Finding Beauty in a Broken World – An Eco Art School
Estefany Intriago
April 25, 2014
IND5937 – Special Topics
Professor Phil Abbott
Spring 2014
FINDING BEAUTY IN A BROKEN WORLD
AN ECO ART SCHOOL
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Finding Beauty in a Broken World – An Eco Art School
Table of Contents
I.
Introduction
Background…………………………
Purpose of Study……………………
Significance of Study………………
II.
Literature Review
The basis of Consumerism…………
Negative characteristics of consumerism………
Sustainable consumption approach……………
Concept…………
Sustainable consumption associated with social class…..
Sustainable consumption associate with culture………..
Adopting a sustainable lifestyle………………
Relationships between consumerism and well-being of people…
III.
Conclusion……
IV.
List of References…………
V.
Appendix A
Outline………
VI.
Appendix B
Annotated
Bibliography………………………………………………………………20
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Finding Beauty in a Broken World – An Eco Art School
Introduction
Background
“Our necessities are few, but our wants are endless.” George Bernard Shaw
“Everyone from the scientific research community, to Green Peace, to Nobel Laureate
Al Gore has argued convincingly and forcefully that our current level of consumption of
natural resources is unsustainable.” (Banbury, et al, 2011, p. 497)
It is well know that American consumption is the major contributor to
environmental destruction. According to the United States Environmental Protection
Agency, the United States is one of the seven countries in the world responsible of
higher greenhouse gasses emissions (EPA, 2013). 99% of things people in North America
buy is thrown away within six month after purchase and that we would need the
resources of three planets for humans to live an “American” lifestyle? (Mount Holyoke
College, 2009). Americans are driven by an irrational consumption drive that grew more
and more severe ever since the Industrial Revolution. Companies are responsible for
inconsiderately designing products with a short life span (planned obsolescence) and
these companies hire marketing companies that use advertisements to convince
consumers they need the new product in the market (perceived obsolescence) (Mount
Holyoke College, 2009).
We are living in a society where the ubiquitous power of media has created a
drive towards materialism and consumption that has never been so prevalent (Hill,
2011, p. 348). This study found that unscrupulous marketing companies study children
behavior and have as an ambition to create false emotional and physical needs to
later try to permeate these false needs into our children’s vulnerable brains. The author
also found that childhood is indeed endangered. Consumerism is guilty of creating a
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culture of negation of positive self-image among many other things. The childhood
experiences that our parents or grandparents had are not the same today. Children
are being deprived of these essential experiences because marketing companies and
the media in general has done the improper job of showing images, sounds, concepts
that are meant to target an adult audience. As a consequence, play has become
tainted with adult cues, imaginations and expectations and our children’s minds are no
longer a sanctuary for creativity and innocent play (Hill, 2011, p. 349).
The literature review I developed follows a logical structure that will help give
light in the topics of consumerism and sustainable consumption. The reader will see with
no distortions the reality and consequences of a consumerist society. I want to take the
reader into this new pathway of a sustainable mentality. Personally, I was not aware of
all the issues involving consumerism, and I can honestly say that after acquiring
knowledge regarding my topic I find myself taking steps to adopt a more sustainable
lifestyle. I believe that ignorance of these topics is the blameful reason for our
unconscious consumption decisions. Furthermore this paper will cover the other side of
consumerism which is sustainable consumption. The reader will be exposed to new
ways of adopting a more sustainable lifestyle that will consequently lead to lower the
impulsive drive to consume.
Purpose of Study
Consumerism creates an environment of perversity, dishonor, and confusion. For
this reason it is crucial to reveal the significant issues regarding consumerism and
sustainable consumption. The purpose of this literature review is to unequivocally
identify the perceptions of consumerism and how adopting a less materialistic lifestyle
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help negate this impulsive drive. This literature review’s objective is to answer the
following questions:
Central Question:
How may interior design affect the negative perception of consumerism in our society
today with a particular focus on the issues associated with a potential conflict between
consumerism and sustainability?
Subquestions:
1. What are the bases of consumerism?
2. What are the current negative characteristics of consumerism?
3. What is sustainable consumption?
4. Is sustainable consumption associated with a certain population or culture?
5. Is there a relationship between materialism and the well-being of people?
Significance of Study
The results of one of the articles I read stated that it is possible to intervene in
adolescents’ lives so as to decrease the priority they place on materialistic goals
(Kasser, et al, 2013, p. 17). After immersing myself into the consumerism and sustainable
consumption topics I came to the conviction that education is the most efficient way to
counteract a consumerist society. I realized that among all of us, children are the ones
that are most manipulated to continue with the legacy of the madness of
consumerism. In view of this absurdity, I find myself in the imperative mission of bringing
light to the different aspects of consumerism to the reader. Ultimately, the knowledge
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gain in this process will serve as guidance in designing a supportive environmental
community where creativity and self-esteem are enhanced and environmental
awareness is taught to children.
Literature Review
The basis of consumerism
Historic Background
According to McKendrick, Brewer and Plumb (1982) the birthplace of
consumerism took place in the eighteenth century in England.
The anthropologist,
Grant David McCracken, explains that towards the end of the 16th century Elizabeth I
started using the acquisition of goods as a way to communicate legitimacy, power and
majesty (Friese, 2000). The author noted that back in that time, the Elizabethan family
tradition was to purchase objects that could represent honor from previous generations
and family status. Noblemen started traveling to London and compete with each other
to bid for the Queen’s attention and receive her favours. The 16th and 17th century
period prepared the path for the changes that were coming.
Following this period came the 18th century and as Damme and Vermoesen
(2009) indicate “second-hand consumption was truly a way of life or, as Donald
Woodward noted in a pioneering work: ‘Few goods were lightly abandoned; fewer still
were left to rot by the roadside’” (p. 295). In Europe, according to Damme and
Vermoesen, people from villages of the 18th century such as Erembodegen would even
engage in public auctioning activities where they would sell deceased’s possessions,
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Finding Beauty in a Broken World – An Eco Art School
furniture, kitchen goods, clothing and so on. It is interesting to know that people from all
social classes were free to buy in public auctions. It is by the end of 18th century that
consumer practices went through a transition. Objects started to being cherished for its
novelty, style and aesthetics not for their function. In fact, objects became instruments
to express status among all social classes. In addition the term fashion, as we know it
today, was born and it started replacing consumer’s goods in a never ending manner
(Friese, 2000, p. 11). No longer were goods preserved, fixed, reused until their usefulness
was exhausted, rather people would keep them as long as they felt satisfied with the
demands of fashion.
Consumerism in the 19th and 20th century
In the 19th century the United States went through significant changes in society,
politics, and culture. For instance, this was the period of the introduction of the
department store and there were exhibitions taking place around the world that
caused excitement among the people of that era (Friese, 2000, p. 11). Friese points out
that before the first department store opened, individuals would shop for the only
reason to acquire goods they really needed or wanted. Interestingly, that way of
shopping was completely different from what we know today. For instance, a customer
would enter a shop and only one person would attend the needs of that customer. The
customer did not walk around the store and had to wait until the shopkeeper show the
desired item on the counter, without having many choices available. Custom made
things were made, long negotiations would take place to set up a price and a delivery
date and the return/exchange policy didn’t existed. When department stores opened
the architecture and interior design of the buildings often took on monumental forms.
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Finding Beauty in a Broken World – An Eco Art School
The activity of shopping within a store added a dream like quality to consumption and
the whole atmosphere was designed to increase demand. One of the articles by Zukin
& Maguire (2004) stated “to the extent that it is theorized, this work strongly suggests
that mass consumption was produced by manipulating consumers’ desires to be well
dressed, good looking, and beloved; to surround themselves with visions of beauty; and
to surrender common sense and sobriety to individual dreams of self-enhancement”
(p.176). As Bowlby suggests, shopping took attributes of a new religion of consumption
(Friese, 2000, p. 14).
On the social/political note, Kruger (2001) mentions that during the 1960s
students and young people were responsible for much of the cultural and political
change. During this period the Students for a Democratic Society movement was
created and they wrote a statement of philosophy. In this document they called for the
treatment of people as important and empowered human beings and to create a new
sense of community where individuals are able to interact in a meaningful way (Kruger,
2001, p. 17). This movement criticized the materialistic values, the lack of dignity and
empowerment of the individual in post-war America.
The research by Kruger also
mentioned that concepts of individuality, dignity and empowerment were also part of
American Literature. Such is the case of Walt Whitman who taught that everyone was
entitled to dignity, not matter social class or race. Much of the American literature
reflected a refusal of the longing of accumulation of wealth. In the article by Friese, she
states that:
“At the start of the 20th century, working class consumers in Britain spent 50 to 75%
of their income on food. Surplus cash was spent on luxuries like drink and tobacco.
Today consumers only need to spend 10 and 30% of their incomes on food. Therefore,
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Finding Beauty in a Broken World – An Eco Art School
much more money is left over to spend on services and entertainment, the various
forms of savings and items of conspicuous consumption like dress, personal possession
and decoration for the home (Gabriel and Lang, 1995).” (Friese, 2000, p. 15)
Definitions and Facts
In an article by Day and Aaker (1970), they start describing consumerism using
the words of one of the earliest adopters of the term, Vance Packard. Packard linked
consumerism with strategies to encourage consumers to rapidly magnify their needs
and wants by making them insatiable, compulsive and wasteful (p.13). As a matter of
fact, the research done by Friese (2000) states lower classes observe the life and habits
of higher classes and strive to imitate their ways. Chiefly, the motives for the
exaggerated display of their possessions are emulation, pride and envy (p. 17). The
article by Day and Aaker (1970) also states that consumers lack the information
necessary to allow him to make a smart purchase. The reasons behind this issue are the
vast number of consumer products in the market and the misleading information of
advertising and packaging of products. The authors of this article suggest that
‘sophisticated consumers are demanding more personal relationships and security in
their purchases’ (p. 16). Furthermore, Gross (2006) acknowledges that according to his
research globalization impacts consumerism making approximately 1.1 billion ‘new
consumers’ pursuing the so dreamed western lifestyle; thus increasing consumption of
cars, meat and electricity. As a matter of fact, Gross mentions that even furniture and
fashion commodity chains manipulate the fashion of furniture to accelerate the
lifecycle of products. Such is the case of Denmark, where exterior spaces express social
status and interiors declare love of family. By the same token, this study argues that
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individuals are disillusioned with the mall concept, and that an open-air ‘neo-village’
will be the new trend that liberates shopping. Gross (2006) concludes by manifesting
that we need more spiritual education and to critically judge mass media so we can
discover the hidden intentions of companies.
Negative characteristics of consumerism
Consumerism and Credit
The introduction of credit occurred in the 19th century. Individuals were now able
to pay in instalments to previously unobtainable objects (Friese, 2000, p. 13).
Specifically, credit “is the driver of consumerism and economic growth and credit cards
give people the opportunity to undertake consumption that otherwise would not take
place” (Manktelow, 2011, p. 259). People attempted to compare their personal
standard of life with others, and the outcome of such action was feeling envious,
dissatisfied and disempower followed up by the efforts to acquire goods that express
an improved social status using credit. Such is the example of what happened with a
community in Derry City, Northern Ireland. People got into debt using credit to satisfy
their consumerist drive and now they are experiencing isolations, strain and
powerlessness. There are two general purposes to use consumer credit. The first one is to
finance consumerist behavioral patterns for the middle and higher social classes and to
pay the basic needs of those people on low incomes. For this and several other
reasons, Manktelow (2011) acknowledges that consumerism has been blamed for
destroying traditional cultures and solidarities engendering a sense of alienation as a
natural response to the hopelessness of modern consumer life (p. 260).
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Endangered Childhoods
Hill (2011) developed a study that points out how the pervasive media,
technology and a culture of consumption are affecting the structure of childhood.
Modern children are being affected from a significant physical, emotional and social
deficit that can be blamed on consumerism. Although technology has helped
education immensely it has also generated an anti-social behavior in children
reinforcing pattern like racism and sexism. Influential corporations and media have
been able to infiltrate past differences of class, ethnicity and gender. Children are
being deprived of the series of childhood experiences that would have had if it was not
for consumers. The power of media is responsible for the drive towards the materialism
and over consumption that is constantly destabilizing children’s identity. This research
also reveals that play has become professionalized and tainted with adult cues,
imaginations and expectations. This finding makes me realized that I need to create an
interior environment that strengthens and actives critical thinking and the creative mind
of a child. A new positive realm for today’s children is much needed; a realm that
cancels out perversity, dishonor, confusion and consumerism. It is very interesting to
note that children’s play is no longer an expression of joy with no specific purpose but
rather it has become an activity that is controlled by companies looking desperately to
make profits at whatever cost. As a consequence the capacity for play automatically
erodes. According to Hill (2011), there is a social phenomenon called the “tween”
which is an unmistakable example of consumerism. This phenomenon occurs as a result
of media seducing children to adopt an identity older than their developmental age.
Furthermore, it is mentioned in this research that marketing companies are hiring child
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psychologists to maximize their understanding of the segments and nuances of the
youth market. All the pervasive media creates issues of identity in children that are
directly linked to negative health indicators such as addictions. Children that have an
addiction problem have previously internalized an identity that justifies this type of
behavior. Marketing companies sell an identity with their goods that children will crave
to adopt. In other words, consumerism is guilty of creating a culture that tolerates the
negation of a positive self-image.
Hill (2011) reveals in this research that the statistics of children’s health point to
a disturbing trend that children are being robbed of their childhood at an emotional
and physical level. Serious problems of early obesity, drug abuse, alcohol use,
depression and suicide rates are linked in some way or the other to the consequences
of consumerism. These findings urge me to create an environment that creates a
culture of love and acceptance of the self and others. Children have a cognitive
capacity and through television children are being exposed to powerful messaging,
shaping attitudes, motivation, behavior and lastly, one’s identity. Unfortunately, brand
loyalty is sought from the cradle. More importantly, children’s play is crucial in their early
years because they are able to express themselves and gain a sense of control over
their world. Consumerism through the advertisement of technological products for
children is jeopardizing an environment that allows creativity and critical thinking. As a
result, identity suffers because children learn at an early stage that happiness is based
on material goods that define them. We are all constantly manipulated to think that we
can find happiness through consumption and as a result we are blindfolded dreaming
the same consumerist dream. Marketing companies are working hard to exploit
children’s aspirations for a certain physical or mental attitude/ characteristic. I want, on
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the other hand, to create an environment that exploits children creativity, critical
thinking and that creates a connection to nature. Hill (2011) research states that more
than half of the brands used in childhood continue to be used in adulthood, and that
children starting at 3 years can be avid consumers. For this reason, marketing
companies are using all their resources to understand the mind of a child so can create
brand loyalty at an early age.
Sustainable consumption approach
Concept
“A working definition of sustainable consumption proposed by the 1994 Oslo
Symposium on Sustainable Consumption hosted by the Norwegian government
involving NGOs and intergovernmental organization is: The use of goods and services
that respond to basic needs and bring a better quality of life, while minimizing the use
of natural resources toxic materials and emissions of waste and pollutants over the life
cycle, so as not to jeopardize the needs of future generations.” (Banbury, et al, 2011, p.
497)
In the research done by Banbury, et al, (2011) they state that terms like voluntary
simplicity, use of greens products, reducing the use of natural resources, toxic materials
and emissions of waste and pollutants are among the numerous definitions of
sustainable consumption. By the same token, a research done by Mont and Plepys
(2008) indicates that there is still no specific definition of sustainable consumption. Some
will treat consumption as production issue and they claim that this issue can be solve if
the industry sector implements eco-efficient improvements in the production process.
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Others will argue that sustainable consumption is the implementation of green products
