Materialism Essay

Materialism and Greed Essay
Materialism: Can it make you Happy?
Can Greed and Materialism lead to true happiness? "Greed is good. Greed is right. Greed works and
greed will save the USA." (Wall Street) "Cause we are living in a material world and I am a material
girl" a theme in one of Madonna's most famous songs.
Greed and materialism stand in apposition to any manifestation of true happiness. People are under a
false perception that money will solve all of their problems and as a result bring them their utmost
joy and happiness. Many psychologists, philosophers, and religious figures throughout the ages have
refuted this assertion. People in American society take money very seriously because it can either
make or break your life choices. In order to fit in...show more content...
We rely on money, if all the money in the world disappeared tomorrow the world, as we know it
would collapse. Everything is connected to money in some way. Everything essentially has a price
tag on it if your pocket is fat enough. This is what makes money extremely appealing. But money
shouldn't be the driving force that motivates people to be successful and wealthy. People should be
driven by pride, integrity, and happiness.
Materialism also is the standards that other people see that we think we have to live by. As
Webster's Dictionary state, materialism is a theory that physical matter is only fundamental reality.
Americans are very materialistic, because our society is so materialistic, people can be hurt, and
ashamed of how they dress. Materialism in our society can also be costly. We are very concerned
with different name brands such as Polo, Tommy, Ralph Lauren, Guess, Baby Phat, Gucci, Nike,
Adidas and the list goes on. We see the different stars on television, in movies, commercials, and
magazines or on stages. Whether they are actors, actress, singers, models we all look at the clothing
they wear and think that this is what must be fashionable acceptable in our society.
While money can clearly feed the best parts of the human experience, obviously, this is not always
the case. Just what is it about this stuff that we call "money"? In all appearances, we can't live with
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Materialism
Materialism
America has been labeled "The land of opportunity," a place where it is possible to
accomplish anything and everything. This state of mind is known as "The American
Dream." The American Dream provides a sense of hope and faith that looks forward to the
fulfillment of human wishes and desires. This dream, however, originates from a desire for spiritual
and material improvement. Unfortunately, the acquisition of material has been tied together with
happiness in America. Although "The American Dream" can be thought of as a positive
motivation, it often causes people to strive for material perfection, rather than a spiritual one. This has
...show more content...
Fitzgerald uses the word grail to suggest that for Gatsby, marrying Daisy is a type of a religious
quest. Yet, truthfully, Daisy herself is not the key, but the increase in status that she would bring
him and the illusion that she carries with her. "He had thrown himself into it [the dream] decking it
out with every bright feather that drifted his way" (101). Gatsby is much more in love with
the idea of Daisy, not the reality of who she is. He wants everything she has and stands for. Gatsby
wastes his entire adult life trying to achieve this idealistic dream.
Indeed he loves Daisy, but through his fantasy he builds her up to be someone she is not. Lost in
his idealistic world, he molds his images of her into a perfect specimen. Nick Carraway comments,
"There must have been moments when Daisy tumbled short of his dreams, not through her
own fault, but because of the colossal vitality of his illusion", yet he refuses to acknowledge
these moments" (101). His state of reality is so greatly altered that he cannot believe she is
not the absolute perfect woman he so desired five years ago. Jay Gatsby's obsession with Daisy
gives him a false illusion of her, much like the illusion of the American dream, both representing
inevitable disaster. F. Scott Fitzgerald clearly uses Jay Gatsby to represent the materialistic attitude
of the 1920's. Literary critic Marius Bewley suggests that Jay Gatsby

Materialism in Today's Society Essay
Materialism in Today's Society
Have you ever sat down and really thought about how much you value your possessions? Do you
value your belongings more than you value friends, family, love, or yourself? The truth is that
obsession with possessions has become a way of life in today's society.
Materialism has been defined as the theory or doctrine that physical well–being and worldly
possessions constitute the greatest good and highest value in life. (Heritage Dictionary, 3rd ed.)
This means that we look to possessions to bring us happiness. We then use these possessions to
make things and people behave or respond the way we desire. We have become so successful at
fabricating and manipulating the world that we have come to believe that...show more content...
They often draw in the consumers with a catchy commercial that contains a celebrity or model
sporting their brand. This is a sure bet way to get the consumers? attention!
Materialism in Today?s Society 4
Many celebrities promote products without that intention. This is because young people who idolize
these famous stars want to wear what they wear.Therefore, this leads to free advertising for these
corporations. One such group was the rap group Run–DMC. This group frequently wore the Adidas
brand. They liked the brand so much that they wrote a song called ?My Adidas.? (Klein 456).This
song led Adidas to become a very popular brand and people all over the United States started
wearing the brand. Many people are brand ?hogs? and pursue what ever brand is in style. If a
celebrity is wearing a new brand, it can be assured that at least one person will mimic them.This is
especially true when the aspect comes to teens. Sharon Beder stated, ?In 2000 alone, teens spent
$155 billion on things like clothing, CDs and makeup.? (Boston 2).
In fact, the younger population has become so infatuated with celebrities that they have begun
getting plastic surgery to try to look like their favorite celebrities. Two million young people had
plastic surgery in 2003 alone (MTV, I Want a Famous Face).
Since 1997, there

