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www.culture -materielle.com Book Published In France: Ladwein R. (2017), Malaise dans la société de consommation : essai sur le matérialisme ordinaire, EMS, Caen, France. Malaise in the consumer society Essay on Ordinary Materialism Richard Ladwein 6, Avenue du Béguinage F-59910 BONDUES [email protected] Back cover Why are we (almost) all a bit materialistic? Material goods occupy an incredible place in our lives. By consuming, the individual draws the contours of his life, the model according to a pattern of his own. To consume a lot, or more than necessary, is to be materialistic. But few people accept to consider themselves as materialists. Yet in developed countries a diffuse materialism is spreading in all strata of society. It is a small step that makes us consume a little too much. We have called this small step big, ordinary materialism. The purpose of this essay is to deconstruct the workings of our relationship with our material possessions. How and why do we attach ourselves to certain objects and not to others, and why do we systematically buy a little too much material goods? What relationships exist between materialism, different forms of consumption, identity construction and the values of individuals in an uncertain social environment? What should we think about economic socialization and the societal questions posed by materialism? These are the fundamental questions posed in this essay that will allow us to highlight the logic and dynamics of ordinary materialism in everyday life. Extensions to this work can be found at www.culture-materielle.com. Richard Ladwein is Professor at the University of Lille, FRance. He is already the author of a book on consumer and buyer behavior and has published numerous articles in this field. He is passionate about the social issues raised by consumption, methodology and literature. 2 For Anne 3 Summary Summary ................................................................................................................................... 4 Introduction ............................................................................................................................... 6 Chapter 1: Consumption ........................................................................................................... 9 The emergence of the consumer society .............................................................................. 9 Features and utility consumption ........................................................................................ 10 Ostentatious and symbolic consumption ............................................................................ 11 In pursuit of the principle of pleasure: hedonic consumption ............................................ 12 Impulsive and compulsive buying ........................................................................................ 14 Conclusion ........................................................................................................................... 16 Chapter 2: Consumption and identity ..................................................................................... 17 The concept of self and identity .......................................................................................... 17 Material goods: incorporation or extension of self? ........................................................... 18 Attachment to material goods ............................................................................................ 20 From attachment to detachment of material goods ........................................................... 22 Identity Disasters ................................................................................................................. 23 A few words on social comparison and mimetic desire ...................................................... 24 The difficulty of being oneself and the crisis of identities ................................................... 26 Conclusion ........................................................................................................................... 28 Chapter 3: Materialism ............................................................................................................ 30 Materialism as personality traits ......................................................................................... 30 Materialism as values .......................................................................................................... 31 Materialism as aspirations ................................................................................................... 32 To have and to be ................................................................................................................ 33 Conclusion ........................................................................................................................... 35 Chapter 4: Materialism and subjective well-being .................................................................. 37 The dominant perspective ................................................................................................... 37 The Easterlin Paradox .......................................................................................................... 38 Socio-demographic and societal determinants of subjective well-being ............................ 40 Values and subjective well-being ........................................................................................ 41 Economic socialization: affluent society and advertising .................................................... 42 Conclusion ........................................................................................................................... 44 Chapter 5: The inconveniences of radical materialism ............................................................ 46 Psychological background and personality .......................................................................... 46 Compulsive buying and materialism .................................................................................... 47 Relationship to money, credit and means of payment ....................................................... 48 Conclusion ........................................................................................................................... 50 Chapter 6: Precariousness, Frugality and Voluntary Simplicity ............................................... 52 Precariousness and poverty ................................................................................................ 52 Frugality ............................................................................................................................... 54 Voluntary simplicity ............................................................................................................. 56 Conclusion ........................................................................................................................... 59 4 Chapter 7: Ordinary Materialism ............................................................................................. 61 How to get out of materialism? ........................................................................................... 61 Materialism as a societal issue ............................................................................................ 63 The Logics of Ordinary Materialism ..................................................................................... 64 Conclusion ........................................................................................................................... 67 General Conclusion .................................................................................................................. 69 Bibliography ............................................................................................................................. 73 5 Introduction Everyone consumes. To consume is to choose. By making his choices, the individual draws the contours of his life, the model according to his own scheme. This gives him a certain uniqueness. It would be very difficult to find two individuals who consume exactly the same things, who have the same tastes and the same appetite for material things, but also the same means to access their desires. Implicitly, we are admitting here that materialism is not necessarily about possessions, but about desires. Desires for material goods can be very qualitative and relate to a very small number of objects. They can also be very diverse. In this case, it is necessary to distinguish a person who will be very selective from a person who will want to acquire a large variety of goods in quantity. In a different way, we may encounter people who indiscriminately desire the accumulation of material goods without long deliberation. These different situations are affected by two factors: financial means and life projects or, more precisely, people's values. Concerning financial means, the question mobilizes both the resources of individuals and debt. The principle of reality developed in psychoanalysis postulates that in his arbitrations, the individual is obliged to take into account the characteristics of the situation. A desire may be thwarted by the impossibility of facing it financially and the person may give up the desire to obtain the coveted material good, sometimes at the cost of significant frustration. But at present, the commercial society grants important payment facilities. Behind