in the market. Others with a more radical perspective will argue that the consumption
levels in developed countries need to be simplified. If individuals living in developed
countries want to engage in this new vision of sustainable consumption they should
acquire more green products and also find happiness in a less materialistic lifestyle.
When referring to sustainability there are different views according to the different
disciples of economics, social studies, psychology.
o
Economic studies focus on how economic forces shape consumer levels
and patterns.
o
Sociological studies focus on the influence of social culture, social class
and family, ethnic and religious groups.
o
The psychological studies focus on how emotions and habits influence
consumer’s purchasing decisions.
In the same fashion, “the notion of sustainable consumption is often used as an
umbrella term for issues related to human needs, equity, quality of life, resource
efficiency, waste minimization, life cycle thinking, consumer health and safety,
consumer sovereignty, etc.” (Mont & Plepys, 2008, p. 532).
Sustainable consumption associated with social classes
The research by Elliot (2013) studied the green consumption’s connection to
social status positioning that consumers can use it as an opportunity to conspicuously
signify their social status. The author found that relatively well educated people find
green consumption practice more appealing however in green consumption social
differentiation implication does occur though in part and does depends on good’s
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symbolic nature rather than its taste. Results of his study showed that green
consumption desirability is directly related with increasing level of education, along with
having children of 18 years old at home identifying themselves as an environmentalist.
Sustainable consumption associated with culture
In a research done by Banbury, et al, (2011), they developed introspective
narratives expressing the different points of the participants. These individuals come
from different backgrounds. One of the participants that was born and raised in
Australia and when she came to the US she noticed the hyper choice of consumerism
that Americans have. She realized over the years that the US society has an
individualistic view. She had to interiorize the neo-classical belief that an individual is the
only one in charge of his well-being and felt that in this country she is on her own. Being
an educated person in the business field she attended a seminar where she learned
how a capitalist economy devastates communities and the natural environment.
Moreover, this lady and her husband had the opportunity to experience a training
program inside an eco-village in Findhorn, Scotland. Approximately the three hundred
people that live in this village engage in sustainable practices like growing their own
food, using solar and wind energy and walking everywhere they need to instead of
using cars. She expresses how she felt a profound sense of belonging to a community
where everybody cares for the well-being of each other. The other narrative was
insightful in that the participant states that international travel is the best way to learn,
compare and understand our lifestyle, culture and country of origin in a way we never
had. Their narratives made them come to the conclusion that sustainable consumption
meant for them the impact of the consumption on the ecology. One of the participants
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came to the understanding of the interdependencies of the natural environment and
the well-being of an individual/society. Another conclusion they reached is that the
education system is the key instrument in awakening society to an ecological
consciousness. The second important point they reached is that as a consumer we seek
to shape ourselves to represent a particular lifestyle. The final point is that to have a
supportive environmental infrastructure is of critical importance. Our consumption
behavior is shaped by the place/city/country we live in. Furthermore, the study
conducted by Elliot (2013) suggested that not all regions/countries have the same
environmental problems and one message cannot raise the awareness but it has to be
customized and reinforced regularly to make change happen.
Adopting a sustainable lifestyle
Lorenzen (2012) conducted a research where she provides the different actions
one could take in order to change a lifestyle. As the researcher states, one way to
change a lifestyle is by changing an individual’s practices, and the other way is to tell
the story about those changes. The author interviewed 40 individuals and found that
there are similarities on how they starting adopting and acting upon a more green
lifestyle. Deliberation and habit was among those characteristics. Deliberation happens
when current habits fail to solve a problem or when there are other alternatives that
individuals consider and make a slow but clear choice with an intent that can be
verbalized. Green lifestyle is then a pattern of living where one voluntarily eliminates
practices that have uncertain environmental impacts and tell a narrative that makes
that process purposeful.
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Participants in these interviews thought green practices are not isolated decisions or
actions but components of an evolved coherent project. People adopting green
lifestyles feel everybody can make a difference by changing behaviors. According to
this research by Lorenzen (2012), products and the behavior we adopt as consumers
are part of an imperfect system of shared meaning that we consciously or
unconsciously integrated into our identity projects. The things that we buy, buy less, or
not buy at all do shape our identity especially in the case of green lifestyles. Green
lifestyle means having taking decisions and actions that reduce the consumption of
goods, energy and water. According to Horton, socialization through shared practices,
networks, spaces, and times can create positive changes and influence individuals to
adopt sustainable practices. Taken from the article, the green practices shared by the
interviewers were:
o
People buy less and try to extend the life of what they have.
o
They recycle (cans, plastic, glass, newspaper, junk mail)
o
They use cloth bags, compact fluorescent or LED light bulbs.
o
They avoid kitchen paper products.
o
They keep their thermostats low in winter and rarely if ever use air
conditioners.
o
They take short showers and run hot water heater on low.
o
They use baking soda instead of commercial green cleaning products.
o
They do large loads in the dishwasher and in the washing machine.
o
They use clotheslines or drying racks.
o
They grow their own food, and cook from scratch buying local and
organic food.
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Finding Beauty in a Broken World – An Eco Art School
o
They avoid red meat or are vegetarians/vegans.
o
They buy recycled toilet paper and tissues.
o
They use restrictors on water faucets.
o
They have rain barrels or rain gardens and they reuse gray water.
o
They ride their bicycles to work or carpool.
o
They shop at and donate to thrift stores/consignment shops or pick things
up off the curb.
o
They have solar panels on their roofs or pay a premium for renewable
energy through their local provider.
o
They use geothermal power to heat and cool their homes.
o
They own a hybrid card.
Lorenzen (2012) research shows that green practices are more likely to multiply if
the individual defines those practices as a meaningful part of a larger project. At the
beginning of the changing process decisions and actions are highly deliberative but as
actions develop they become automatic responses. This research explains the idea of
a new lifestyle do-yourself mechanism called bricolage. It states that bricolage includes
materials and practices from old lifestyles and seeing them with a new perspective
allows the person to recombine them with newly adopted materials, practices, and
environmental discourses in order to form a new pattern. This study concludes by stating
that a change in behavior follows a change in values.
Relationships between consumerism and well-being of people
According to a research done by Bauer, et al, (2012) individuals living a
materialistic lifestyle tend to feel more anxiety, unhappiness and lower quality of social
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relationship. In other words, materialistic individuals tend to experience low levels of
well-being. This study also points out that money brings a self-sufficiency orientation
where people prefer to have greater distance from others, and to help others less. This
study also asserts that when we invest in efforts to improve a community we find
happiness, health and life satisfaction. These researchers state that a wide variety of
correlational studies indicates that individuals who score higher in materialism values
have lower levels of mental and physical well-being. Another study by Kasser, et al,
(2013) indicated that money matters and can buy some happiness however more
money does not mean more happiness and it eventually erodes happiness and
sometimes happiness does not require money. Thus the authors of this article suggest
that thrift is a better alternative. The ten ways they suggested were “cure ills before
seeking thrills, meet needs before indulging desires, don’t borrow - buy it outright,
postpone pleasure, learn the thrill of saving, don’t impress- enjoy, don’t hoard - share,
don’t have- do, don’t forget-focus, don’t binge – savor” (Kasser, et al, 2013, p. 13-39).
Conclusion
The purpose of this literature was to unequivocally identify the perceptions of
consumerism and how adopting a less materialistic lifestyle help negate this impulsive
drive. It is clear to understand how our consumerist habits have evolved in the past and
why we are where we are right now as a society, as individuals. It is alarming to see how
organizations invest their money to shape consumers behavior the way they want
making desire things that most likely don’t need. By doing this, these organizations are
not only affecting and manipulating our minds but also are making us be responsible for
consuming goods where their production threatens the environment. All of this happens
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while we keep on living an illusion and not noticing the real intentions of the very few
institutions and wealthy individuals controlling the media, the food and consumer
goods industry. Now that I’m fully aware of these issues I came to the realization that
education is a crucial part of the changing process. Unfortunately, children are the
most vulnerable to be influenced by a culture of consumerism. However, I strongly
believe that through education I can instill in children the rejection of a materialistic
lifestyle. Growing spiritually, experiencing nature, embracing community values, human
relationships and sustainable practices is the best instrument to cancel out the impulsive
drive of consumerism. With the help and guidance of an eco-art school children will
develop critical thinking and a sense of identity and they will adopt the innate attitudes
of cooperation, self-love and empathy we once lost. Children will be able to
understand the connections and interdependency of all living things. I will leave you
with these two quotes from the late Terence McKenna, an American philosopher and
ethnobotanist, which much relate to the topics I have previously discussed,
“Culture is not your friend. Culture is for other peoples’ convenience and the
convenience of various institutions, churches, companies, tax collection schemes, what
have you. It is not your friend. It insults you. It disempowers you. It uses and abuses you.
None of us are well-treated by culture.”[...]But the culture is a perversion. It fetishizes
objects. It creates consumer mania. It preaches endless forms of false happiness,
endless forms of false understanding in the form of squirrelly religions and silly cults. It
invites people to diminish themselves and dehumanize themselves by behaving like
machines.”
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“We have to create culture, don’t watch TV, don’t read magazines, don’t even listen to
NPR. Create your own roadshow. The nexus of space and time where you are now is
the most immediate sector of your universe, and if you’re worrying about Michael
Jackson or Bill Clinton or somebody else, then you are disempowered, you’re giving it
all away to icons, icons which are maintained by an electronic media so that you want
to dress like X or have lips like Y. This is shit-brained, this kind of thinking. That is all cultural
diversion, and what is real is you and your friends and your associations, your highs, your
orgasms, your hopes, your plans, your fears. And we are told ‘no’, we’re unimportant,
we’re peripheral. ‘Get a degree, get a job, get a this, get a that.’ And then you’re a
player, you don’t want to even play in that game. You want to reclaim your mind and
get it out of the hands of the cultural engineers who want to turn you into a half-baked
moron consuming all this trash that’s being manufactured out of the bones of a dying
world.”
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List of References
Banbury, C., & Stinerock, R., & Subrahmanyan, S. (2011). Sustainable consumption:
Introspecting across
multiple lived cultures. Journal of Business Research, 65(4), 497-503, ISSN 01482963, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2011.02.028.
(http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0148296311000610)
Bauer M.A., Wilkie J.E.B., Kim J.K., & Bodenhausen G.V. (2012). Cuing Consumerism:
Situational Materialism Undermines Personal and Social Well-Being. Psychological
Science, 23 (5), 517-523.
Briceno, T., & Stagl, S. (2006). The role of social processes for sustainable consumption,
Journal of Cleaner Production, 14(17), 1541-1551. ISSN 0959-6526,
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2006.01.027.
(http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0959652606000850)
Bates, J. (n.d.). Terence McKenna’s Disillusioned Perspective on Mass-Consumerist
Culture | Refine The Mind. Retrieved April 5, 2014, from
http://www.refinethemind.com/terence-mckenna-on-culture/
Buenstorf, G., & Cordes, C. (2008). Can sustainable consumption be learned? A model
of cultural evolution. Ecological Economics, 67(4), 646-657, ISSN 0921-8009,
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolecon.2008.01.028.
Chancellor, J., & Lyubomirsky, L. (2012). Money for Happiness: The Hedonic Benefits of
Thrift. Consumer’s dilemma: The search for well-being in the material world. New
York: Springer.
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Finding Beauty in a Broken World – An Eco Art School
Damme, I. V., & Vermoesen, R. (2009). Second-hand consumption as a way of life:
Public auctions in the surroundings of alost in the late eighteenth
century. Continuity and Change, 24(2), 275-305. doi:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0268416009007188
Day, G. S., & Aaker, D. A. (1970). A Guide to Consumerism. Journal of Marketing, 34(3),
12-19.
Elliott, R. (2013). The taste for green: The possibilities and dynamics of status
differentiation through “green” consumption. Poetics, 41(3), 294-322. ISSN 0304422X, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.poetic.2013.03.003.
Figueroa-Rosario, W. (2003). Exploration of the meaning and process of wellness among
families in Vieques: A qualitative study. ProQuest Dissertations and Theses, 346346. Retrieved from
http://ezproxy.fiu.edu/login?url=http://search.proquest.com/docview/288104798
?accountid=10901. (288104798).
Goss, J. (2006). Geographies of consumption: the work of consumption. Progress in
Human Geography, 30(2), 237-249. doi:10.1191/0309132506ph604pr
Hill, J. A. (2011). Endangered childhoods: How consumerism is impacting child and
youth identity. Media, Culture & Society, 33, 347362. doi:10.1177/0163443710393387
Hofmeister-Tóth, Á., Kelemen, K., & Piskóti, M. (2011). Environmentally conscious
consumption patterns in Hungarian households. Society and Economy, 33(1), 5168. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1556/SocEc.33.2011.1.6
Kasser, T., Rosenblum, K. L., Sameroff, A. J., Deci, E. L., Niemiec, C. P., Ryan, R. M., ... &
Hawks, S. (2013). Changes in materialism, changes in psychological well-being:
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Evidence from three longitudinal studies and an intervention
experiment. Motivation and Emotion, 38(1), 1-22.
Kellogg, C. (2005), Eco Imperative. Archit Design, 75, 100–102. doi: 10.1002/ad.25
Kruger, M. H. (2001). The influence of the 1960s countercultural values of individualism,
anti-materialism, and community on a contemporary intentional
community. ProQuest Dissertations and Theses, 456-456. Retrieved from
http://ezproxy.fiu.edu/login?url=http://search.proquest.com/docview/304729737
?accountid=10901. (304729737).
Lee, M., Pant, A., & Ali, A. (2010). Does the Individualist Consumer More? The Interplay of
Ethics and Beliefs that Governs Consumerism Across Cultures. Journal of Business
Ethics, 93(4), 567-581. doi:10.1007/s10551-009-0240-8.
Lorenzen, J. A. (2012). Going Green: The Process of Lifestyle Change. Sociological
Forum, 27(1), 94-116. doi:10.1111/j.1573-7861.2011.01303.x
Manktelow, R. (2011). Community, consumerism and credit: the experience of an urban
community in North-West Ireland. Community, Work & Family, 14(3), 257-274,
doi:10.1080/13668803.2010.520839
Mayank, B., & Amit J. Green Marketing: A study of consumer perception and
preferences in India. Electronic Green Journal, 1(36). ISSN 1076-7975. Retrieved
from http://escholarship.org/uc/item/5mc39217
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2007.01.009.
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Finding Beauty in a Broken World – An Eco Art School
Nguyen, L. T. (2003). Growing up in a material world: An investigation of the
development of materialism in children and adolescents. ProQuest Dissertations
and Theses, 190-190 p. Retrieved from
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?accountid=10901. (305330353).
Sanne, C. (2002). Willing consumers—or locked-in? Policies for a sustainable
consumption. Ecological Economics, 42(1–2), 273-287, ISSN 0921-8009,
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0921-8009(02)00086-1.
(http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0921800902000861)
Terry, L. (2013). The Perils of Consumption and the Gift Economy as the Solution Daniel
Miller’s Consumption and Its Consequences. Electronic Green Journal, 1(35).
Retrieved from: http://escholarship.org/uc/item/46x4z1td
Zukin, S., & Maguire, J. (2004). Consumers and Consumption. Annual Review of
Sociology, 30(1), 173-197. doi: 10.1146/annurev.soc.30.012703.110553
List of Figures
Figure 1
http://jonathanmoore.com/post/978060561/is-consumerism-killing-our-creativity
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Finding Beauty in a Broken World – An Eco Art School
Appendix A
I.
Introduction
Background
Purpose of Study
Significance of Study
II.
Literature Review
The basis of Consumerism
Negative characteristics of consumerism
Sustainable consumption approach
Concept
Sustainable consumption associated with social class
Sustainable consumption associate with culture
Relationships between consumerism and well-being of people
III.
Conclusion
IV.
List of References
V.
Appendix A
Outline
VI.
Appendix B
Annotated Bibliography
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Finding Beauty in a Broken World – An Eco Art School
Appendix B
Annotated Bibliography
A. Initial Thesis Project Questions and Purpose
Central Question:
How may interior design affect the negative perception of consumerism in our society
today with a particular focus on the issues associated with a potential conflict between
consumerism and sustainability?
Subquestion 1: What are the bases of consumerism?
Subquestion 2: What are the current negative characteristics of consumerism?
Subquestion 3: What is sustainable consumption?
Subquestion 4: Is sustainable consumption associated with a certain population
or culture?
Subquestion 5: Is there a relationship between materialism and the well-being of
people?
Purpose Statement: The purpose of this study is to identify the perceptions of
consumerism and how adopting a less materialistic lifestyle helps negate this impulsive
drive.
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Finding Beauty in a Broken World – An Eco Art School
B. BOK
Categories I found in the Body of Knowledge:

