they can’t afford, rather than necessities. This addiction shoves consumers down a rabbit hole of debt and bankruptcy. With this, she expresses her opinion that people would

If Tyler Durden from Fight Club was sitting inside $340,000 Lamborghini Aventador, his hatred towards materialism probably would have driven him to accelerate the car right into the ocean. If James Twitchell was sitting inside of it, he probably would have just left the car in a parking structure with the keys still inside. Chuck Palahniuk’s novel Fight Club and James Twitchell’s essay “The Allure of Luxury”both take negative against the concept and phenomenon of Western materialism, where society indulge on luxurious items to the extent of being the focus of life. In Fight Club, the idea of anti-materialism is taken to a great extent, with the book’s main character and Tyler focusing on destroying the materialistic society with violence to restore a more primitive way of living. However, in Twitchell’s piece, materialism is taken more moderately, describing how materialism has rapidly expanded throughout the Western nations, questioning the if it is beneficial or malicious. I believe that materialism does provide great benefits that allowed us human beings to advance as a society. However materialism introduces numerous complications that impact our society on a macroscale. Before comparing and contrasting my view of materialism, we will first explore Twitchell’s essay, then Fight Club to first better understand their stance and concept of materialism.

Things we want versus things we need. People often forget what they really need in life like water, air, food, shelter, love and affection and most importantly a family. Most people think they need a nice car or they need a $600 phone or nice name brand clothes but really you don’t. They don’t need all the extra stuff all of those things are mainly what you want because that’s what you see everyone else with around school or work or just in general wearing. So it makes you want it because you see everyone else with it. You don’t need materialistic things to make you fill superior in society.

Materialism is a poison to society that prevents people from doing what is necessary for them. The novel, “Into the Wild” by Jon Krakauer demonstrates this. The novel is centered on Chris McCandless. He was on his way to graduate from a well-known university. He decides to leave, donating his money and burning the rest. He went into the wilderness, living off the land. He demonstrates materialism by taking only what was on his back. Materialism is a tendency to consider material possessions and physical comfort as more important than spiritual values. The average person requires possession of physical objects in order to be content. Chris shows through his actions that having physical comfort is not needed to acquire satisfaction. In “Into

Everyone enjoys material things, whether they want a brand new car or even a phone; these items do not provide any necessity for survival, yet they make people’s lives much easier, and even more

The “American Dream” is based on the fundamental idea that one’s social status, and ultimately their happiness, is deeply rooted in their financial success and the material items they possess. It is often believed that mass consumerism has become an indicator of one’s ability to participate as an elite member of society and ultimately complete the pursuit of happiness. However, groups also object these views of happiness and suggest that happiness is based on far more than material items. One’s perception on the correlation of materialism and the pursuit of happiness is dependent on an individual's experience as a consumer.

" We are living in a material world." This famous line in one of Madonna's songs entitled "Material Girl" will never outgrow itself. Ever since the beginnings of monetary means, the main focus of living is getting more money and to be as successful as possible. This became a huge issue during the 1920's. In this era, people made money from the stock market, illegal bootlegging and so forth. With these people hitting the jackpot, this then created a new rank called `new money'. This rank, however, never overpowered `old money' the most wealthiest, well-known and respected class. The possession of material wealth however, can't bring true happiness. Love is an important factor in this equation; when you don't have love, it is hard to say

Measuring the work ethic of the participants showed a decline across the years as the rise for materialistic possessions increased. As individuals are becoming more materialistic, they are losing their work ethic which shows a sense of entitlement in the participants that they should not have to work as hard to own highly materialistic possessions. This is believed to be effected by the decline in socioeconomic statuses which can be linked to insecurities in the individuals as well as an increase in the amount of advertising individuals are exposed to towards the end of the study. These insecurities have shown to increase the desire for material items in order to create a more ideal self while declining the desire to work for the things they want (Twenge & Kasser, 2013).

While many people find happiness without many resources, many Americans see objects as a life necessity. According to Anna Quindlen in her OP-ED “Stuff is not Salvation”, Society has started to gear more and more into spending money on something the saw on the TV add rather, than saving for times of trouble. Americans have become so materialistic that a few hours after celebrating Thanksgiving, a holiday about giving thanks for what you have, they go and trample each other at malls over items on sale. Due to this desire of society to own every new gadget, many Americans are creating unnecessary debt for themselves, all of this for useless resources which we don’t even appreciate.

As Austrian writer Marie Von Ebner-Eschenbach wrote,“To be content with little is difficult; to be content with much, impossible.” History and literature have established that the ideal goal every American has wanted is for his thirst for material possessions to be reached, but even then, the individual isn’t truly happy. Money, and the things it can get you, have long been a part of American culture and the materialist culture of society have been examined in numerous ways from novels to the art of those like Andy Warhol. A life free from the economic woes that plague almost everyone seems like the quintessential existence, but material wealth is not a way to mend issues.

Whoever said money can’t buy happiness? Today, the argument can be made that happiness and consumerism are directly linked. It is fair to say that happiness is a relative term for different people. However, the obtaining of new and shiny things has become such a part of everyday life, that it provides happiness when people are purchasing something new, and causes sadness when no buying is taking place. For many, it seems to be a protective coating against the harsh realities of everyday stresses from a job, or family life.

People now are more concerned with making more money and what money can buy. The more money they have, the greater they think of themselves. Is money really important? Does money guarantee you success and happiness in life? I do not think so. People who are materialistic are the kind of people who do not see much in life. They only see life as a medium for them to make more money and be happy. To me, being materialistic is a waste of time, not to mention a waste of effort in making so much money and spent it on goods. I also think that by being materialistic you are defined yourself indirectly and it sets a boundary in your life.