Blog #10: Nearing the End

            My focus for the last essay is how materialism influences the pursuit of the American Dream. I will be examining the consequences of materialism on achieving the American Dream in terms of James Truslow Adams’ definition of the term: “It is not a dream of motor cars and high wages merely, but a dream of social order in which each man and each woman shall be able to attain in the fullest stature of which they are innately capable, and be recognized by others for what they are.” According to Adams’ definition, an overemphasis on materialism—being the pursuit of material and financial success—takes away from the entire American Dream; it ignores the “social order” aspect. From the chapter from The American Dream in the 21^st Century, I learned that a majority of Americans self-reported themselves as “Secular Spiritualists” rather than “Traditional Materialists,” meaning that citizens want to start decreasing their materialistic values and begin focusing on the spiritual aspects of the American Dream.

            From this focus derived from the John Zogby’s chapter of The American Dream in the 21^st Century, I learned that many researchers have argued (and proved to a certain extent) the negative effects of materialism on one’s overall life. My first source, titled Keeping the American Dream Alive: The Interactive Effect of Perceived Economic Mobility and Materialism on Impulsive Spending,” was written by professor of marketing at State University of New York at Buffalo Sunyee Yoon and associate professor of the Cary Business School at John Hopkins University Hyeongmin Kim. The two authors complete a total of four studies to prove the positive correlation between likelihood of spending impulsively and level of perceived economic mobility. Ultimately, Kim and Yoon’s studies taught me that increased senses of materialism (which increase one’s likelihood of spending impulsively) lowers their perceived economic mobility—meaning that it negatively affects their view of their financial standing and thus decreases their well-being.

            My second source, the peer-reviewed article “A Dark Side of the American Dream: Correlates of Financial Success as a Central Life Aspiration” written by psychology professors Tim Kasser and Richard Ryan, discuss the negative correlation between focusing on material success and one’s well being to. It taught me that the financial success component of the American Dream has become less important as well as unhealthy to emphasize.

            My final academic source taught me that materialism can affect almost every other aspect of an individual’s life as well as society. James Roberts’ and Aimee Clement’s article titled “Materialism and Satisfaction with Over-All Quality of Life and Eight Life Domains” discusses how materialism negatively affects the environment, involvement in communities, relationships, well-being and satisfaction with life and argue that Americans need realize the insignificance of materialistic values compared to the previously listed aspects of life.

            I came to the conclusion that it is imperative that Americans begin moving away from their deep-rooted materialistic values and begin focusing on the more spiritual, social, and intellectual aspects. All of my academic sources prove that having increased senses of materialism exerts negative consequences on an individual’s life.