Human Environment needs

Design

Products & Materials

Communication
C. Reading List
The following are some of the articles I have found using the FIU library.
Subquestion 1: What are the bases of consumerism?
1) Kruger, M. H. (2001). The influence of the 1960s countercultural values of
individualism, anti-materialism, and community on a contemporary intentional
community. ProQuest Dissertations and Theses, 456-456. Retrieved from
http://ezproxy.fiu.edu/login?url=http://search.proquest.com/docview/304729737
?accountid=10901. (304729737).
Author Credentials: Mark H. Kruger accomplished s a Bachelor of Arts degree with a
major in Political Science from the University of Wisconsin at Madison in 1970. He also
achieved a Juris Doctor degree from Washington University in 1973. Kruger has
practiced law since 1973 and has written and lectured on various legal issues. He has
taught courses at Saint Louis University in the Departments of American Studies,
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Finding Beauty in a Broken World – An Eco Art School
Sociology and Criminal Justice at Washington University. He expects to receive a
Doctor of Philosophy degree in American Studies from Saint Louis University in 2001.
Journal/Publisher: UMI University Microfilms International was founded in 1930s by
Eugene Power in Ann Arbor. UMI provides an economical alternative to graduate
students to offset printing as a means of meeting their doctoral publication
requirements. As of today, a vast number of educational institutions in the U.S. publish
their doctoral dissertations through UMI. By 1995, UMI starting offering online availability
to selected database at no cost, becoming the origins of was is now known as
ProQuest Online Information Service.
Intended Audience: Professionals/ Students
Objective Reasoning: The information presented in this study was fact and wellresearched. This information can be supported by historical documents and literature.
The ideas and arguments that were explained do advanced in line with other works I
have read on the same topic.
Methodology: This research used the Social Constructivist Worldview which beliefs that
meanings are negotiated socially and historically. This study is qualitative because the
author collected, analyzed and interpreted historical information and he also
conducted interviews. I think the paradigm and method is appropriate to the topic
because the author compiled rich, detailed historical data that contributed to an indepth understand of the context.
Coverage: This material uses primary sources which are published rules and regulations,
by law-s and other internal legislation. Also the author uses interviews of approximately
75 current members of the East Wind community.
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Finding Beauty in a Broken World – An Eco Art School
Writing Style: The main points of this study are clearly presented. However, I thought that
the information was repetitive. The information presented was easy to read and the
author was very thorough in the different aspects of the influence of the 9160s
countercultural values of individualism, anti-materialism and community.
Findings + Significances:

In the 1960s the United States went through significant changes in society,
politics, and culture.

This study analyzes the countercultural emphasis on individualism, antimaterialism and the longing of the people to find a contemporary community.

The first community he mentions and analyzes is the East Wind Community
located in Ozark County, Missouri.
o
This is a community that has proper for the past 27 years due to its highly
successful businesses and their continuous sustenance from the operation
of its farm.
o
This community shares the profits of its businesses equally to the members
of the community and it is governed in a democratic way.

The author states that this community is much influenced by the behavioral
modification theory written by B.F. Skinner in his utopian novel ‘Walden Two’.
o
This theory is an attempt to influence individual’s conduct by controlling
their environment. The author describes certain values that have been
attributed to the social movements happening in the 1960s. Those values
are:
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Finding Beauty in a Broken World – An Eco Art School
1) “The concept of individualism insofar as it relates to the dignity of the individual
person and to his or her empowerment and participation in decision-making
which affects his or her life.” Page 4
2) “The concept of anti-materialism and the search for spiritual as opposed to
materialistic values.” Page 4
3) “The search for a sense of community in order to counteract the isolation of the
individual in everyday life.” Page 4

The author asserts during the 1960s students and young people were responsible
for much of the cultural and political change.
o
During this period the Students for a Democratic Society movement was
created.
o
They wrote a statement of philosophy. In this document called for the
treatment of people as important and empowered human beings and to
create a new sense of community where individuals are able to interact in
a meaningful way.
o
They criticized the materialistic values, the lack of dignity and
empowerment of the individual in post-war America.

There is a concept of individualism by Steven Lukes where he describes it as the
opposition to authority and stressed the dignity, self-development and autonomy
of the individual.

According to this research, the concepts of individual dignity and empowerment
were also part of American Literature.
o
For instance Walt Whitman thought that everyone was entitled to dignity,
no matter social class or race.
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Finding Beauty in a Broken World – An Eco Art School

It is further explained that during the 19th century and the introduction of the
machine
Transcendentalists
of
New
England
despised
the
results
of
industrialization on the individual.

Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau appeared in the picture
expressing their concerned with the new relationship people have with the world
and nature.
o
They thought that the way to live a meaningful life is by experience
nature, reject material interest, and exercising independence from social
restraints.
o
Emerson’s thoughts in his work “Self-Reliance” are so deep. He feels that
with the industrial age, man has become an unthinking money making
machine. Instead of growing spiritually society back in that period was
more concern in material values.
o
Materialism distorted people’s nature and consequently creating their
own alienation of what was the essence of life.
o
In the same manner, Thoreau despised the life of material society and
called Americans to stop seeking material possessions.

