The High Price of Materialism | 
|  | | | Title: | The High Price of Materialism | | Author: | Tim Kasser | | Publisher: | The MIT Press | | Type: | Book / Paperback | | Publication Date: | 01 October, 2003 | | ISBN / ISBN-13: | 026261197X / 9780262611978 | | List Price: | $16.95 | | You Save: | $5.42 | | Amazon Price: | $11.53 | |
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Product Description
In The High Price of Materialism, Tim Kasser offers a scientific explanation of how our contemporary culture of consumerism and materialism affects our everyday happiness and psychological health. Other writers have shown that once we have sufficient food, shelter, and clothing, further material gains do little to improve our well-being. Kasser goes beyond these findings to investigate how people’s materialistic desires relate to their well-being. He shows that people whose values center on the accumulation of wealth or material possessions face a greater risk of unhappiness, including anxiety, depression, low self-esteem, and problems with intimacy--regardless of age, income, or culture. Drawing on a decade’s worth of empirical data, Kasser examines what happens when we organize our lives around materialistic pursuits. He looks at the effects on our internal experience and interpersonal relationships, as well as on our communities and the world at large. He shows that materialistic values actually undermine our well-being, as they perpetuate feelings of insecurity, weaken the ties that bind us, and make us feel less free. Kasser not only defines the problem but proposes ways we can change ourselves, our families, and society to become less materialistic.
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Customer Reviews:
• Eye-opening And Rigorous Discussion 09 July, 2008
This short book covers numerous quantitative and qualitative studies that reveal specific characteristics of personalities driven by materialistic and consumerist desires. On variables ranging from personal relationships, self-worth and aspiration, social productivity, parenting, etc. the results are consistently clear: persons driven by external, materialist ends are less happy and more destructive to our web of relationships and our social structures. The book concludes with a few constructive ideas for how to reverse the damage of materialism in order to re-construct a value base that is more conducive to self worth and a better social environment overall.
But even in light of this it is clear from the book that changing the pattern of self-indulgent consumerism in order to pursue a more stable and fructuous value base for ourselves and our society, it takes a lot of energy to go upstream against the myriad of media, government, and social incentives that our liberal consumerist societies reinforce. Altruism is not reinforced as much as self-gratification and there are systemic problems that erect barriers to performing, in biblical language, love of neighbor and self much less God, that need to be change from the inside out.
This is an eye-opening and short volume that deserves attention. Of the many titles that reflect consumerism and its psychological affects, this is the most concise and clearly articulated.
- Reviewed by customer ID: A5V9ZO86T8NJA
• Insightful, Compelling, And Extremely Valuable 22 January, 2008
In this excellent book, Kasser compellingly argues, with plenty of empirical data as support, that materialism is a serious detriment to society. While many of his claims may seem obvious, he definitely surprised me with several of the findings; it is especially chilling, for example, to be directly confronted with studies concerning the effect of advertisement on our values and happiness. This is an essential read for anyone who intends on leading a happy life.
- Reviewed by customer ID: A1PQE9DFT03CA
• Amazing Insights, But Some Flawed Arguments 06 August, 2006
I feel this book might better be entitled, the High Price of Possessiveness, since many of the external (extrinsic) motivators that cause personal dissatisfaction are in fact immaterial, such as image and status. The author is a bit loose about what comprises materialism -- image yes, but power no.
Unlike most books on this topic, the author provides real data from replicated psychological experiments, instead of relying on moralizing, criticism, and ungrounded theory (he does however, sometimes insert such unempirical arguments in the mix.) This data presents some amazing insights, and everyone would benefit from becoming aware of what these data show about our sense of subjective well being. The author does a good job of showing how preoccupation with consumer goods and status are highly correlated with personal dissatisfaction. But it doesn't follow that having a preoccupation with external motivations means that consumption or materialism is bad, and that being interested in things condemns one to unhappiness.
The actual data showing these effects is rarely presented in the book, but the one occasion the author shows his own data is enlightening. While the author chooses to focus attention on on what he calls materialism, the critical variable in happiness is actually the extent to which one pursues activities involving unrewarded intrinsic motivation. If one is motivated by both non-material as well as material pursuits, the author's data show one is not less happy than if one forgoes material pursuits. On the other side, if one doesn't pursue active non-rewarded recreation (i.e, only watch TV), you will be less happy if you try to give up material interests than if you have an interest in them (you would be very depressed.)
