Insatiability, a Problem for Utopia?

Engelbourg, Saul

doi:10.1111/j.1536-7150.1963.tb00869.x

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“…Discussions of insatiability often portray it as incompatible with sustainability (Brown, 2002;Engelbourg, 1963). A growing population of insatiable consumers places demands on natural resources, eventually creating scarcities that threaten well being, potentially catastrophically.…”

Section: Insatiability Reconsideredmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…A world of insatiable consumers pursuing economic goods on a planet of finite resources has been recognized as a fundamental problem (Brown, 2002;Engelbourg, 1963;Jackson, Jager, & Stagl, 2004). Satiation has therefore been proposed as an ally of sustainability because it is a potential mechanism for reducing the satisfaction people receive from income and economic goods.…”

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confidence: 99%

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Insatiability: Part of the Problem or Part of the Solution?

Grant

2014

Behav. Soc. Iss.

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Economic satiation is the idea that once people have attained an adequate level of income and consumption they reach a satiation point at which income and consumer goods become less effective as reinforcers and as sources of satisfaction. Advocates of a sustainable society have seen economic satiation as a natural method for reducing the overconsumption of goods and thereby producing environmental benefits including a reduction in carbon emissions and lessened demand for nonrenewable resources. Yet cross-cultural data from both developing and developed economies have been unable to fix a satiation point at which the reinforcing effectiveness of income declines. This finding of income insatiability is consistent with the status of money as a powerful generalized reinforcer that is not subject to satiation. A conceptual solution to the problem is to accept and even embrace the insatiability of generalized reinforcers, yet to develop a culture of education and skills that empowers alternative generalized reinforcers to the point at which their effectiveness rivals or exceeds that of income.

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Section: Insatiability Reconsideredmentioning

confidence: 99%

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confidence: 99%