According to Thorstein Veblen materialist values and incentives have the effect
of dividing people from each other, destroying community, and distorting
human relationships, resulting in competitive and destructive conduct.

Another point of view is stated by Frank Norris in ‘The Octopus’.
o
He thought that the drives for wealth cause the destruction of the land
and the farmer’s lives to construct railroads.
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Finding Beauty in a Broken World – An Eco Art School

Much of American literature reflected a refusal of the longing of accumulation
of wealth.

There were plenty of communities in the 1960s that wanted freedom from the
exploitation of themselves and others.
o
They rejected hierarchy and sought to replace the materialistic values
with spiritual values.
Typology application: With this research in mind, I can create an educational typology
such as a museum where individuals could learn the history of consumerism in regards
to individualism, and materialism and communal values. I could also develop a
community for children where they are taught these values. I need to create an
environment that teaches to love one another and do good to others developing a
sense of community empowered by human beings.
Quotations:
1. “It also criticized the materialistic values it perceived as then existing in the
United States and called for a new sense of community, where people were
able to interact as human beings in a meaningful way instead of what is viewed
as the isolation of the individual in mass society.” Page 17
2. “The New England Transcendentalists abhorred the result of industrialism on the
individual. They rejected its intrusion on life and its demand for conformity. It
distorted the human psyche and made man and women into things they
naturally were not.” Page 31
3. “They felt that all things were connected or unified, and the way to know and to
live life was spiritually and not materially. Experiencing nature, rejecting material
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Finding Beauty in a Broken World – An Eco Art School
interests, and exercising independence from social restraints were keys to
understanding and living a spiritually fulfilling and meaningful life.” Page 31
4. “In the new industrial age, machines in America were controlling people;
people were not controlling machines. Materialism mastered human freedom
and nature.” Page 32
2) Zukin, S., & Maguire, J. (2004). Consumers and Consumption. Annual Review of
Sociology, 30(1), 173-197. doi: 10.1146/annurev.soc.30.012703.110553
Author Credentials: Sharon Zukin works in the Department of Sociology at Brooklyn
College and in the Graduate Center at the City University of New York.
Jennifer Smith Maguire works in the Department of Sociology at the University of
Leicester in the UK.
Journal: Annual Review of Sociology.
Intended Audience: Professionals/ Students
Objective Reasoning: The information is this research appears to be valid. The
information is opinion and facts taken from other sources. The language used by the
researchers is free of emotion-arousing word and bias.
Methodology: The methodology paradigm used is the Social Constructivist Worldview
because in this worldview meanings are negotiated socially and historically, just like in
this research. Meanings in this study were formed through historical and cultural norms
that operate in individuals lives.
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Finding Beauty in a Broken World – An Eco Art School
Coverage: The coverage was research on consumer products, texts, and sites, which
locate consumption at the junction of changing social structures and cultural practices;
on the role of consumption in constructing both the consuming subject and collective
identity; and on historical transitions to a consumer society. The data included
ethnography, interviews, and historical analysis which shows a global consumer culture
fostered by media and marketing professionals yet subject to different local
interpretations.
Writing Style: The information in this article was organized logically and all its main points
clearly presented.
Findings + Significances:

The authors study the role of consumption and its effect on societal changes by
viewing the process of consumption as an “institutional field”.

The review draws on the works by several noted sociologists to understand the
consumer culture and its evolution over time.
o
The review begins by analyzing the material setting of the institutional field
in studies of development of consumption sites and social construction of
consumption.

The review then shifts its focus on the transition from state socialism to a market
economy.

The study ends by outlining an emerging sociological approach to studying
consumption as an institutional field through close, detailed research of
consumer products, texts, and sites, which locate consumption at the junction of
changing social structures and cultural practices
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Finding Beauty in a Broken World – An Eco Art School

Results of the study reveal how consumption bridges economic and cultural
institutions, large-scale changes in social structure, and self-discourses.

Ethnography, interviews, and historical analysis show a global consumer culture
fostered by media and marketing professionals which are subject to different
local interpretations.
Typology application: This research showed me that from the industrial revolution
companies and the media have constantly manipulated the consumers’ minds to
create visions and identities of the self that are not real. For this reason, I think that an
educational project is the best solution to the consumerism problem. I want to be able
to communicate through an environment a sense of community, identity, and
sustainable practices.
Quotations:
1. “Contemporary studies of consumer products and sites date from the 1970s and
early 1980s – the very period when the more developed economies of the world
were
shifting
from
manufacturing
to
“postindustrial”
production,
and
consumption was becoming a more visible factor in both the creative
destruction of the landscape (Zukin 1991) and the conscious reshaping of the self
(Featherstone 1991).” Page 176
2. “To the extent that it is theorized, this work strongly suggests that mass
consumption was produced by manipulating consumers’ desires to be well
dressed, good looking, and beloved; to surround themselves with visions of
beauty; and to surrender common sense and sobriety to individual dreams of
self-enhancement.” Page 176
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Finding Beauty in a Broken World – An Eco Art School
3. “Parr (1999) documents how, from the 1930s to the 1950s, companies changed
refrigerator models every year and copied automobile styling down to the last
detail; they planned both the products’ physical obsolescence and their
“emotional obsolescence” in consumers’ eyes (see also Ewen 1999).” Page 179
4. “Historical content analyses of advertising in the early twentieth century note an
increasing emphasis on self-realization (Lears 1983), the importance of first
impressions (Marchand 1985), and the viability of improving oneself through
consumption.” Page 181
3) Damme, I. V., & Vermoesen, R. (2009). Second-hand consumption as a way of
life: Public auctions in the surroundings of alost in the late eighteenth
century. Continuity
and
Change, 24(2),
275-305.
doi:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0268416009007188
Author Credentials: Ilja Van Damme and Reinoud Vermoesen. Both from the Centre for
Urban History, University of Antwerp.
Journal: Continuity and Change 24 (2), 2009, 275-305. Cambridge University Press 2009.
Intended Audience: Professionals/ Students
Objective Reasoning: The information covered was facts. The authors go back in history
to make a research of pre-industrial reuse habits related to public auctions in the
countryside of the southern Netherlands. Thus, the information appears to be wellresearched and supported by evidence. This article presents arguments that are
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Finding Beauty in a Broken World – An Eco Art School
undistorted by emotion related to second hand consumption and I think the author’s
point of view was objective and impartial.
Methodology: The methodology paradigm used is the Post-Positivist Worldview.
Postpositivists begin with a theory and then collect the data that makes them come to
some understanding of how people used to construct and maintain the perception of
the world back in those days. This study is using a combined method. It shows some
numerical data in regards to the specific years in which a village engaged in public
actions activities and how much percent it would increase or decrease according to
certain categories. It is also a qualitative study in that they are examining the
relationship among variables measured on instruments.
Coverage: The researchers did an empirical structured case study, isolated in space
and time. They based their study from data collected and apply it to a village of the
eighteen century in Erembodegen, Europe. “Yet in placing the second-hand
consumption in this specific context, we demonstrate how the reuse of older products
was not confined to the poor and the weak.” Page 276 Counting on historical facts
adds credibility to the study. The data collected was from primary sources. This study
contains new information that gives a totally different perspective to second hand
consumption.
Writing Style: The text was easy to understand and the information was organized in a
logical manner with the main ideas clearly presented.
Findings + Significances:

Studies of consumption tend to be only related to the acquisition of new
products and the risen patterns of novel consumption.
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Finding Beauty in a Broken World – An Eco Art School

This study states that the reasons for second hand acquisition are drawn by
individual motives.
o
Also individuals have goals of the household involved or they are
depended on a particular product like clothing.

Furthermore the authors speculate about the reasons for the activity of buying
and selling second hand objects.
o
The authors state it could be as a survival strategy and/or as a meaningful
consumer strategy.

Under the context of their study, I learned that the people in the village engage
in activities such as public actions where they would sell deceased’s possessions,
furniture, kitchen goods, clothing and so on.

It is interesting to know that everybody was free to buy in the public actions.
o
There was no specific social class associated with it because all social
classes would engage in this activity.

Auctioned objects moved between homes of the same social status and
different social status as well.

By the end of the eighteen century second hand consumption became a sign of
poverty.
o
As a consequence individuals from lower social classes desired goods
from higher social classes; it was a pattern that looked to imitate higher
social economic status.

To conclude the authors indicate that reuse is seen as a reaction to the modern
day abundance of good. I could use this reaction and transform it into
something positive.
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Finding Beauty in a Broken World – An Eco Art School
Typology application: This study opened up the possibilities to create a typology related
to retail. Centuries ago second hand consumption was not only devoted for low class
people. Individuals bought from other individuals goods that were needed and that
were in good shape. It would be interesting to create a retail store that sells useful
goods that were made from recyclable material or create an environment where
people can come and exchange their goods for something else they need.
Quotations:
1. “Indeed, purchasing older belongings can be linked to notions of social identity
and status.” Page 290
2. “Buying older products of good quality, especially in an eighteenth-century
market with changing standards of product durability was a ‘clever
investment’”. Page 291-292
3. “Second-hand consumption was truly a way of life or, as Donald Woodward
noted in a pioneering work: ‘Few goods were lightly abandoned; fewer still were
left to rot by the roadside’.” Page 295
4. “Besides the importance of the objects purchased, there must also be
acknowledgement of the specific social and geographical background of the
buyers and sellers of older goods.” Page 297
4) Day, G. S., & Aaker, D. A. (1970). A Guide to Consumerism. Journal of Marketing,
34(3), 12-19.
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Finding Beauty in a Broken World – An Eco Art School
Author Credentials: George S. Day is an assistant professor of marketing in the Graduate
School of Business at Stanford University. Originally he obtained his PhD at Columbia
University. In addition he is the author of Buyer Attitudes and Brand Choice Behavior
and he has written several papers on attitude theory and measurement. The other
author is David Aaker. He is an assistant professor of business administration at the
University of California at Berkeley. He earned his MS and PhD degrees at Stanford
University. In addition he is a member of the editorial board of the Journal of Marketing
Research and he has also written papers.
Journal: Journal of Marketing, Vol. 34 (July, 1970), pp. 12-19
Intended Audience: Professionals/ Students
Objective Reasoning: The information covered in this article was based on factual
information. It appears to be valid information explaining what consumerism, where did
it come from is and its future. The ideas and arguments do advanced in line with other
works on the same topic. I think the authors of this article have an impartial point of
view. Personally I think that the authors uses words throughout the article that show
facts.
Methodology: This article used a non-qualitative approach to reach its conclusions. The
authors do point out surveys, statistics and opinion from other people in the field. The
vocabulary they used is explanatory and formal. Authors used a Post-positivist
Worldview because they began explaining an issue collecting the data that supported
this argument. In addition, they assessed the causes of consumerism.
Coverage: This article is written in July 1970, which means that it doesn’t update other
sources. However it allowed me to learn about the basis of consumerism. In addition this
article is secondary material in nature.
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Finding Beauty in a Broken World – An Eco Art School
Writing Style: I think the publication is organized logically because is presented starting
with the history then it describes the concerns and issues, the causes and the findings.
All the points are clearly presented. Personally, I think that it was an easy writing style
that allowed me to understand the author’s point of view.
Findings + Significances:

It starts describing consumerism using the words of one of the earliest adopters of
the term, Vance Packard.
o
He “linked consumerism with strategies for persuading consumers to
quickly expand their needs and wants by making them voracious,
compulsive (and wasteful)” (Day, 1970, p13).


This article describes the right of consumers which are:
o
Protection against clear-cut abuses.
o
Provision of adequate information.
o
The protection of consumers against themselves and other consumers.
This article later explains that the underlying causes of consumerisms are a
discontented consumer and the activist consumer.
o
Discontented consumers exit because there are problems in the
marketplace, problems in the social fabric.

Business and marketing companies distinguish these sources of
discontent so they can create products and advertisement.
o
On the other hand the activist consumers are individuals who are able to
identify and make those problems public.
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Finding Beauty in a Broken World – An Eco Art School

The article further explains that there is a changing in the political and legal
scene because there are government agencies that protect consumers and the
Congress itself is reactive to the economic interest of consumers.

