Materialism And Materialism
Over the years materialism has attracted the interest of many scientists in consumer research, psychology, sociology and many other fields as it has a great impact on the individual’s life. Materialism is defined as a “devotion to material needs and desires, to the neglect of spiritual matters; a way of life, opinion, or tendency based entirely upon material interests” (Oxford English Dictionary, 1989). There is also another description of materialism that can perfectly describe its meaning: “The importance a consumer attaches to worldly possessions” and “possessions assume a central place in a person’s life and are believed to provide the greatest sources of satisfaction and dissatisfaction” is a description of materialism (Belk 1984). Materialists believe that if they purchase high valued goods, their happiness will automatically increase, so they spend more money than others in order to achieve their goal (Watson 2003). While in the Western culture the idea that the acquisition of material possessions produces happiness is being promoted and supported (Kilbourne and Jhally, 2000), in other countries materialism developed to a philosophy of science (Graham, 1994). However in this paper we focus mostly on the Western approach of materialism.
As the products are very important in the daily life of a materialist, product-evoked emotions will appear during the day and they will have a great impact on the life of the consumerist (Richins, 2013). Such people are more
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