Lesson 3: The Material Self
can bring true and lasting happiness, such as spending
--everything in our society is based upon the idea that
consumptions should be as easy as possible. money
makes the world go around.
--we become happy by buying.
--shopping has become a leisure, to pastime.
--our consumption also contributes to our garbage
problems. pollution.
The Material and Economic Self: “I shop therefore I
am.”
• A man's self is the sum total of all that he can call his
(James, 1890).
• All people have a “material” self-according to William
James. This includes family, body and reputation but
also clothes, houses, cars and others. All the physical
elements that serve as possessions constitutes the
material self.
CONSUMERISM
• People are slowly realizing that the power of
consumption is stopping us from finding true and sincere
happiness, and that shopping often works as a substitute
for something that we are missing in life.
• As a primary consumer, the issue is about WHAT WE
BUY and WHAT WE CHOOSE TO INVEST IN.
CONSUMPTION AND PRODUCTION
• CONSUME is defined as to “use up, to spend
wastefully, to destroy" (Gusdorf, 1978).
• Behind consumption, there is PRODUCTION.
Consumers keep companies alive.
--we cannot deny that consumption is also important.
CONSCIOUS CONSUMPTION
• Consumers are often portrayed as "victims", exploited
by greedy companies.
• However, it is important to note that every person has
FREE WILL. Therefore, choices are important.
• Conscious Consumption is about practicing responsible
buying habits.
--as a consumer, free will comes with responsibilities
and obligation.
PSYCHOLOGICAL/SOCIOLOGICAL
CONSUMPTION
• Consumption has become an addiction.
• Many people have forgotten there are things in life that
time with family and/or friends, to have "me" time, to
enjoy nature, to read, etc.
--happiness seems to be attached to buying something.
IDENTITY AND CONSUMER CULTURE
• IDENTITY is a symbolic idea (Mach, 1993). It is an
image we build for ourselves through social interaction.
Thus, a person's identity is dynamic and context
dependent.
--the way we presents ourselves is dependent on who we
are with or what the situation we are in.
--it is improved through continuous interactions and
communications with others
Several Factors that Affect Identity
• Social relations of power (Are you dealing with a
person of authority or whom you consider is of the same
level as you)
• Symbolic image of the world (how do we interpret
these things)
Identity may refer to: (Erik Erikson)
a. A social category defined by membership rules,
characteristic attributes, or expected behaviors (e.g.,
being a UB student);
--identifiers may be the uniform, I.D etc.
b. Socially distinguishing features that an individual
takes pride in having (e.g., being Filipino) (Fearson,
1999).
--what are behaviors or characteristics that Filipinos
share with others.
--such things would easily identify us
POSSESSIONS AS PART OF SELF
• Material possession attachment reflects a vital and
ubiquitous way people evaluate goods. A significant
body of literature provides a foundation for describing
what material possession attachment is.
• how it compares to place, brand, or consumption
experience bonds, whether marketing activities influence
possession attachment, and how having attachments
affects consumer well-being.
MAIN FEATURES AND CHARACTERISTICS IN
CONSUMER CULTURE
CONSUMER CULTURE is:
1. A culture of consumption;
2. The culture of market society;
3. Universal and impersonal;
4. Identifies freedom with private choice and life;
5. Acknowledges that consumer needs are unlimited;
6. A privileged medium for building personal identity
and status.
PROBLEMS WITH CONSUMERISM
1. It is intrusive.
2. It is manipulative.
3. It cannot provide many of the things that are
important to us.
4. It restricts our choices and lives.
5. It affects our worldviews and character.
6. It is unsustainable.
What Attachment Is
• Material possession attachment is a multi-faceted
property of the relationship between an individual or
group of individuals and a specific material object that
has been psychologically appropriated (something that
we have psychologically claimed), de-commodified, and
singularized through person-object interaction.
Characteristics of Material Possession (Kimmel,
2015)
1. Specific material object
• Material possession attachment forms with specific
material possessions, not with product classes or brands.
The material objects are acquired through exchange,
received as gifts, self-produced, or found. Most often
attachment possessions are ordinary objects that have
special meaning formed through experiences involving
the object.
2. Psychologically Appropriated Material Object
• Attachment does not require legal or physical
possession only psychological appropriation; that is, a
sense the object is “mine". Through consumption people
extract cultural meaning from, give meaning to, and
claim goods as theirs.