Finally the article states the future of consumerism stating that the ultimate
challenge of consumerism is to solve the problems of a society.
Typology application: This article made me realize that I need to create an
environment that helps to solve at least one the problems of a society like pollution or
malnutrition. Also the authors explained that one of the sources of discontent in the
marketplace is the confusion with products that are bought infrequently with makes me
think I need to create a design that is simple, recognizable but thorough at the same
time that fits all social classes. As a typology it would be interesting to create something
that merges educational and retail.
Quotations:
1. “Vance Packard, one of the earliest adopters of the term, linked consumerism
with strategies for persuading consumers to quickly expand their needs and
wants by making them “voracious, compulsive (and wasteful).” Page 12
2. “There is a high probability that the scope of consumerism will eventually
subsume, or be subsumed by two other areas of social concern; distortions and
inequities in the economic environment and the declining quality of the physical
environment.” Page 14
3. “…the vastly increased number of consumer products and the misleading,
deceptive and generally uninformative aspects of advertising and packaging,
the consumer simply lacks the information necessary to enable him to buy
wisely.” Page 15
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Finding Beauty in a Broken World – An Eco Art School
4. “…sophisticated consumers are demanding more personal relationships and
security in their purchases.” Page 16
5) Goss, J. (2006). Geographies of consumption: the work of consumption. Progress
in Human Geography, 30(2), 237-249. doi:10.1191/0309132506ph604pr
Author Credentials: John Gross works in the Department of Geography at the University
of Hawaii, Honolulu, HI.
Journal: Progress in Human Geography Journal.
Intended Audience: Professionals/ Students
Objective Reasoning: The information is mostly opinion. The arguments advanced in line
with other works I have read on the same topic so I think that the information is valid.
Methodology: This study uses the Social Constructivist Worldview because the
researcher analyzed social and historical aspects of the geographies of consumption.
This study was a qualitative.
Coverage: This work marginally covers my topic. However it clearly substantiates other
materials I have read. The material is secondary in nature.
Writing Style: I think this article was easy to read and all the information was arranged in
a logical manner.
Findings + Significances:

This study points out the different cultures of consumption showing how global
brands customize their products to accommodate to deceiving needs of
consumers.
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Finding Beauty in a Broken World – An Eco Art School

According
to
this
research
globalization
impacts
consumerism
making
approximately 1.1 billion ‘new consumers’ pursuing the so dream western
lifestyle; thus increasing consumption of cars, meat and electricity.

It is mentioned also that even furniture and fashion commodity chains
manipulate the fashion of furniture to accelerate the lifecycle of products.
o
For instance in Denmark, exterior spaces express social status and interiors
declare love of family.

This study argues that individuals are disillusioned with the mall idea, and that an
open-air ‘neo-village’ will be the new trend that liberates shopping.

In addition, it is stated in this research that individuals shop because we are no
longer connected to nature or even worse we don’t make good ourselves.

The author concludes that we need more spiritual education and critically judge
mass media so we can discover the hidden intentions of companies.
Typology application: I want to create an educational/hospitality typology where
individuals go back to their roots, back to nature, and where they learn to adopt an
anti-consumerist behavior.
Quotations:
1.
“Now consumers too are disillusioned with the mall and, according to Underhill
(2004:211), for basically the same reason: that malls are built by real-estate
developers not retailers, let alone community planners. For him, only mixed-use
open-air ‘neo-villages’ will ‘liberate shopping and keep it real’.” Page 243-244
2. “Zukin (2004:8) argues, however, that, ultimately, we shop because we are no
longer connected to nature or make goods ourselves and it is one of the few
means left of creating value, pursuing meaning, and for fashioning ideal self and
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Finding Beauty in a Broken World – An Eco Art School
society. We shop to ‘fill the gap’ between a perfect self and imperfections of
reality, ‘between flawed thighs or hips and a physical ideal’ (Zukin, 2004:92) and
to realize ideals of social virtue no longer available in religion, work or politics (see
also Poster, 2004; Samuelson, 2004).” Page 244
3. “Beaudoin (2003: xiii, 106; see also Atkin, 2004) argues that consumers are
‘soulfully hungry persons’ and that there is an ‘authentic spiritual impulse at the
heart of our branding economy’ based on a desire to be recognized by others
under the sign of a power greater than ourselves.” Page 245
4. “Beaudoin (2003) similarly calls for scriptural education and collective
contemplation of mass media, together with research on the economic
relationships that contemporary brands obscure: he describes as a kind of
pilgrimage his own attempts to search out the origins of the brand-name
products in his personal wardrobe.” Page 246
Subquestion 2: What are the current negative characteristics of consumerism?
1) Sanne, C. (2002). Willing consumers—or locked-in? Policies for a sustainable
consumption. Ecological Economics, 42(1–2), 273-287, ISSN 0921-8009,
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0921-8009(02)00086-1.
(http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0921800902000861)
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Finding Beauty in a Broken World – An Eco Art School
Author Credentials: Christer Sanne works at Urban Studies in the Royal Institute of
Techonology (KTH) in Sweden.
Journal: Ecological Economics Journal. This journal is concerned with extending and
integrating the study of ecology and economics.
Intended Audience: Professionals/ Students
Objective Reasoning: The information covered is fact and opinion. The information
appears to be valid and well researched. The researcher uses different sources to bring
valid point from the historical, economic and social perspective.
Methodology: The methodology paradigm used is the Pragmatic Worldview. This
worldview is concerned with applications and solutions to the problems and that is
what I thought the researcher was doing in this study. Additionally, the study is
qualitative because this is a means for exploring and understanding the meaning
individuals or a society attributes to a social problem, in this case consumerism.
Coverage: The coverage includes the data from the consumption patterns of three
types of people named People, Business and The Political Class, where people
represent consumers, business as sellers and political class as political influence and
control of power. A triangular scheme is developed to formally model the interaction
between the three sets of people. Thus, this scheme provides an accurate
representation of the de-facto consumer classes and a near accurate representation
of the interactions therein.
Writing Style: The article had all the main points presented clearly and the information
was organized in a logical manner.
Findings + Significances:
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Finding Beauty in a Broken World – An Eco Art School

The author presents a perspective argument on the consumer approach
towards sustainable consumption.

The study proposes an alternative hypothesis to postmodern explanations of
consumer behavior which attribute social and psychological factors, also
structural issues like work-and-spend lifestyle to the status quo by suggesting the
consumers may be a victim of the circumstances.

Results of the study shows that consumers may be a captive of circumstances
and may not been keen in following such a mundane lifestyle.

The study proposes legal and political intervention to assist the citizens to
promote a change of behavior.

Results of the study offer a possible solution in terms of reduced working hours to
enhance sustainability.

The study suggests that shorter working hours would give double dividends by
allowing people to live more lightly while enjoying more leisure.

The paper further discusses solutions in the form of policy actions that might help
to unlock consumers from a pattern of consumption driven by the market forces.
Typology application: This article opened up the possibility of creating a hospitality
project. I can create an eco-village where people assist to workshops for a certain
amount of time and where they could learn how to adopt a more sustainable lifestyle.
This eco-village will be an example of a sustainable hotel.
Quotations:
1. “Moving towards a sustainable consumption may in the end be a task for the
individual but the debate about this must also acknowledge the structural
factors that surround her.” (p. 274)
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Finding Beauty in a Broken World – An Eco Art School
2. “Ours is a ‘consumer culture’ where every human wish tends to be transformed
into a commercial object or service” (p. 279)
3. “Everyone has the same needs and that society’s goal should be to maximise
happiness for all.” (p. 284)
4. “A socially well-knit society with a large social capital may not only reduce the
quest for consumption but also increase the acceptability of policy measures
against overconsumption.” (p. 285)
2) Hill, J. A. (2011). Endangered childhoods: How consumerism is impacting child
and youth identity. Media, Culture & Society, 33, 347362. doi:10.1177/0163443710393387
Author Credentials: Jennifer Ann Hill from the University of British Columbia, Canada.
Journal: Media, Culture & Society 2011 33:347
Intended Audience: Professionals/ Students/General audience
Objective Reasoning: The information covered were facts from well researched
sources. The ideas and arguments are related to consumerism in children and it is in line
with what I’m researching. The author’s point of view is objective using a language in
her written that was free from emotion-arousing words.
Methodology: The methodology paradigm used was the Pragmatic Worldview. The
author focus the attention on the research problem in social science research and then
arrived to the conclusion using both qualitative and quantitative methods.
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Finding Beauty in a Broken World – An Eco Art School
Coverage: This research substantiates other sources and added new information in that
it points out the several negative effects consumerism have on children’s mental and
physical health. This article covered my topic in a more narrow way because it was
focus on children. This study uses primary and secondary sources to obtain the variety
of viewpoints.
Writing Style: The information is organized logically and all the main points were
presented clearly. The information is easy to read. She provided plenty of sources to
make her work credible and more understandable.
Findings + Significances:

This study points out how the pervasive media, technology and a culture of
consumption are affecting the structure of childhood.

Modern children are being affected from a significant physical, emotional and
social deficit that can be blamed on consumerism.

Although technology has helped education immensely it has also generated an
anti-social behavior in children reinforcing pattern like racism and sexism.

Influential corporations and media have been able to infiltrate past differences
of class, ethnicity and gender.

Children are being deprived of the series of childhood experiences that would
have had if it was not for consumers.

The power of media is responsible for the drive towards the materialism and over
consumption that is constantly destabilizing children’s identity.

This research reveals that play has become professionalized and tainted with
adult cues, imaginations and expectations.
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Finding Beauty in a Broken World – An Eco Art School
o
This finding makes me realized that I need to create an interior
environment that strengthens and actives the creative mind of a child.
o
A new positive realm for today’s children is much needed; a realm that
cancels out perversity, dishonor, confusion and consumerism.

It is very interesting to note that children’s play is no longer an expression of joy
with no specific purpose but rather it has become an activity that is controlled
by companies looking desperately to make profits at whatever cost.
o

As a consequence the capacity for play automatically erodes.
According to this research there is a social phenomenon called the “tween”
which is an unmistakable example of consumerism.
o
This phenomenon occurs as a result of media seducing children to adopt
an identity older than their developmental age.

It is mentioned in this research that marketing companies are hiring child
psychologists to maximize their understanding of the segments and nuances of
the youth market.
o
All the pervasive media creates issues of identity in children that are
directly linked to negative health indicators such as addictions. .
o
Children that have an addiction problem have previously internalized an
identity that justifies this type of behavior.

Marketing companies sell an identity with their goods that children will crave to
adopt.
o
In other words, consumerism is guilty of creating a culture that tolerates
the negation of a positive self-image.
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Finding Beauty in a Broken World – An Eco Art School

The authors reveal that the statistics of children’s health point to a disturbing
trend that children are being robbed of their childhood at an emotional and
physical level.
o
Serious problems of early obesity, drug abuse, alcohol use, depression and
suicide rates are linked in some way or the other to the consequences of
consumerism.
o
These findings urge me to create an environment that creates a culture of
love and acceptance of the self and others.

Children have a cognitive capacity and through television children are being
exposed to powerful messaging, shaping attitudes, motivation, behavior and
lastly, one’s identity.
o

Unfortunately, brand loyalty is sought from the cradle.
Children’s play is so important in their early years because they are able to
express themselves and gain a sense of control over their world.

Consumerism through the advertisement of technological products for children is
jeopardizing an environment that allows creativity and critical thinking.
o
As a result, identity suffers because children learn at an early stage that
happiness is based on material goods that define them.

We are all constantly manipulated to think that we can find happiness through
consumption and as a result we are blindfolded dreaming the same consumerist
dream.

Marketing companies are working hard to exploit children’s aspirations for a
certain physical or mental attitude/ characteristic.
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Finding Beauty in a Broken World – An Eco Art School
o
I want on the other hand to create an environment that exploits children
creativity, critical thinking and that creates a connection to nature.

