Low Self-Esteem and Materialism

by B.J. on 3/22/2008 12:51:00 AM 0 comments Print this post

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Low Self-Esteem Increases with Materialism


Listen to this: Kindness Is Timeless

In the world that we live in
Everybody wants to be so cruel
To be in the in-crowd
Got the hottest clothes,the hottest shoes
We're reading the tabloids
And we're flossing in the club
But the freshest thing you can do is
Give someone your love - India Arie, Sergio Mendes

I sent the link below to a friend, and talked about it with another.

Low Self-Esteem Increases with Materialism

Even though the study was applied to children and adolescents, I don't see why it wouldn't be applied to adults as well.

With one friend, I was hinting at something, which I wonder how she will take it.

With the other friend, I was talking about it in relation to a person in her life whom she saw as insecure.

My view is this: materialism is a desire for concrete objects. Concrete objects by their nature are things you either have or you don't. If you were to desire a concrete object, you would just lament the fact that you don't have it.

I think from there, this attitude that you don't have something is where the self-esteem begins to sink.

The "don't have" is the operative in the statement: the fact that you "don't have", you don't possess something just manifests this view that ONLY if you HAD an object, you could do something. It follows that if you don't have something, you're useless.
If you're useless, you then build this dependence, this fetish, likely on things which most of human history and human societies today have and still live WITHOUT.

Check India Arie's second verse to the same song:

"The clothes that your wearing
It will one day be out of style
The car that your driving
One day will vax out in miles
Your hair and your makeup
And the time that it takes up
It will take the same care of
Ya give someone ya love"

This verse is stuck to my rib, and it's been dawning on me: Stuff doesn't last. Stuff are tools, not ends in themselves. They don't mean anything unless we give it meaning.

In context, assuming you don't have a view of cultural superiority, we probably wouldn't care that there's a certain elaborate clothing in one culture to show the high status of a person, just as they wouldn't care about our need for the hottest kicks, the most souped up cars.

Clothes and shoes you wear cause its almost human nature. The car is a thing to take you places. The house is a place where you store your stuff. I don't understand the status signs in them, nor do I really care.

This this billionaire doesn't care either.

He lives in an Frisco apartment, gives tons away without telling anyone, and went to a meeting with an international figure wearing glasses he had taped together.

That guy is hip-hop to the max.

BTW, over the weekend, interestingly enough there were links on ScienceDaily that described how money actually CAN buy happiness...if it's for others. Food for thought.

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