How is materialism affecting our economy?

Question

How is materialism affecting our economy?

Answer 1

It's encouraging people to buy things they don't really want or need and so they have less money to spend on essential items. It also encourages people to become pack rats when they have to find more and more storage space to store those items or they have to live in bigger houses than they really need to make room for all those extra items.

Answer 2

frightening levels of consumer debt, that's how

Answer 3

Materialism cannot affect economy as economy is created because of materialism.

What materialism affects is only communism and socialism.

At a microeconomic level materialism tends to increase the wants which drives the economy forward. Like buying a Prada shoes instead of normal $50 shoe.

Now that does not mean it is affecting economy but it only means that it is driving economy and its factor and is providing status based divisions to the society.

As you know, economy is a wider subject and is relative to personal, social and macroeconomical behaviours - materialism is just a part that can lead economy but cannot affect it in anyway, except for personal level.

For e.g. Your son wants to buy a toy you cannot afford - now you cannot call it materialism but only a child wanting something. If you buy him the stuff your personal economy might get disturbed - that distrubance is not because of materialism but is because of want which you want to fulfil.

Thanks

Madhav

Answer 4

Well, that is actually a tough question.  In the United States, we have a Capitalist economic system.  Capitalism basically only works if people are motivated by wanting more.  (This works well since people are greedy and selfish by nature!)

So materialism should actually be GOOD for a capitalist society!

I think the bigger problem is that the economy has been damaged to the point that people are afraid to be good capitalists.  If we felt more comfortable spending (on our material wants), we would be making the economy better.

So I guess a better question is how does our economy affect our materialism!