This research states that more than half of the brand used in childhood continue
to be used in adulthood, and that children starting at 3 years can be avid
consumers.
o
This definitely helps me to set up the target market for my design
Typology application: I want to design an environment for children that will positively
influence them at an early age and that what they have perceived and learned stay
deep their conscious in their adulthoods. It is said in this article that brand can
essentially perform two main roles for consumer’s identity. The first one is an emotional
role by creating means of identification and the second is a social role that means that
what you owe is who you are. Equally I want my design to perform an emotional role by
creating a means of identification with sustainability and a social role so children that
what they create in terms of creativity is who they are. Research has shown that
children tend to adopt certain negative behavior and attitudes when are exposed to
ads and programming so I will create an environment for children where they can
adopt positive, loving attitudes about themselves, where they create a connection to
nature, where they learn that happiness if not about the goods that you own, where
their creativity is aroused. An environment that does not professes the acquisition of
goods, wealth, but the acquisition of knowledge and love and the transformation of
used goods to something creative. I want create an environment that negates
consumerism and possible solved the anxiety, depression, self-esteem, and
psychosomatic symptoms that comes along with it. This could be an eco-village that
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Finding Beauty in a Broken World – An Eco Art School
mixes hospitality with educational typology. It could also be a sustainable design school
where students are able to live in mixing educational and residential typologies.
Quotations:
1. “Statistics on children’s health point to a disturbing trend – children are being
robbed of their childhoods not only at an emotional level, but physically as well.”
Page 350
2. “To put it further in perspective, based on surveys of what type of television
programming children watch, the average child sees about 12,000 violent acts,
14,000 sexual references and innuendos and 20,000 advertisements annually
(Bar-on, 2000, emphasis added).” Page 351
3. “Despite decades of research, what is clear is that the effects of consumerism, in
which
advertising
plays
an
important
role,
are
psychologically
and
psychologically and physically harmful (Dittmar, 2007; Kasser et al., 2007; Kramer,
2006; Linn, 2004; Schor, 2004).” Page 352
4. “Consequently, children learn at an early age that conformity, defining selfworth by what you worn, and seeking happiness through acquisition of material
goods are traits towards which to aspire. These are antithetical to creativity,
characterized by originality and the capacity for critical thinking.” Page 352
3) Nguyen, L. T. (2003). Growing up in a material world: An investigation of the
development of materialism in children and adolescents. ProQuest Dissertations
and Theses, 190-190 p. Retrieved from
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Finding Beauty in a Broken World – An Eco Art School
http://ezproxy.fiu.edu/login?url=http://search.proquest.com/docview/305330353
?accountid=10901. (305330353).
Author Credentials: Lan T. Nguyen seeking a degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the
University of Minnesota.
Journal: UMI University Microfilms International was founded in 1930s by Eugene Power
in Ann Arbor. UMI provides an economical alternative to graduate students to offset
printing as a means of meeting their doctoral publication requirements. As of today, a
vast number of educational institutions in the U.S. publish their doctoral dissertations
through UMI. By 1995, UMI starting offering online availability to selected database at no
cost, becoming the origins of was is now known as ProQuest Online
Intended Audience: Professionals/ Students
Objective Reasoning: The information covered is fact and opinion. I think the
information is valid and well-research and the ideas stated in this study advanced in
line with the same topic of my research.
Methodology: This study uses the Social Constructivist Worldview because the meanings
are constructed by human beings as they engage with the world they are interpreting.
Also this worldview states that the basic generation of meaning is always social, so is this
study. In addition, this research is qualitative.
Coverage: The coverage for this study is divided into three sets of samples, each for an
essay analyzing the evolution of a child’s social concepts. In two studies with 8-18 year
olds, they look at age differences in number and sophistication of self-brand
connections as evidence to a more complex self-concept as well as an increased
appreciation for the social-symbolic functions of inanimate features of one’s world such
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Finding Beauty in a Broken World – An Eco Art School
as brand names. Essay #1 considers fifty-six participants recruited from an elementary
school in the Midwest and a summer camp in the Northeastern United States. Subjects
from three grade levels were included: 21 3rd graders (8-9 year olds), 20 7th/8th graders
(12-13 year olds), and 15 11th/ 12th graders (16-18 year olds) to capture changes in selfbrand connections among different age groups. Thirty-six children were recruited from
an elementary school in the Midwest: 18 3rd graders (8-9 year olds) and 18 7th/8th
graders (12-13 year olds). Parental consent and participant assent were obtained for
each child prior to beginning the study. In Essay #2, children and adolescents ages 8-18
were considered to view materialism as a byproduct of the child’s developing sense of
self. In Essay #3, “Materialism in Children and Adolescents: The Role of Parental is
studied by means of two studies. In the first study, One hundred and fifty participants
were recruited from several summer camps in the Midwestern United States.
Participants from three age groups were included: fifty 3rd//4th graders (8-9 year-olds),
fifty 7th/8th graders (12-13 year olds), and fifty 1 l th/12th graders (16-18 year-olds). An
equal number of boys and girls were recruited per age group. In the second study, One
hundred and fifty participants were recruited from several summer camps in the
Midwestern United States. Participants from three age groups were included: fifty
3rd//4th graders (8-9 year olds), fifty 7th/8th graders (12-13 year olds), and fifty 11th/12th
graders (16-18 year olds). An equal number of boys and girls was recruited (i.e., 25 boys
and 25 girls per age group). We also recruited parents of participants by having them fill
out a survey when they signed their children up for the study, enabling us to have a
100% response rate from parents of all youth participants. Since the majority of children
arrived with their mothers to sign up for the study, our parental data consists of mothers’
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Finding Beauty in a Broken World – An Eco Art School
responses. This sampling technique enabled proper representation of the population
and added credibility to the study. The data set was thus, qualitative and quantitative.
Writing Style: The information in this article was easy to read and had all its main points
presented clearly.
Findings + Significances:

The author investigates the relationship between a child’s socio-cognitive
development and the concept of materialism.

The study incorporates several ways of studying materialism using both
quantitative scales and new qualitative methods and study analyzes the
materialistic inclination of the child by examining the evolution of self-concepts
from childhood to adolescence.

The author develops a new method to measure materialism among children and
adolescents that does not rely on rating scales or in depth verbalizations so that
it allows even young children to get across what it is important to them, including
material possessions while maintaining flexibility in measuring specific dimensions
of the self-concept, such as the self-brand connections of interest.

The paper further suggests that self-esteem mediates the relationship between
family structure and materialism and finally proposes a development sequence
for the emergence of self-brand connections—associations between the self
and brands—in children and adolescents.

The findings are then presented in form of a new technique to measure
components of the self-concept and the observations are discussed in three
essays which document this transition.
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Finding Beauty in a Broken World – An Eco Art School

Results of the study show that children and adolescents develop this materialistic
hobby as a result of their ever changing self-concepts, from perceptive features
to symbolic appreciation.
Typology application: This article helped to understand that an educational project is
an indisputable solution to change a consumerist behavior. Knowing that children with
fragile and changing self-esteem tend to acquire more material possessions as a tool to
maintain or enhance their self-esteem thus portraying a desired image and connect to
others made me realize that I need to create an educational typology that not only
teaches children about a sustainable lifestyle but also teaches them how to love
themselves and be secure about who they are.
Quotations:
1. “Individuals express themselves through consumption and use products to
convey their sense of self. ” Page 39
2. “As children move into adolescence, they become increasingly self-conscious
and, unfortunately, tend to have lower self-esteem as a result of being more
critical about themselves. This lower self-esteem is met by a natural desire to
enhance one’s self-image.” Page 102
3. “We know from previous research that children and adolescents who have
higher self-esteem rely less on material possessions to enhance their concept of
self (Nguyen and John 2003).” Page 130
4. “Parents have also been identified as a guilty party, viewed as spoiling their
children to make up for the lack of time spent with their offspring, to compete
with their spouses for their children’s affections when parents are divorced, and
to bolster their own self-images among cohorts.” Page 137
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Finding Beauty in a Broken World – An Eco Art School
4) Terry, L. (2013). The Perils of Consumption and the Gift Economy as the Solution
Daniel Miller’s Consumption and Its Consequences. Electronic Green Journal,
1(35). Retrieved from: http://escholarship.org/uc/item/46x4z1td
Author Credentials: Leahy, Terry from the University of Newcastle, Australia. He is a
senior lecturer in the Discipline of Sociology and Anthropology, School of Humanities
and Social Science.
Journal: Electronic Green Journal, 1(35)
Intended Audience: Professionals/ Students
Objective Reasoning: The information covered is opinion. The researcher uses
arguments from other people in the field, specifically David Miller. All the arguments
appear to be valid. It is supported by evidence because he states a study done to
people in the UK, and Trinidad. The ideas in this study are related to my main topic of
consumerism. The author’s point of view is objective and impartial.
Methodology: This study used the Pragmatic Worldview paradigm because the author
is concerned with applications and solutions to problems. The issues the author
mentions occur in a social, political and economic context. Author uses a qualitative
strategy because there are no numerical measurements or statistical analysis.
Coverage: This study updates and substantiates other sources because it gives another
solution to the problem and pointed out another cause of consumerism that other
sources didn’t specify. The material is secondary in nature.
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Finding Beauty in a Broken World – An Eco Art School
Writing Style: The information was well organized with all the main points clearly
presented. The text used economic terms which made it challenging for someone who
haven’t taken an economic class.
Findings + Significances:

This research argues that consumerism is driven by false needs.

The way to solve the problem of consumerism and stop endangering the
environment is to make regulations at the production stage.

Daniel Miller argues that we need an economy based upon voluntary collectives
that allows people to produce and distribute their work as gifts.

The researcher states that it is pointless to try to make people change their
consumption behavior. That were the answer is in the production end of things.


Some of the solutions David Millers suggest to implement as regulations are:
o
We could have a ban on gas guzzlers that will restrict engines to 1.6 litres.
o
We could specify maximum food miles
o
We could abolish bottle water and set air conditioning to 23 degrees.
o
We could specify specific plastic bags that biodegrade.
o
We could change the industrial processes of things.
The government and companies need to make massive investment in
alternative energy and in new transport infrastructure if we want to cut down by
50% our CO2 emissions by 2050.

This study states that people express themselves through consumption in trying to
seek expression and social connection because they don’t get expression or
social connection at work.
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Finding Beauty in a Broken World – An Eco Art School
o
Then, what people produce at work is distributed by the people who own
the business.

David Miller states that consumerism is the compensation for alienated work.
o
Alienated work is a place where we are not able to express ourselves and
where we do not have control over the distribution our production.
Typology application: This article made me realize that people have many conscious or
unconscious reasons to engage in consumerist practices. However, no matter from
what side of the causes of consumerism I see, I find that humans are craving for human
connection and expression of their being. As an interior designer, I envision a space
where social connections happen. I envision a space that involves learning, creative
expression, social connection. This could be an educational/ hospitality or a workplace
typology.
Quotations:
1. “What is needed is a new kind of economic structure, an economy based upon
voluntary collectives that allows people to produce and distribute their work as
gifts. This would abolish alienated labour.” Page 1
2. “It is pointless to try to urge people to make different consumer choices. This is
wrong end of the problem to be tackling. We should tackle the production end
of things.” Page 2
3. “People seek compensation for a life of labour done under the control of others.
They seek expression and social connection through their consumption because
they get little of either at work.” Page 5
4. “To be more precise, we are alienated in our work because we do not express in
our work and because we do not have any control over the distribution of the
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Finding Beauty in a Broken World – An Eco Art School
things we produce. We have to get money through alienated work to live.”
Page 5
5) Manktelow, R. (2011). Community, consumerism and credit: the experience of an
urban community in North-West Ireland. Community, Work & Family, 14(3), 257274, doi:10.1080/13668803.2010.520839
Author Credentials: Roger Manktelow from the School of Sociology and Applied Social
Studies, University of Ulster at Magee, Derry, UK.
Journal: Community, Work & Family Journal.
Intended Audience: Professionals/ Students
Objective Reasoning: The information covered is opinion and fact. The author uses
different references and develops a research in local community which indicates that
the information in this article is valid and well researched. The ideas and arguments in
this article advanced in line with other works I have read on the same topic.
Methodology: The study is qualitative because the research was not amenable to
numerical measurement and statistical analysis. The methodology paradigm used is the
pragmatic worldview because this worldview arises out of actions, situations and
consequences rather than antecedent conditions. In this case, the impact of debt and
consumerism in a community in North West Ireland was investigated to show that they
go through financial struggles that jeopardize their well-being.
Coverage: The study covered an urban public housing community located in the Derry
City council area. This location is selected based on its economic history and depravity.
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Writing Style: The information in this article is organized logically and all the main points
were clearly presented.
Findings + Significances:

The study focuses on the debt problems and consumerism, how international
monetary system and consumerism are impacting small local communities.

This study was conducted in a public housing estate which is a relatively
deprived urban estate in the Derry city, Northern Ireland.

The study found that the community is experiencing isolation, strain, guilt and
powerlessness because of consumerist pressures that is ultimately resulting in
financial struggles and threatening communities’ well-being.

From the study I learnt that conspicuous consumption was especially high during
ceremonial celebrations like first Holy Communion, Christmas, Halloween,
St.Patrick’s day.

