Wants Vs. Needs Fueling Consumption Behaviors

Cultures around the world are divide by their distinctive characteristic of people, and how people interact within their society. Most cultures are driven by the way their environment has been set for them. Many of cultures have to adapt to the way their environment are due to the conditions that are set for them and the amount of resources that they are provided. The biggest drive for culture are the historical custom. Most countries continue to carry their ancestor custom so that the tradition may stay with them throughout their years, in which making other countries distinctive from one another. One of the particular country that will be discuss in this report is North Korea. In this report, I will be discussing the North Korean culture, with describing their living condition in the country, common issues that they face with on a daily bases, and common threat that they pose on other countries.

In North Korea all aspects of life are ruled by the government, which essentially takes away human rights. North Koreans, rich or poor have this idea put into their head that their dictator is a supreme god. If someone had the idea of not worshiping the supreme leader in public, they would be sent to a labor camp. North Koreans who try to leave North Korea without permission may be shot on the spot or sent to a labor camp where they may never be released. In every house, no matter where you lived, there is a picture of the supreme leader that you pray to every day. When the supreme leader of North Korea, Kim Jong II, died recently, on December 17th 2011, there was a parade held that had mourners when the casket passed by. As the Supreme Leader’s casket passed by , the mourners were observed to see if they were actually crying. If they didn’t seem like they were sad enough they were sent to prison camps along with other North Koreans that didn’t join the parade. At these Labor camps imprisoned North Koreans are taught how important is to worship the supreme leader and sometimes kept there with their families for as long as they live.

Philip Slater contends in Want-Creation Fuels Americans' Addictiveness that the reliance numerous Americans have on medications is because of continually needing more. The addictive personality of Americans connects past pharmaceuticals, also, addictions of various sorts. Slater argues that because we are told every day that were ignorant, misguided, inadequate, incompetent, and undesirable we can only escape this condition if we indulge, an act that will make us feel better (pg.353). Slater’s point isn't that we're insufficient or any of these negative attributes, however that we're intended to feel that manner if we do not achieve to a positive level. But the level, to which Americans acquire is truly very high.

The North Korean single payer system works when the majority of citizens are healthy, and can pay enough to outweigh the cost of the ill. This however, changed in 1995 during the great famine. A period of severe flooding and droughts caused the agricultural system to buckle. Food production became very limited, and a great famine plagued the nation for several years. A joint report by the European Union, United Nations Children’s Fund, and World Food Program conducted a survey in 1998 and found that “15.6 percent of children in North Korea were acutely malnourished, and 62.3 percent were stunted, a sign of chronic malnutrition.” (Shin, S. S., & Choi, R. Y., 2013). An estimated 600,000 and 2,500,000 people died as a result of the famine in the 1990s. (Owen-Davies, J., 2001) During this time the healthcare system was in complete disarray. Numerous more citizens were ill and

Hedonism and the desire-satisfaction theory of welfare are typically seen as archrivals in the contest over identifying what makes one’s life better. It is surprising, then, that the most plausible form of hedonism is desire satisfactionism. The hedonism theory focuses on pleasure/happiness while the desire-satisfaction theory elucidates the relevance of fulfilling our desires. Pleasure, in some points of view is the subjective satisfaction of desire. I will explain the similarities and the differences between the desire-satisfaction theory of value and hedonism. I will also discuss the most successful theory and defend my argument by explaining how the theory

One of them believes that “Communism, he reported, was proving a failure as an economic system,” (17). They are clearly not happy with how they are being treated. In North Korea, the government has full control over everything the people do; everything down to their haircuts, which is shown in paragraph four where it states, “They also made sure people weren’t violating the dress code by wearing blue jeans or T-shirts with Roman writing-considered a capitalist indulgence-or wearing their hair too long. The party issued regular edicts saying that men shouldn’t allow the hair on top of their head to grow longer than five centimeters...If a violation was severe, the offender could be arrested by the Public Standards Police.” Because the government has so much power, they easily force the people into submission, and they are unhappy. They get no say in what goes on. They are stripped of their individuality and silenced by the blindness of their higher powered officials. If there is anyone or anything who knows what’s right for the people, it would be the people