--phone, wallet,,
• Examples of psychological appropriation include
students taking possession of “their” chair in a
classroom for the term; lost, stolen, or destroyed valued
possessions still perceived by the owner to be “mine”;
jointly held possessions perceived to be “ours” or
singular culturally shared possessions, such as the Statue
of Liberty. Psychological appropriation is necessary but
not sufficient for material possession attachment to form.
3. A Type of Self-Extension
• We extend ourselves into things such as people, places,
experiences, ideas, beliefs (see also Abelson 1986), and
material possession objects. Conceptually, self-
extension, encompasses objects perceived to be “mine,”
including but not limited to possession attachments.
However, more empirical relationship between self-
extension and material possession is needed.
Four levels of the extended self (Belk, 1988)
a. Individual level: personal possessions; jewelry, car,
clothes
b. Family level: residence, furnishings house as body for
family
c. Community level: in terms of your neighborhood,
town, city,
d. Group Level; social groups, landmarks, monuments,
sports teams
4. Decommodified, Singular Possessions
• We construct meanings for material objects in ways
similar to how we construct meanings for people; over
time we get to know them as individuals (Kopytoff
1986). Self-extension processes decommodify,
singularize, and personalize particular material objects
symbolizing
autobiographical meanings (Belk 1988).
• Perceived singularity often is associated with an
unwillingness to sell the possession for market value. A
singular, irreplaceable possession becomes non-
substitutable. It "is one that a consumer resists
replacing, even with an
exact replica, because the consumer feels that the
replica cannot sustain the same meaning as the
original")
Example: A young child’s baby blanket is one well-
known example of no substitutability; discuss adult
examples. An unanswered empirical question is whether
possessions must be irreplaceable to become
attachments.
The concept of “limited edition” “collector’s item”
5. Personal History Between Person and Material
Possession
• Over time, particular goods become irreplaceable via
possession rituals (e.g., using, displaying, cleaning,
storing, discussing, comparing) that extract meaning
from, and give meaning to, the goods.
Example: A toddler becomes attached to a special object
(e.g., baby blanket, stuffed animal) over many, many
repeated uses.
• Adult possessions may become “contaminated”
through constant or habitual use and dependency (e.g.
one’s “faithful” wristwatch or constantly worn piece of
jewelry) endowing it with personal meaning connecting
self and object.
6. Attachment Has Strength
• Attachment to a possession can be relatively strong or
weak. Generally, strong attachment possessions include
those regarded as "most difficult to part with and most
cherished, "attached to," or "irreplaceable."
• Strong attachments are more central to the proximal
self, whereas weak attachments do not reflect the self as
much or at all. The strength of attachment may be
indicated by behavioral tendencies such as unwillingness
to sell possessions for market value or to discard objects
after their functional use is gone.
7. Attachment is Multi-Faceted
• Attachment is a multi-faceted, relatively complex
concept. It portrays the extended self (including
attachments) as being comprised of different layers from
the private inner self-core to the outermost collective
layer.
• Special possession objects vary in their symbolic
purposes and identify. Various motivations for
attachments, suggesting multi-faceted person possession
ties. Each self is associated with different kinds of
possession attachments that reflect particular self-
developmental tasks.
8. Attachment is Emotionally Complex
• Attachment possessions, laden with personal, deeply
emotional meanings are "extraordinary, mysterious, and
emotion evoking rather than merely functional."
• Attachment is emotional in experience quality,
recorded in a cognitiveemotive understanding of the
possession’s symbolic, autobiographical, personalized
meaning formed via a history between self and object.
9. Attachment is Dynamic
• The meaning associated with a possession and the
intensity of attachment to it does not remain static but
evolves as the person’s self evolves and the
autobiographical function of the object changes
• Autobiographical Value - Viewed as an autobiography,
a person’s self-concept is a narrative construction told
and retold based on selected life events.
The Costs of Attachment
• On the other hand, there are economic and psychic
costs associated with having and using material
possession attachments.
• Attachment represents commitment of one’s resources
and self that could be invested in other things.
• Relying heavily upon material goods for self-
construction may restrict the range of meanings from
which the self can be built.
• Self-cultivation becomes limited to the domain of the
marketplace, "that is, a person’s pool of experiences is
reduced by the objects into which one extends one’s self.
Kilbourne views this as limiting the developmental
potential of individuals. Perhaps the ultimate issue is
how investing one’s self in material attachments affects
well-being, life
AVOID THE TRAP
• EXERCISE INTELLECTUAL INDEPENDENCE. Be
aware of how consumerism controls your life.
• CONSUME LESS, LIVE MORE. Stop and think about
the influence of consumerism in your life. Strive to live
the life you want, NOT how others think you ought to
live.