The study also suggested that local community action can tackle the
consumerism’s global powerful forces effectively.
o
I learnt that media literacy, financial education, debt advice services and
management, anti-consumerist consciousness raising workshops, political
action agenda and personal development programs are such
community actions that can be employed.
Typology application: This article helped me to understand that community action is a
way for entities to cope with negative feelings associated with debt and consumerism.
It is a clever idea to implement anti-consumerist raising workshops in a possible
educational/hospitality typology. I can create an Art School that offers a gathering
space for workshops and lectures regarding sustainable matters.
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Finding Beauty in a Broken World – An Eco Art School
Quotations:
1. “The constituent groups of the local community reported a diverse experience of
strain, isolation, powerlessness and guilt. Their experience of consumerism was
age-differentiated and their choice of contemporary status markers was made
within the cultural context of the local community.” Page 257
2. “Credit is the driver of consumerism and economic growth and credit cards give
people the opportunity to undertake consumption that otherwise would not take
place (Ritzer, 1995).” Page 259
3. “Such an intervention might include education on financial and media literacy,
money management and debt advice services, consciousness-raising anticonsumerist workshops, programmes of personal development and an agenda
for political action.” Page 257
4. “Community action holds open the possibility of change. It can build on the
identified strengths of indigenous skills and group solidarities. However, its
effectiveness is necessarily limited by policy and global practices of the
international financial system and also by the social shame of debt which
reduces the potential for group action and policy and global.” Page 272
6) Lee, M., Pant, A., & Ali, A. (2010). Does the Individualist Consumer More? The
Interplay of Ethics and Beliefs that Governs Consumerism Across Cultures. Journal
of Business Ethics, 93(4), 567-581. doi:10.1007/s10551-009-0240-8.
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Finding Beauty in a Broken World – An Eco Art School
Author Credentials: Monte Lee and Anurag Pant are from the Indiana University South
Bend, IN. Abbas Ali from Indiana University of Pennsylvania in Indiana, PA.
Journal: Journal of Business Ethics.
Intended Audience: Professionals/ Students
Objective Reasoning: The information covered is fact. The information is well
researched and it is supported by the evidence from the survey the researcher
develops.
Methodology: The researcher used a Pragmatic Worldview paradigm because
conclusions are drawn from quantitative and qualitative assumptions. There is a survey
developed by the researcher as well a numerical analysis.
Coverage: The coverage includes the data collection from two nations : USA and
Taiwan. The two-nation comparison also provides an insight into the differences in
beliefs in consumerism as a boon for the society. The questionnaire was administered to
business students attending the business schools at two Taiwanese universities and two
Midwestern universities. Questionnaires were administered by graduate assistants and
participating instructors during graduate business classes and took about 15 min to
complete. Four hundred ninety-four questionnaires were collected, including 248
Taiwanese, 196 American and 50 other nationalities. This convenience sample was
diverse in many respects: 53% of the sample was female. 64% of the sample was in age
category 18–29 years, 19% of the sample was in age category 30–39 years, 12% was in
age category 40–49 years, with the rest of the sample being in the age category 50
years and over. Sixty nine percent of the sample was single, and 29% was married.
Seventeen percent of the sample was employed or had been employed in public or
state owned businesses, 48% in private businesses and 12% in mixed sectors. Twenty-
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eight percent of the sample classified themselves as managers in their current or last
jobs, while 45% worked or had worked in a non-supervisory capacity. The American
sample was 87% Caucasian, 4% Hispanic and 4% African–American. The sample data
set was diverse and of high quality, albeit small. The sample size has to increase to other
countries to verify the accuracy of the model as a truly global model.
Writing Style: This publication is organized logically with all its main points clearly
presented.
Findings + Significances:

The author presents an argument against the seemingly positive relationship
between individualism and consumerism by showing that an individual’s ethical
values can produce a similar effect.

It is proposed that the need for being materialistic can be tempered by the
individualist’s ethical values.
o
Specifically, it is suggested that a person’s work ethic positively influences
her/his consumer ethicality and that higher work ethic of individualists
should lead to higher consumer ethics, which in turn should negatively
influence their consumerism.

The study also analyzes the cross-cultural comparison of the relationship between
individual values and consumerism-related beliefs.

Results of the study support this argument as it shows a strong relationship
between work ethics and consumer ethics.
o
This, in turn leads to negative consumerism by making a person more selfreliant. The study is however, limited in scale and reach.
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
The model has to be extended to other countries to verify its findings for USA and
Taiwan in order it to be a truly global model.
Typology application: This article helped me out understand that I need to create an
environment where people would love to work in. Consequently, this will lead to higher
consumer ethics which may negatively influence their consumerism behavior. I want to
create an environment where good morals and values can be learned. This in turn will
lead to more ethical behaviors like helping others. I can create an educational
typology, a Green Art school for children.
Quotations:
1. “Modern marketing is commonly assumed to be responsible for this consumerist
society with its hedonistic lifestyle (every night on television you see many
commercials promoting phones, cameras, cars, cruises, casinos, etc.) and for
undermining other cultural values.” (p. 567)
2. “Consumerism was fired up in the west when people demanded greater
responsiveness from their organizations and when they sought personal growth
and fulfillment beyond simple economic needs in return for their hard work (Ali et
al., 1995)” (p. 568)
3. “Individualists show less concern for their in-group members and stay more
distant from their in-groups than collectivists who receive quantitatively and
qualitatively better support than the individualists (Triandis et al., 1988)” (p. 569)
4. “Given the same work, persons who have a stronger work ethic can be
expected to be less pressured and dissatisfied, and should demonstrate fewer
unethical behaviors than those with a weaker work ethic” (p. 569)
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Subquestion 3: What is sustainable consumption?
1) Banbury, C., & Stinerock, R., & Subrahmanyan, S. (2011). Sustainable
consumption: Introspecting across multiple lived cultures. Journal of Business
Research, 65(4), 497-503, ISSN 0148-2963,
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2011.02.028.
(http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0148296311000610)
Author Credentials: Catherine Banbury and Saroja Subrahmanyan are faculty members
at Saint Mary’s College of California. Robert Stinerock is a faculty member at
Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Faculdade de Economia.
Publisher + Journal: Elsevier, Journal of Business Research. According to the Journal of
Business Research they apply theory established from business research to actual
business circumstances. Intended Audience: Professionals/ Students
Objective Reasoning: The information covered in this article is purely opinion based. The
information appears to be in valid in the sense that the researchers are collecting data
from their personal experience as consumers within a context which allowed them to
retrieve a holistic perspective on consumption patterns. Taking in consideration that the
researchers used interactive introspection for this study there is emotions arousing words
when they are describing their lives.
Methodology: The authors used a qualitative approach as their methodology. They
used a method of interactive personal introspection to uncover several dimensions of
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the issue. The method of introspection allows them to analyze how their efforts to
consume sustainably have transform through different times, cultures and societies. In
addition using this method means that the subject/informant are the same person and
that there are no other subjects/informants.
Coverage: The coverage was the three authors that wrote the article. Two live in the
suburbs where living a sustainable lifestyle represents an everyday challenge and the
other one lives in New York City where it is much convenient to have a sustainable
lifestyle. This work does substantiate other materials I have read because I was able to
perceive their perspective in regards to how sustainable or not their lifestyles are.
Writing Style: The narrative and information given by the researcher were organized
logically. The three researchers doing the narrative pointed out their main points clearly
in an easy to read manner.
Findings + Significances:

This study looks into what factors enable and discourage sustainable
consumption practices.

Terms like voluntary simplicity, use of green products, reducing the use of natural
resources, toxic materials and emissions of waste and pollutants are among the
numerous definitions of sustainable consumption.

There were three introspective narratives expressing different points of view
according to what they have lived.

One of the participants that was born and raised in Australia and when she
came to the US she noticed the hyper choice of consumerism that Americans
have.
o
She realized over the years that the US society has an individualistic view.
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Finding Beauty in a Broken World – An Eco Art School
o
She had to interiorize the neo-classical belief that an individual is the only
one in charge of his well-being and felt that in this country she is on her
own.
o
Being an educated person in the business field she attended a seminar
where she learned how a capitalist economy devastates communities
and the natural environment.
o
This lady and her husband had the opportunity to experience a training
program inside an eco-village in Findhorn, Scotland.

Approximately the three hundred people that live in this village
engage in sustainable practices like growing their own food, using
solar and wind energy and walking everywhere they need to
instead of using cars.

She expresses how she felt a profound sense of belonging to a
community where everybody cares for the well-being of each
other.

The other narrative was insightful in that the participant states that international
travel is the best way to learn, compare and understand our lifestyle, culture and
country of origin in a way we never had.

Their narratives made them come to the conclusion that sustainable
consumption meant for them the impact of the consumption on the ecology.

One of the participants came to the understanding of the interdependencies of
the natural environment and the well-being of an individual/society.

Another conclusion they reached is that the education system is the key
instrument in awakening society to an ecological consciousness.
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
The second important point they reached is that as a consumer we seek to
shape ourselves to represent a particular lifestyle.

The final point is that to have a supportive environmental infrastructure is of
critical
importance.
Our
consumption
behavior
is
shaped
by
the
place/city/country we live in.
Typology application: The narratives of the researchers serve me as guidance, a push
to create a multi-cultural communal environment where the people who enter
immediately becomes aware of the physical and natural environment creating a link
between the elements of their consumption behavior and sustainable practices. This
could be a mix of hospitality and educational typology.
Quotations:
1. “A working definition of sustainable consumption proposed by the 1994 Oslo
Symposium on Sustainable Consumption hosted by the Norwegian government
involving NGOs and inter-governmental organization is: The use of goods and
services that respond to basic needs and bring a better quality of life, while
minimizing the use of natural resources toxic materials and emissions of waste
and pollutants over the life cycle, so as not to jeopardize the needs of future
generations.” Page 497
2. “Now I see that I had internalized the neo-classical belief that one’s well-being
rests solely upon the individual and realize that in this country you are on your
own.” Page 499
3. “The loneliness and isolation, and associated anxiety, that plagues me in my life
is the U.S. were completely absent. I was supported and secure, and I felt rich
with life. I was fulfilled.” Page 499
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4. “From our collective experiences we argue that our education system needs to
be instrumental in awakening us to our shared destiny with the earth – to
ecological consciousness.” Page 502
2) Mont, O., & Plepys, A. (2008). Sustainable consumption progress: should we be
proud or alarmed?. Journal of Cleaner Production, 16(4), 531-537. ISSN 09596526, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2007.01.009.
(http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0959652607000352)
Author Credentials: Oksana Mont, Andrius Plepys from IIIEE, Lund University, Sweden and
Delft University of Technology, the Netherlands.
Journal: Journal of Cleaner Production 16 (2008) 531-537
Intended Audience: Professionals/ Students
Objective Reasoning: The information covered was fact later used these facts to create
an opinion based conclusion. The information appears to be valid and well research.
They showed diagrams and tables that served as evidence for their argument. The
ideas do advanced with the line of other works I have read, especially in defining the
social, economic, and psychological perspective of sustainability.
Methodology: This study states that the data was primarily collected via literature
analysis and interviews with relevant participants. They used a combined qualitative,
quantitative method for this research. Knowledge was unfolded from developed
information (qualitative). They examined the relationships among GNP and ISEW index
and showed statistics as well. I think this research used the Pragmatic Worldview
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because the study was not so much based on history but on actual issues considering
applications and solutions to the problems
Coverage: This work substantiates and updates other materials I have read. It updates
other material because other materials have reached to the conclusion consumerism is
a problem of society and that we as consumers can make the change. This research
however, points out that the government needs to take action changing institutional
and economic frameworks.
Writing Style: The publication is organized logically. The main points are presented
clearly. The text was more challenging than other studies I have read because the
authors used more of an economic/business language.
Findings + Significances:

According to this research there is still no specific definition of sustainable
consumption.
o
Some will treat consumption as production issue and they claim that this
issue can be solve if the industry sector implements eco-efficient
improvements in the production process.
o
Others will argue that sustainable consumption is the implementation of
green products in the market.
o
Others with a more radical perspective will argue that the consumption
levels in developed countries need to be simplified.

If individuals living in developed countries want to engage in this new vision of
sustainable consumption they should acquire more green products and also find
happiness in a less materialistic lifestyle.
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
When referring to sustainability there are different views according to the
different disciples of economics, social studies, psychology.
o
Economic studies focus on how economic forces shape consumer levels
and patterns.
o
Sociological studies focus on the influence of social culture, social class
and family, ethnic and religious groups.
o
The psychological studies focus on how emotions and habits influence
consumer’s purchasing decisions.