There is demand reduction, which is basically attempting to reduce the demand for psychoactive substances and therefore set a chain reaction to where producers don’t make profit and so they turn to other means of making money. Mares states, “the ultimate expression of such a demand reduction strategy would be a population in which ‘just say no’ actually happens,” and he gives the example of fundamentalist Muslim countries in which people actually choose on their own or they are socially convinced not to drink or smoke.

The Secret State of North Korea offered a great look into what basic things North Koreans are lacking. Even within the realm of Communism. Lack of freedoms, lack of food, lack of community, lack of trust, lack of a social society, lack of programs for children, lack of equality, and a lack of information. When Kim Il-Sung created North Korea, the government was based on Marxism and Leninism, called “Juche.” Just as the Soviets, the North Koreans followed suite with massive inequality between the government officials and the common people. The documentary showed its viewers what the government is omnipresent in the everyday lives of its people, so much so that recordings of daily life are illegal, and “random” searches take place commonly.

Not a single person in North Korea can call any item their own. Everything belongs to the government, and it is the government’s decision to distribute their choosing of goods to

Over and over again, people are told by society that money and possessions are the keys to a better life; society repeatedly enforces the idea that money and possessions are significant goals that should be aspired for. However, "in order to gain monetary wealth, and move up in the world, it often requires manipulation, a high focus on financial means, and relationships with others that are agenda based" (Dr. Reef Karim). In other words, traits that can foster business success and wealth can be damaging in other areas. Several studies, run by social psychologist Professor Paul Piff, are conducted to determine the impact that materialistic wants have on a person's well-being. The first study conducted is the dictator test, the second study is the Monopoly test, and the third study is the pedestrian crossing experiment. The studies yield findings that support the idea that people with materialistic pursuits have lower personal well-being and psychological health than those who are not focused on materialistic values. As a

Americans practice conspicuous consumption all the time. Often times people spend more on luxury goods than life necessities. Luxury spending ranges from paying extra to buy a case of pop rather than a case of water to buying a BMW instead of a regular car to just get around. I feel almost everyone is guilty of conspicuous consumption at some point. Everyone will overspend on something they don't really need throughout their life. I don't really feel race, class, or region really have an effect on who does the conspicuous consumption. However, I feel younger people purchase more luxurious items than older people because younger people feel attracted to certain brands and items. Younger people also know what brands they have make them

Estimates made by the world food program of the United Nations claimed that 6 million out of the total population of 25 million North Koreans are malnourished and face hunger. The resulting consequences are horrific. Witnesses from different areas in the country have reported acts of cannibalism.

(a) For the Hierarchy-of-needs Theory, Maslow has set up a hierarchy of five levels of needs.

State media sources are tightly controlled so as to prevent the North Korean public from accessing any information that does not come from the country's strict government bureau of information, and this means that many North Koreans are grossly misinformed about the position of North Korea in the world and believe, for example, that their meagre lifestyles are preferable to the terrible conditions in other countries. Visitors to North Korea routinely report tight levels of control, with mobile phones confiscated for the duration of the visit and all movement tracked by an official government-supplied 'tourist guide'.

Why is humanity so greedy? The simple answer to that is the fact that we have the desire to provide for our family and ourselves. Greed usually has a bad connotation; it is not always an excessive reaction to an excessive problem. Taflinger says that Greed is necessary in our culture to a certain extent (“The Sociological Basis of Greed” 1). Every person needs some degree of greed to survive (“I Want It, I Want It Now” 1). Once we fulfill our basic needs, we search for a way to fulfill our wants. We have such a surplus of resources that often times our wants get confused as needs. When we can no longer satisfy the burning hunger of our wants, we become more and more greedy. We strive to fill the gaping hole inside us that