CORE Metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk Provided by Corvinus University of Budapest - Ph.D. dissertations Tamás Kocsis ROOTS PLEASURE AND WEALTH IN A GLOBALIZING CONSUMER SOCIETY Manuscript Budapest, 2002 BUDAPEST UNIVERSITY OF ECONOMIC SCIENCES AND PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL ECONOMICS AND TECHNOLOGY Project leader: prof. József Kindler Translated by Krisztina Olasz and Ágnes Hatala © Tamás Kocsis, 2002 CONTENTS INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................................................... 7 REFERENCES ......................................................................................................................................................12 CHAPTER 1 ARGUMENTS DENYING THE PROBLEMS OF CONSUMER SOCIETY ......................13 FROM A GLOBAL PERSPECTIVE CONSUMER CULTURE DOES NOT POSE A PROBLEM .............................................15 CONSUMER CULTURE DOSE NOT POSE A DANGER TO SOCIETY ............................................................................16 CONSUMER SOCIETY DOES NOT PRESENT A DANGER TO THE ENVIRONMENT ......................................................20 REFERENCES ......................................................................................................................................................22 CHAPTER 2 THE PROBLEMS OF CONSUMER SOCIETY.....................................................................25 MATERIALISM AND ATTEMPTS TO MEASURE IT ..................................................................................................27 PHENOMENA ACCOMPANYING MATERIALISM .....................................................................................................29 OVERCONSUMPTION AND MISCONSUMPTION .....................................................................................................32 NEEDS AND WANTS ............................................................................................................................................33 THE NATURE OF POSSESSIVENESS .......................................................................................................................35 WHO IS HAPPY ?—THE ROLE OF PERSONAL TRAITS ............................................................................................36 WHO IS HAPPY ?—THE ROLE OF SOCIAL FACTORS ..............................................................................................37 WHO IS HAPPY ?—THE ROLE OF MATERIALIST ATTITUDES .................................................................................38 THE ROLE OF VALUES .........................................................................................................................................39 OUTSIDE CONSUMER SOCIETY ’S BIRTHPLACE ....................................................................................................40 REFERENCES ......................................................................................................................................................41 CHAPTER 3 VOLUNTARY SIMPLICITY ...................................................................................................47 VOLUNTARY SIMPLICITY AND CONSUMER SOCIETY ...........................................................................................49 VALUES CENTRAL TO VOLUNTARY SIMPLICITY ..................................................................................................50 VOLUNTARY —INVOLUNTARY , SIMPLE —COMPLEX ...........................................................................................52 A DYNAMIC EXAMINATION OF VOLUNTARY SIMPLICITY ....................................................................................53 WHO ARE THE VOLUNTARY SIMPLIFIERS ? ..........................................................................................................54 THE FEATURES AND MOTIVES OF VOLUNTARY SIMPLICITY BEHAVIOR ...............................................................55 A SURVEY OF FRUGALITY AND ITS FINDINGS ......................................................................................................57 MISCONCEPTIONS ABOUT VOLUNTARY SIMPLICITY ............................................................................................58 THE TECHNIQUES OF VOLUNTARY SIMPLICITY ...................................................................................................59 REFERENCES ......................................................................................................................................................61 CHAPTER 4 THE PROBLEMS OF VOLUNTARY SIMPLICITY ............................................................63 THE HYPOCRISY OF THE ADVOCATES OF SIMPLICITY ..........................................................................................65 THE NAIVETÉ OF VOLUNTARY SIMPLICITY .........................................................................................................65 THE PROPENSITY OF VOLUNTARY SIMPLICITY TO BE SELFISH.............................................................................66 THE DOUBLE -FACED RELATIONSHIP OF VOLUNTARY SIMPLICITY AND ECONOMIC GROWTH ...............................67 Voluntary simplicity as economic confusion ................................................................................................68 Voluntary simplicity as the engine of economy: past experience .................................................................68 Voluntary simplicity as the engine of economy: present experience ............................................................69 FROM CONSPICUOUS CONSUMPTION TO CONSPICUOUS NON -CONSUMPTION .......................................................70 THE AUTHOR ’S EXPERIENCES .............................................................................................................................71 REFERENCES ......................................................................................................................................................73 CHAPTER 5 FROM THE VICIOUS CIRCLE OF MATERIALISM TO THE PERSON ROOTED IN COMPLETENESS ............................................................77 THE DEBATE ABOUT CONSUMER SOCIETY ..........................................................................................................79 THE DEBATE ABOUT VOLUNTARY SIMPLICITY ....................................................................................................81 THE VICIOUS CIRCLE OF MATERIALISM ...............................................................................................................84 THE INDIVIDUAL ROOTED IN COMPLETENESS .....................................................................................................85 THE RESEARCH ITSELF .......................................................................................................................................86 THE QUESTIONNAIRE ..........................................................................................................................................87 REFERENCES ......................................................................................................................................................89 5 CHAPTER 6 OUR ROOTS IN KÉZDISZÉK AND IN THE İRSÉG .........................................................91 DESCRIPTION OF THE RESEARCH FIELDS .............................................................................................................94 THE RESEARCH FIELDS AS REPRESENTED IN THE OFFICIAL STATISTICS ...............................................................96 DATA COLLECTION .............................................................................................................................................99 THE LIVING CONDITIONS OF THE RESPONDENTS IN KÉZDISZÉK AND IN THE İRSÉG ..........................................100 THE ROOTS OF THE RESPONDENTS , THEIR EMBEDDEDNESS INTO CONSUMER SOCIETY, AND TELEVISION VIEWING HABITS IN KÉZDISZÉK AND IN THE İRSÉG ........................................................................................................102 RELIABILITY OF THE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THE GROUP AVERAGES ...............................................................107 EXAMINING THE SAMPLE VIA CLUSTER ANALYSIS ............................................................................................107 EXAMINING THE SAMPLE VIA MULTIDIMENSIONAL SCALING ............................................................................110 The map of welfare .....................................................................................................................................111 The map of the roots of the complete person..............................................................................................113 EXPERIENCES WHICH DO NOT APPEAR IN THE QUESTIONNAIRES .......................................................................114 REFERENCES ....................................................................................................................................................116 CHAPTER 7 OUR PERISHING ROOTS .....................................................................................................119 METHODOLOGICAL COMMENTS .......................................................................................................................123 ROOTS –WEALTH –MEDIA : THE PROBLEM OF CAUSE AND EFFECT .....................................................................125