an is hasty and greedy by nature. He always remains in search of better to best. His
appealing urge to get the best for him has made materialistic, making him a machine
with no emotions and feelings. He is only interested in making more and more money
irrespective of religious and moral values. The man of today is a perfect example
of materialism. We hardly realize the fact our desires are never-ending. The more
we get, the more we want. The more we have the more we want. Material luxurious objects
have sadly failed to give us true happiness and peace. It goes without saying that
luxurious life without peace of mind and inner happiness is of no significance and
value. (Hussain,k.) "We have found that material possessions don't provide as much
lasting happiness as the search of life experiences. The mistake we can sometimes
make believes that pursuing material possessions will gainus status and admiration
while also improving our social relationships. It seems to have exactly the opposite
effect. Trying to have a happier life by the acquisition of material possessions is
probably not a very wise decision. Not just our research, but a lot of other research
has found that people who are materialistic acquire many mental health costs and social
costs, they're less happy and more prone to depression" Van Boven said. (Boven,L.V.2010).
Money can't buy you love. It can't buy you happiness either. According to an article
on CNN, "by and large, money buys happiness only for those who lack the basic needs".
(Burns.G.) Materialism has had its grip on humanity since the introduction of man
to this planet. Every culture, country, and generation has been plagued with the need
for material goods. Materialism has turned child against parent, wife against husband,
and husband against wife. Children confront their parents on "why can't we afford
this? A culture full of spoiled children breeds spoiled and irresponsible adults.
Showing our children reality and not "reality" television will benefit them and our
culture. (Huffan,G.W.) Overall they have shown that aging is a part of an individual's
culture and like other parts of culture, it has an important influence on the individual's
world view and subsequent behavior (Graham 1981; Webster and Beatty 1997).(Wei,Y.)
The media in general and advertising in particular show images of materially well-off
consumers, those consumers exposed to heavy doses of advertising and other media would
overestimate the material well-being of typical consumers (see Belk and Pollay 1985a,b
and Friedman 1985 for the depiction of material themes in advertising and media).(Richins,M.L.1987)
I want", "I need", "I must have" are the three phrases heard a little more than seldom
from your typical American teenager. (Romaniuk,O) Advertising as a major social event
expresses a key change in values, beliefs, behavior and buying patterns of the peoples
which influence the lifestyles of people (Polly and Mittal, 1993). (Usman,M.2010.)
Advertising also encourages materialism in which material goods and money is conceived
important for personal happiness and social progress as compared to intellectual or
spiritual concerns was increasing amongst children and adults. (Abiden.Z.2010.) Kasser
argues that when people turn to material things to feel better, they compound the
problem, because they seek experiences that "don't do a very good job of meeting their
psychological needs." Studies show that poor people who emphasize fewer ill effects,
most probably because they are meeting more of their goals. (Goldberg, C.2008.) Our love of money is evident too in our attitudes toward wealth and poverty. Although
92 percent believe that the condition of the poor is a serious social problem, our
hearts are fundamentally with the rich. (Wuthnow, R.1993.) Early research conducted
by Ward and Wackman (1971) suggested that materialism was the result of individuals
viewing material goods and money as a path to personal happiness and social progress.
Ger and Belk (1996) examined the concept of cross-cultural materialism by using undergraduate
and graduate respondents from 12 countries. It was concluded that variables such as
dramatic cultural or social change might well lead to higher levels of materialism.
(Parker, R.S.) Materialistic persons seek products that show the success and status
they wish to be observed by others and themselves (Richins et al. 1992) (Bernard,R.J. 2009.) The urge to lead an extravagant life. Personal satisfaction
and greed are the most important aspects of life of the society driven by materialism.
Materialism promotes many other negative feelings as well like lust, selfishness,
jealousy, sense of hopelessness, etc. People are forgetting their moral values and
often fail to understand the distinction between right choices and the wrong ones.
