The Material and Economic Self

• Wants – refer to luxuries
• Needs – important things for survival
• Utility – concerned with how things serve a practical purpose
• Significance – concerned with the meaning assigned to the object
• Materialism refers the importance a consumer attaches to worldly possessions.
• THE MATERIAL SELF refers to tangible objects, people, or places that carry the designation “my or mine”
• THE MATERIAL SELF is centered on the physical body, with emphasis on one’s material possession (clothes, jewelries, cellphones etc.)
• THEORY OF MEANING OF MATERIAL POSSESSIONS (Dittmar, 1992) suggests that material goods can fulfill a range of instrumental, social, symbolic and affective functions.
• CONSUMERISM CULTURE

  The act of consumption is based on culture, with mass media’s influence is normalized in a given society.
• CONSUMERISM CULTURE It affects our identity formation, as our material possessions and preferred lifestyles slowly become extensions of who we are. Moreover, it affects our behavior in relation to consumer goods.
• Because of the pressure of consumerism our material self struggles between what we need and what we wants.
• Due to Material Self we tend to give in to wants and not our needs.
• Possessions can go beyond their functional value.

  • Influence
  • Power
  • Sympathy
  • Social status
  • Emotions
• Possessions as Symbolic Expressions of Identity

  Symbolic Communication Model

  • There’s an observation that one’s possessions are considered a part of oneself. They are symbols and extensions of the personal and social aspects of her identity/personhood.
• Symbolic Communication Model

  • Possession help people define themselves.
  • Possessions can enhance one’s image and develop a positive sense of self.
  • Goods and possessions are used to fill in or to compensate for the person lacks.
• CONSPICIOUS CONSUMPTION

  Consumers own high-priced, status-oriented goods to impress others and to convince them of their high social status.
• POSSESSIONS AND SELF-IDENTITY

  According to Burris & Rempel (2004), the more a possession symbolically represents the self, the greater the negative reactions experienced if it is lost.
• POSSESSIONS AS UNSTABLE MEANINGS

  • Meaning is in a constant state of flux.
  • Cultural categories of person that help shape identity are subject to constant manipulation by individuals, social groups, and marketing agents.
• Pets have become parts of the extended self. Pets belong to the top 5 possessions.
• Positive relationship between self-esteem and owning pets (Covert et al, 1985)
• The dog as “co-therapist” (Levinson, 1962)