The Institutional Foundations of Materialism in Western Societies

Abstract

Studies of materialism have increased in recent years, and most of these studies examine various aspects of materialism including its individual or social consequences. However, understanding, and possibly shaping, a society's materialistic tendencies requires a more complete study of the relationship between a society's institutional patterns and the acceptance of materialism by its members. Consequently, the current study examines five of the institutional antecedents of materialism to understand better how and why it develops as a mode of consumption within a society. More specifically, a model relating materialism and a set of institutionalized patterns of social behavior referred to as the dominant social paradigm was developed and tested in a study of seven industrial, market-based countries. The results suggest that the economic, technological, political, anthropocentric, and competition institutions making up the dominant social paradigm are all positively related to materialism. The implications of the relationship are then discussed.

Screening Not Greening: An Ecological Reading of the Greatest Business Movies

“…Macromarketing scholarship, given its tradition can benefit from the confluence of film theory, visual methods, and the ecological perspectives suggested here. What emerges from our analysis is that the greatest business movies are no doubt entertaining (see also Holbrook 2000), hence, their popularity and ratings, but they also are very representative of the DSP and its predilection with materialism (Kilbourne et al 2009) and our claim that what can be extrapolated from these various narratives is broadly Screening not Greening, of business values and tropes. Following Benjamin's notion of ''phantasmagoria'' (originally an eighteenth-century illusionistic optical apparatus, involving shadows of moving pictures projected past an audience onto a wall or screen Benjamin et al [2008, 11]) it should be asked must big business de facto be in opposition to holistic ecological models?…”

“…The success of our economy has always depended not just on the size of our gross domestic product, but on the reach of our prosperity; on the ability to extend opportunity to every willing heart-not out of charity, but because it is the surest route to our common good (quote from Barack Obama's inauguration speech [January 20, 2009] As Obama's presidency started, it promised change was coming, but as the above quote illustrates its initial focus is on the common good; more recently he has also broached the topic of global climate change. While it is too early to say whether it necessarily is going to alter the way big business and the market is depicted on the big screen perhaps the time for business green change is now (McDonagh 2009). We should aim for greening, not just screening!…”

Investigating Chrematistics in Marketing Systems

“…Therefore, the free-market mechanism based on a great number of atomistic units pursuing ''wealth-getting'' was to be created. It is thought that the free-market mechanism guarantees use value and societal welfare, through a) promoting human freedom (linked to the ideas of political liberalism and libertarianism); and b) enabling economic growth, and by implication enhanced consumption (Kilbourne, McDonagh, and Prothero 1997;Kilbourne et al 2009). However, both these points are contentious unless one is willing to apply DSP ''lenses'' and maintain that freedom equals the protection from state interference in the first case (Sen 1993), and that quality of life equals material consumption in the second one (Kadirov 2011;Kilbourne, McDonagh, and Prothero 1997).…”

Bien-être etwell-beingdans la consommation : une analyse comparative

“…Profondément ancré dans nos structures institutionnelles (Kilbourne et al, 2009) et systèmes idéologiques (Kilbourne et Mittelstaedt, 2011), le matérialisme est en effet souvent désigné comme un « piège » ou comme le « côté obscur » du comportement du consommateur (Burroughs et Rindfleish, 2011), conduisant à une diminution du bien-être de l'individu. A partir de ce constat, la TCR cherche à répondre aux questions suivantes : comment faire en sorte de substituer la durabilité au matérialisme comme axe de développement dans nos sociétés ?…”