The only thing that matters is good quality life and false comforts. (Materialism
in society).
This study was conducted from January to June 2010. One questionnaire was developed.
The sample size of our study is 200. The questionnaire consists of 27 questions. All
questions were close ended. We have distributed our sample into four categories. The
stratified random sampling technique was used for making four stratums, which consists
of Housewives, Businessmen, Salaried person and Students. 33.5% respondents strongly
agree and 15.0% disagree that money is first priority in life now. 31.0% respondents
agree and 19.0% disagree that money can satisfy all needs of life. 62.5%% strongly
agree and 5.5% disagree that money is sign of high status now. 25.5% respondents agree
and 15.5% disagree that money can while in some studies, materialistic rich people
show give respect. 28.0% respondents agree and 19.5% disagree that money is key to
success. 54.5% respondents strongly agree and 5.5% disagree that money can change
our lifestyle. 35.0% respondents strongly agree and 8.5% disagree that the unfair
distribution of money is leading us towards materialism. 17.5% respondents agree and
32.0% disagree that money is solution of every problem. 37.0% respondents agree and
9.5% disagree that poverty is creating wish for charming life. 31.5% respondents agree
and 16.0% disagree that poverty is influencing mind towards glamour. 38.0% respondents
agree and 11.55 disagree that poverty is creating greed for wealth. 15.5% respondents
agree and 29.5% disagree that only poor people are materialistic. 42.5% respondents
agree and 7.5% disagree that advertisements show glamour. 36.0% respondents agree
and 9.5% disagree that advertisements motivate for luxurious life. 31.5% respondents
agree and 19.0% disagree that lifestyle can be changed by advertisements. 30.0% respondents
agree and 15.0% disagree that excess of advertisement have negative impact on life.
38.0% respondents agree and 9.5% disagree that charming advertisements attract. 37.0%
respondents agree and 10.5% disagree that personal happiness can create satisfaction
in life. 35.5% respondents agree and 21.0% disagree that wealth is source of personal
happiness. 21.5% agree and 26.5% disagree that materialism create personal happiness.
29.0% respondents agree and 21.0% disagree that personal happiness makes us selfish.
34.0% respondents agree and 14.5% disagree that our culture is depicting materialism.
33.5% respondents agree and 13.0% disagree that our culture is moving towards modernism.
35.0% respondents strongly agree and 9.0% disagree that there is an effect of culture
on our lives. 31.0% respondents agree and 15.0% disagree that our culture is negatively
promoting materialistic thoughts. 20.0% agree and 23.5% disagree that our culture
is rigid to follow that materialistic norms. The value of chi-square test is 24.345
and p value is 0.06 which is greater than 0.05, so there is insignificant difference
between money and study groups. The value of chi-square test is 26.23 and p value
is 0.13 which is greater than 0.05, so there is insignificant difference between advertisements
and study groups. The value of chi-square test is 11.141 and p value is 0.517 which
is greater than 0.05, so there is insignificant difference between poverty and study
groups. The value of chi-square test is 16.331 and p value is 0.177 which is greater
than 0.05, so there is insignificant difference between personal happiness and study
groups. The value of chi-square test is 19.242 and p value is 0.083 which is less
than 0.05, so there is insignificant difference between culture and study groups.
Materialism is that everything which has physical existence is important in life.
Materialistic thought create greed for luxuries in life. Researches show that people
are always attracted towards glittering things. People are giving preference to material
things so unhappiness, jealousy, greed, depression, aggressiveness, social anxiety
is increasing and they start using people for their means. Greed of money, motivational
effects of advertisements, problem of poverty, wish of personal happiness and negative
norms depicting culture have influenced the people particularly teenagers. The results
of our study show that money, advertisement, culture, poverty and personal happiness
have insignificant relationship with study groups.
To avoid and eliminate materialistic thoughts from life we should:
Think positive Believe in spirituality Give more importance to relations than luxuries