Essay on Cultural Materialism
When it comes to anthropological theory the combination of several established ways of thought
often result in a completely new and independent way of thinking. Cultural Materialism is one of
these children theories that resulted from a coming together of social evolutionary theory, cultural
ecology and Marxist materialism (Barfield). The goal of cultural materialism is to explain politics,
economics, ideology and symbolic aspects of a culture with relation to the needs of that society.
From a cultural materialist point of view society is indisputably shaped by the factors of production
and reproduction. From this all other facets of society, such as government and religion, must be
beneficial to that society's ability to satisfy the...show more content...
However, cultural materialism and its more scientific approach has brought criticism from other
schools of thought who feel that cultural materialism is too simple and straight forward and
completely disregards the thoughts and behaviors of a society, an aspect most feel is imperative to
understanding culture change. By not relying of native explanations of cultural events cultural
materialism has pushed the field of anthropology to become more scientific. This in turn may help
anthropology to be known more as a hard science rather than a soft science.
Marvin Harris primarily laid the framework for the creation of the cultural materialistic point of
view. He has written many works employing his cultural materialistic study pattern. He garnered
just as much praise as he did criticism from his peers for works, which is incredible when the fact
that his first book almost alienated many who held other view points. His work in India dealing with
the sacred cow myth is considered to be his most successful application of cultural materialism.
Cultural materialism is a relatively young school of thought and there are several up and coming
anthropologists who subscribe to this point of view and are applying it to many different areas of
various different cultures. Brian Fergusson of Rutgers

Emerson Materialism
When did materialism become such a deeply ingrained part of man's sense of self? Since the dawn
of time mankind has had an almost carnal desire to possess the unattainable. To conquer and claim
without much regard to moral obligation. To control and take whenever and whatever they pleased
without much consequence. Mankind is grappling with what it means to have a sense of self,
because essentially, you are what you own in modern society. Famed writer and poetRalph Waldo
Emerson explores the possible root of mankind's infatuation with possessions in the following quote,
"Men have looked away from themselves and at things so long that they have come to esteem the
religious, learned and civil institutions as guards of property, and they deprecate...show more
content...
Man wants esteem, so man turns away from God to possess worldly, materialistic objects. The
possessive need becomes bigger and bigger until suddenly it's not just esteem that man wants, it a
need to sate the greed that lives within him as well. My Wood by E.M. Forster, Forster
demonstrates the effects of ownership on himself after he purchases his own property with the
earnings from his novel. He says in reference to his property that "it makes [him] feel it ought to
be larger." Owning things can make people lose sight of who they are as a person and can deeply
affect their behavior around other people.A person who owns more expensive things can be viewed
as someone who is materialistic, and deep down they don't fully understand who they are as a
person. People can own expensive things and have completely different interpretations about why
they are buying those things. When people buy expensive things for themselves it makes them seem
self–absorbed because others don't get to have the luxury of buying nice things for themselves. A
person that doesn't always have the latest of gadgets and the fanciest of clothes are far more
understanding really get the meaning of owning something valuable. However, a person who owns
everything they ever wanted, take things for granted and doesn't truly appreciate what they have and
from there is where greed can take over and consume a person's

Essay on Materialism in the Great Gatsby
"Money Changes Everything" by Cyndi Lauper illustrates the way people center their desires on
material things such as money. The speaker in the song leaves the poor man, solely because he does
not have money, for the affluent one: "I'm leaving you tonight...There was one thing we weren't
really thinking of and that's money" (Lauper 1, 6–7). Like Cyndi Lauper, F. Scott Fitzgerald
demonstrates the way people often center their desires on material things such as money in The Great
Gatsby. Daisy falls in love with Gatsby, who is a poor man at the time, and when Gatsby leaves for
the war, Daisy marries Tom Buchanan, who is a rich man, because he is "old money," meaning he
will always have the money and status to support Daisy. When Gatsby returns...show more content...
Daisy's materialism is revealed when she allows money to influence her decisions, and her life
becomes a mess because of it, which is what Fitzgerald tries to teach to his audience.
Gatsby's love for Daisy propels his materialism, which leads to his ultimate downfall. Gatsby uses
his words and specious actions to prove to Daisy that he is rich so she will love him by giving
Daisy a tour of his house. Exploring Gatsby's house is when Gatsby is careful to point out to Daisy
his lavish possessions that are present in his many extravagant rooms: "We went upstairs, through
period bedrooms swathed in rose and lavender silk and vivid with new flowers, through
dressing–rooms and poolrooms, and bathrooms, with sunken baths" (91). After strolling through
Gatsby's house, Gatsby takes Daisy up to his closet and begins to boast about his expensive
clothes so that Daisy realizes that Gatsby is rich, and, "He took out a pile of shirts, and began
throwing them, one by one, before us, shirts of sheer linen and thick silk and fine flannel, which
lost their folds as they fell and covered the table in many–colored disarray" (92). Daisy's desire and
obsession with materialistic things is also evident because after she sees all of these shirts, she
begins crying because of