The author suggests -- without much justification -- that materialism prevents the pursuit of intrinsically motivated activities. This lead him to advocate "voluntary simplicity." Here he abandons science and starts moralizing. He notes rightly that our expectations of what's 'normal' rise as we have more possessions, so our satisfaction remains constant. He notes that we no longer consider a hot shower a luxury, though it was at one time. But he never addresses how a reduction in possessions affects satisfaction. What evidence I have seen suggests that people react differently to status reduction. The author's answer is people can compensate by increasing non-rewarded activities. But even non-rewarded activities such as recycling can be dissatisfying if one introjects feeling of guilt that one isn't doing one's best.
This book can be a great start to a reasonable debate on values and satisfaction, but don't expect tips on how to live contentedly.
- Reviewed by customer ID: A3JPU1RS2TS3R7
• Excellent 25 March, 2007
I am still reading this book, but I am so enjoying it. This book explains the reasons that we as a country and a culture are becoming more and more discontent and unhappy. Our materialistic ideas and concepts, largely due to the media, TV, movies, commercialism are so polluted and distorted by the idealogy that we need more and more "stuff" and things to be happy......this of course never works!! Highly recommend this book....to anyone who will listen!!
- Reviewed by customer ID: A3H65GBDSJRNO4
• First Two Chapters Are Good, The Rest Isn't 19 August, 2007
The High Cost of Materialism is an interesting subject, but the author isn't up to the challenge he sets for himself. The Preface and Introduction are excellent. Both are succinct expressions of the problems that a market-driven economy creates within an individual looking for happiness.
But the method the author uses to accomplish his goal is falls short.
First of all, the author tries to make the claim that "If a person is aware of the effect of materialism in their life, they will probably become happy." This claim is weak at best. There are many people who are happy accumulating stuff. (I don't happen to be one of them, but I don't claim to represent all consumers in the world).
2nd, the author uses questionaires to determine what makes people happy.
He develops an 'Aspiration Index' with questions like:
1) 'Your image will be one others find appealing'
2) 'You will be famous'.
There are 15 of these questions.
He gives this questionaire to 350 people. And then he assumes these responses are an accurate portrayal of all consumers.
But, the sampling technique is terrible. I'm surprised the colleagues who reviewed this article didn't point this out.
For the 350 people, he chooses ONLY
(a) college students
(b) from one or two universities.
Holy cow! A book on the psychological effects
of materialism, seen through the eyes of college students.
What subset of America is represented by "18-22 years olds in University"?
To me, that makes all the conclusions based on his questionairre responses invalid, or spurious at best.
The book sets up many arguments of why people find materialism frustrating, and then refutes each of these. Sometimes finding some psychological 'causes'. But these arguments are created in his head, and the refutation is just the same.
In the final chapter, the author proposes his 'solutions' for an individual to take so he/she's less impacted by a Materialistic society.
Now, this is interesting, because it assumes a person can choose to not be affected by their own society. A cultural anthropologist would argue against this assumption.
Here are a couple of the 'solutions'.
#3: "Get off the materialistic treadmill".
#4: "Ask yourself why you really want the money, looks or fame."
My reaction to these 'solutions' was to realize, they won't help me.
A major problem with this whole book is, it assumes the individual can remove himself/herself from the way society judges others, without any negative feedback. To me, materialism exists because it's a groupthink type
of phenomenon. I'm often judged by what i wear and drive. Just because i know others are negatively judging me by what i own, and not acting warmly because i don't own what they've been told is 'good', doesn't mean i can control the situation or other people's responses. Yes, i can make my own choices. But my choices are then judged by others. And this judgment by others is what causes conformity. And the conformity is the driving motivator for a materialistic society.
So, i commend the author for taking up the subject. And i felt he wrote an excellent problem statement. But his research to find the causes, and his attempt to postulate a conclusion, left me feeling his whole approach is nothing more than wishful thinking.
- Reviewed by customer ID: A391VD6RX43067
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