13 Quotations Found

The thing that is least perceived about wealth is that all pleasure in money ends at the point where economy becomes unnecessary. The man who can buy anything he covets values nothing that he buys. There is a subtle pleasure in the extravagance that contests with prudence; in the anxious debates which we hold with ourselves whether we can or cannot afford a certain thing; … [ Read more ]

Author: William Dawson | Subjects: Consumerism, Economics | Economy, Life & Society, Psychology | Behavior

Capitalism has a way of hijacking our culture’s best ideas. Regardless of the domain, industry turns almost every promising movement into a product.

Author: Sean Illing | Source: Vox | Subjects: Consumerism, Economics | Economy, Life & Society

People want good jobs, affordable products, and a better life for their children right now, not sacrifice and deprivation in service of a hazy future.

Author: Yossi Sheffi | Source: Management Business Review (MBR) | Subjects: Consumerism, Economics | Economy, Life & Society, Material Possessions, Psychology | Behavior

People imagine that they would prefer variety more than they do. The reality is that they only prefer variety if habituation sets in. Otherwise, in episodes separated by time, they strongly prefer favorites.

Author: Jonathan Byrnes | Source: Chief Executive | Subjects: Consumerism, Life & Society, Psychology | Behavior

Kurt Vonnegut exposed the taproot of our modern suffering as the gnawing sense that what we have is not enough, that what we are is not enough. This is our modern curse: A century of conspicuous consumption has trained us to be dutiful citizens of the Republic of Not Enough, swearing allegiance to the marketable myth of scarcity, hoarding toilet paper for the apocalypse. Along … [ Read more ]

Author: Maria Popova | Source: The Marginalian (Brain Pickings) | Subjects: Consumerism, Life & Society, Material Possessions

We have a society which is structured so that social esteem or value is connected to what we can consume. And so the inability to consume affects the kind of social value that we have. Money displayed in terms of consumer goods just becomes a measure of worth, and that’s really important to people.

Author: Juliet Schor | Source: Vox | Subjects: Consumerism, Life & Society

The key impetus for contemporary consumer society has been the growth of inequality, the existence of unequal social structures, and the role that consumption came to play in establishing people’s position in that unequal hierarchy. For many people, it’s about consuming to their social position, and trying to keep up with their social position.

It’s not necessarily experienced by people in that way — it’s … [ Read more ]

Author: Juliet Schor | Source: Vox | Subjects: Consumerism, Economics | Economy, Life & Society

As long as we are motivated by materialism and our understanding of the world is clouded by ignorance, fairness will remain elusive.

Author: Shivani Parikh | Source: Vox | Subjects: Consumerism, Economics | Economy, Life & Society, Material Possessions, Personal Improvement

When you let go of trying to get more of what you don’t really need, it frees up oceans of energy to make a difference with what you have. When you make a difference with what you have it expands.

Author: Lynne Twist | Subjects: Consumerism, Life & Society, Material Possessions, Personal Improvement

Fill your life with experiences, not things. Have stories to tell, not stuff to show.

Author: Unknown | Subjects: Consumerism, Life & Society, Material Possessions, Personal Improvement

Your possessions should set you free like a boat or a pair of hiking boots. If you work for your possessions and they don’t set you free, what are you working for?

Author: Billy Harris | Subjects: Consumerism, Life & Society, Material Possessions, Personal Improvement

It is preoccupation with possession, more than anything else, that prevents men from living freely and nobly.

Author: Bertrand Russell | Subjects: Consumerism, Life & Society, Material Possessions, Personal Improvement

Conspicuous consumption, conspicuous waste is in all classes a manifestation of the will to power.

Author: Elsie Clews Parsons | Subjects: Concepts, Consumerism, Economics | Economy, Life & Society, Power