Materialism Vs Marxism
Marx's theory of Dialectical Materialism as well as the Existentialist's theory of Ontological Ethics
invokes and embellishes the idea of the human condition and our legitimate right to freedom and
authenticity. Both theories coincide closely with each other due to the fact that some later
Existentialists based their theories on Marxism. Although Existentialists believe that Marxism was
lacking in certain components there are still striking similarities. For example, false consciousness is
very much a parallel to inauthenticity. Marxism focuses more on one entity that restricts our right to
freedom than the role of the individual, but overall both theories pertain to the individual as well as
societal groupings.
In Marx's theory of Dialectical Materialism he theorized that each civilization can be broken down
into two components: a primary economic base and a secondary ideological–social–political
superstructure. The base involved in the...show more content...
Both of these philosophies rely on human choices and of the larger society, but for existentialists
human freedom is completely susceptible. Existentialists deny that there is any premade human
nature which limits us to what we can do and what we are. It is an existentialist's nature to see
through and transcend past facticity and we must take responsibility for all of our choices because
we as humans have the ultimate freedom and cannot transfer this responsibility unto any other entity.
Marxists, on the other hand regard human freedom as completely limited due to the socioeconomic
freedom brought about by the base in the superstructure, which allows for individuals to place blame
on social systems such as capitalism. Although they differ in this aspect both theories present belief
that changing society would allow people to recognize their freedom and allow them to lead more
authentic

Factors Of Materialism
Article 1: MATERIALISM: THE CONSTRUCT, MEASURES, ANTECEDENTS, AND
CONSEQUENCES Definition: According to the authors, materialism can be commonly defined as
a belief that material objects are crucial and valuable. Materialistic person is one who values
material objects highly and from a sociological view, it is a culture which most people holds
material as highly valuable subject. Nonetheless, the word has a secondary meaning as it is an
implicit and usually negative–value judgement to the degree where people who are described as
being materialistic commonly held to have a concern with only material things rather than important
spiritual or intellectual fixation. However, the authors discussed the articles openly with the
possibility of having both positive and negative consequences. They also using the term that merely
denote the degree to which individuals or groups value material possessions. Measures: The authors
mentioned and discussed numbers of approaches in terms of materialism measures. Of these
measures, those by Belk and Richins have been mainly stressed as it is claimed as the most widely
used in marketing. In summary, three measures of materialistic traits are possessiveness,
non–generosity, and envy. Both researchers seem to...show more content...
Since there is no integrated theory of materialism, ideas about the causes of materialism may be
derived from a wide variety of theoretical and ethical perspectives. Generated as they are by
different perspectives, the propositions laid down here are only loosely connected to each other and
are, in some cases, contradictory. For the innate materialism, they stated two factors which are Sex

Materialism in Society Essay
It is human nature for people to desire material possessions. Our material yearnings are an attempt
to satisfy are need to special and wanted. In a world where most of society defines "socially
acceptable" as the material possessions one owns such as, the latest clothing, the biggest house, or
the fastest car one comes to believe that you need all of these things to be viewed as a part of
society. For many, work has taken over community life and has had a major effect on happiness.
Advertising has also become a primary determinant of our satisfaction, and is only a small part of a
larger materialistic culture in which we are not only enticed customers but also prominent
consumers. We have been beguiled into believing that material...show more content...
Some of the possessions I have show me for what I want to be, but not for who I really am. My cell
phone, for instance, describes me in many ways. It shows that I am very talkative, professional,
can afford expensive phones and accessories, and that I like to stay in touch with family and
friends. I have come to rely heavily on my cell phone and I just recently up–graded from a Razor to
the new Envy phone from Verizon. I got the up–grade even though my razor was in perfect condition
and barely a year–old. It still amazes me how I just had to have this phone. I saw the commercial
advertizing it as the latest and best phone out. It displayed all of the new features that came with
the phone and the new billing plans that came exclusively with this phone. I wanted to be one of
the first to own it so I went that same day and paid an extremely high fee to up–grade my phone and
my billing plan. I was so happy that I bought a clear, plastic, hard shell case and the most expensive
Bluetooth Verizon had.
However, my car on the other hand describes my adventurous and outgoing personality. I like to
travel to different places and for people to see and admire my car. I want people to view my car and
wonder who is driving that. I want to be the guy that advertisers display, the one who gets the really
attractive model, the sex appeal, and the overall swagger. I have found that I am a showoff and I
really don't like it.
Having come to college I

Materialism Essay

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Materialism Essay