Maslow’s hierarchy of needs plays an important role in the scene because the
act of consumption usually deals with a certain satisfaction level since its fulfilling
a material, social or moral need.

Individuals can agree that economic grow and material accumulation in
monetary terms such as the GDP per capita is what determines the level of
happiness in an individual’s life.

However, the sociologist Max-Neef argues that the relationship between GDP
and the level of happiness is highly non-linear.

Additionally this research states that when issues of sustainable consumption and
production are addressed by consumers and manufacturers, then administrative
or regulatory instruments like product standards are created.
o
This is a positive finding because as consumers we do have a strong
position in creating a more sustainable world.

This research concludes declaring that the answer to the issue of consumerism is
creating socio-economic systems that ensure high quality of life and that sustain
the environment’s current needs.
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o
As a designer this should be also our contemporary societal goal.
Typology application: In my design I will strive to achieve an environment that ensures a
high quality of life, that supports community and that creates an atmosphere of support
enhancing creativity and critical thinking. I can create a community of professionals
working in a sustainable environment that enables them to use their intellect, creativity
and share it with others. I think that we as designers and business people need to think
of different ways to create a service that has never been created before and that goes
hand to hand with sustainable goals. If the government doesn’t act due to economic
reasons, then we need to show them that it is possible to create economic growth out
of business offering sustainable services. In this way, we will inspire less developed
countries and the rest of the world. The typology could be a workplace and
educational at the same time.
Quotations:
1. “The notion of sustainable consumption is often used as an umbrella term for
issues related to human needs, equity, quality of life, resource efficiency, waste
minimization, life cycle thinking, consumer health and safety, consumer
sovereignty, etc.” Page 532
2. “In the field of psychological studies, it has been found that consumer’s
purchasing decisions are influenced by emotions and habits, which in turn are
formed by personal attitudes and motivations. An important component is the
feeling of satisfaction, which, according to Maslow’s hierarchy, is achieved by
fulfilling a wide range of needs, spanning from material to social and moral
needs.” Page 534
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Finding Beauty in a Broken World – An Eco Art School
3. “Currently, the ultimate measure of happiness is economic growth and material
wealth measured in monetary terms such as gross domestic product (GDP) per
capita. However, sociologists (e.g. Max-Neef) agree that the relationship
between GDP and the level of happiness is highly non-linear.” Page 534
4. “To provide a fruitful ground for sufficiency strategies, governments need to
change the institutional frameworks in society and create conditions in which less
materialistic aspirations prevail, supported by producers delivering less resourceintensive products and services.” Page 536
3) Briceno, T., & Stagl, S. (2006). The role of social processes for sustainable
consumption, Journal of Cleaner Production, 14(17), 1541-1551. ISSN 0959-6526,
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2006.01.027.
(http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0959652606000850)
Author Credentials: Tania Briceno from the School of Earth and Environment and Sigrid
Stagl from University of Leeds
Journal: Journal of Cleaner Production. This journal serves as an international forum for
the exchange of information and research concepts, policies and technologies that
are created to help in the progress of making societies more sustainable.
Intended Audience: Professionals/ Students
Objective Reasoning: The information covered is mostly opinion. The researchers use
other sources to back up their arguments. The information appears to be valid and it is
supported by evidence. In addition the author’s point of view is objective and impartial.
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Methodology: This study uses the Pragmatic Worldview which draws conclusions from
both quantitative and qualitative methods. This worldview is concerned with
applications and solutions to problems and this research discussed social and
environmental frameworks as solutions to the consumerism problem.
Coverage: The coverage included 50 responses from organizers and participants in UK
from 27 different schemes. The survey covered a total of 17 questions looking at the
existence of social capital and its benefits to the system and members; the amount of
sharing, leasing, and collective activities that take place; the perception, attitudes, and
engagement of people in the programmes; their effectiveness at satisfying needs in
innovative ways; and the dynamics of green social networks inside LETS. There were
three forms of responses: online through a website (60% or 30 respondents); as an
attachment on e-mails (14% or 7 respondents); and through telephone interviews (26%
or 13 respondents). Therefore the data collected was both quantitative and qualitative.
Writing Style: I did not find the text easy to read due to the economic terms and
language used. I do think that the publication was organized logically.
Findings + Significances:

The authors review the concept of sustainable consumption for individual wellbeing and societal development.

The paper draws on different theoretical frameworks to illuminate effective
methods of implementation and dynamics for sustainable consumption
programmes.
o
In particular, they examine the framework for Product Service Systems and
compare it with the popular community-centric based LETS which employ
PSS-style initiatives.
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Finding Beauty in a Broken World – An Eco Art School

The paper highlights the benefits of sharing resources for a transition to a more
sustainable consumption pattern and the importance of social processes
involved in consumption as well as the multiple aspects of human needs which
form the essential components of sustainable consumption programmes.,

Results of the study shows that PSS and LETS, despite being limited in reach an
appeal, offer valuable insight into development of favorable consumption
patterns that enhance social capital and integrate more participatory strategies.
o
This can be achieved by adopting a more holistic approach towards the
formulation of sustainable consumption programmes which goes beyond
utility and includes the social, environmental and psychological functions
of consumption.
Typology application: I want to create an educational typology that guides children
and inspire others to a collective constructed vision of a sustainable future.
Quotations:
1.
“It had been shown that the lack of satisfaction of the need for emotional and
physical communication gives rise to strong drives for power, domination,
violence and possession, and consumption of goods.” Page 1544
2.
“For consumers/citizens/workers, more participatory initiatives can increase their
market knowledge, their corresponding responsibilities, and the satisfaction
extracted from different stages of the consumption process” Page 1550
3. “The growing separation between producers and consumers, the lack of social
satisfiers, and the compromising of social welfare to economic performance
have been major obstacles for achieving sustainability goals.” Page 1550
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4) Buenstorf, G., & Cordes, C. (2008). Can sustainable consumption be learned? A
model of cultural evolution. Ecological Economics, 67(4), 646-657, ISSN 09218009, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolecon.2008.01.028.
(http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0921800908000463)
Author Credentials: Guido Buenstorf, Christian Cordes from Max Planck Institute of
Economics, Evolutionary Economics Group.
Journal: Ecological Economics Journal.
Intended Audience: Professionals/ Students
Objective Reasoning: There is some factual information but most of it opinion. I think the
information appears to be valid and the researchers support their argument by
creating a mathematical model. The ideas presented in this study advanced in line with
other works I have read on the same topic.
Methodology: This research uses a quantitative and qualitative method. Quantitative
because it has numerical measurement and statistical analysis and qualitative in that
the premises and hypothesis emerges from interpreted data. I think that this study uses
the Pragmatic Worldview Paradigm because the researchers agree that there is an
evolution of consumption behavior and they are only providing findings that help
substantiate the assumptions of such evolution. Pragmatists think that truth is what works
at the time and that research occurs in social, historical, political and other context.
Coverage: This work updates other sources in that it points out that the new learned
sustainable behaviors cannot stay permanently in our conscious unless the
characteristics of the new learn behavior/product creates a connection with an
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existing activity/good/want that we previously learned. This article does not cover
extensively my topic; it rather demonstrates a more specific aspect regarding
sustainable consumption. The material is primary because of the mathematical model
they build, and secondary they used information based on primary sources.
Writing Style: The information is organized logically and the main points are presented
clearly. However, this study used more an economic language that made it
challenging to read.
Findings + Significances:

Since the economic activity depends upon consumers, then consumers play a
crucial role in the evolution to a more sustainable economy.
o
Consumers need to lower their level of consumption and/or change the
goods they consume to more sustainable ones.
o

Have an increase in income does play with the idea of consuming more.
This research states that cultural transmission is biased and that is easier for some
individuals adopt certain behaviors than others.

Environmental conscious consumption behaviors can be adopted through
social leaning.
o
The research model developed showed that these new learned patterns
cannot be permanent because they are not self-reinforced.
o
An important force in the learning process is social observation.


By observing role models and adopting their successful behavior.
This study refers to a theory called Leaning Theory of Consumption (LTC).
o
This theory suggests that human wants are fulfilled by the act of
consumption that can be basic physiological or psychic need.
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Finding Beauty in a Broken World – An Eco Art School
o
Other wants in humans can be acquired unconsciously in a conditioning
through reinforcement society.
o

Also another motivating role is social recognition.
Exposure to stimuli and the interaction with others affects the associative want
learning process.

The available information for individuals to process is more likely to stay in their
conscious if this new information relates to an existing activity or want they have.
o
Through an innate want an individual is able to form a complex chain of
wants. A want for the consumption of green products can then be
formed.
o
It’s ideal that a green product has sensory perceptible characteristics that
can be associated with an innate or a previously acquired want. Or that
the sustainable product is consumed together with other satisfying goods
and activities.

A rewarding sensory experience offered by the new “green” product is not
enough to create the associate learning. The good needs to depend on on
features that are unconnected to the good’s environmental impact for the
associate learning process to take place.
o
In addition, knowledge about the additional benefits the green product
has to offer in contrast with its substitute positively affects the
attractiveness of the ‘green’ product.

Human psychology shapes what we appreciate, learn, and propagate.
Typology application: A hospitality typology could serve as a way to create something
that provides sufficient sensory experience and that it is associated with a previously
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acquire want. In addition this hospitality project can be ‘consumed’ or used jointly with
another satisfying activity.
Quotations:
1. “As all economic activity is ultimately aimed at satisfying the needs of
consumers, consumer behavior has an essential role to play in any transition
toward a more sustainable economy (e.g., Arrow et al., 2004; Brennan, 2006;
Wagner, 2006; van den Bergh, submitted for publication).” Page 646
2. “Depending on their individual learning history shaped by the specificities of their
exposure to stimuli and interaction with other agents, associative want learning
enables humans to acquire highly idiosyncratic chains of learned wants.” Page
647
3. “Human attention to stimuli is selective, and available information is more likely to
be consciously processed if it relates to activities for which a want already exists.”
Page 647
4. “As outlined above, humans are able to form complex chains of wants through
associative learning starting from innate wants. In this way, wants for the
consumption of “green” products can be formed.” Page 648
5) Lorenzen, J. A. (2012). Going Green: The Process of Lifestyle
Change. Sociological Forum, 27(1), 94-116. doi:10.1111/j.1573-7861.2011.01303.x
Author Credentials: Janet A. Lorenzen from the Department of Sociology at Rutgers
University, New Brunswick, NJ.
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Journal: Sociological Forum, Vol. 27, No. 1, March 2012
Intended Audience: Professionals/ Students/general audience
Objective Reasoning: The information covered is opinion with some references from
other authors/studies. The researcher did 40 in depth interviews that appear to be a
valid argument of the process of the interviewers in adopting a green lifestyle. The
evidence itself is the people she interviewed. The ideas in this study advanced with the
line with other works I have read. This research perspective tends to be biased since the
researcher uses people for the interviews that have changed their consumption
behavior in spite of all the challenges.
Methodology: The methodology paradigm used is the Pragmatic Worldview. This
worldview arises out of actions, situations, and consequences rather than antecedent
conditions. The researcher used interviews as a technique. The study is qualitative in
that is a means for exploring and understanding the meaning of individuals to a social
or human problem.
Coverage: The researcher developed 40 in depth interviews to examine three groups of
people that limited their consumption in different ways. These interviews were semistructured and lasted approximately 60 minutes. The researchers try to focus on the
lived experience of going green and the changes/challenges they had to undergo
daily. The three groups were voluntary simplifiers (13 interviews), religious
environmentalists (14 interviews), and green home owners (13 interviews).
Writing Style: The information is organized logically and the researcher’s main points are
clearly presented. The text was easy to read.
Findings + Significances:
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
One way to change a lifestyle is by changing an individual’s practices, and the
other way is to tell the story about those changes.

The author interviewed 40 individuals and found that there are similarities on how
they starting adopting and acting upon a more green lifestyle.
o
Deliberation and habit was among those characteristics

Deliberation happens when current habits fail to solve a problem or
when there are other alternatives that individuals consider and
make a slow but clear choice with an intent that can be
verbalized.

Green lifestyle is then a pattern of living where one voluntarily eliminates
practices that have uncertain environmental impacts and tell a narrative that
makes that process purposeful.

Participants in the interviews thought green practices are not isolated decisions
or actions but components of an evolved coherent project.

People adopting green lifestyles feel everybody can make a difference by
changing behaviors.

According to this research, products and the behavior we adopt as consumers
are part of an imperfect system of shared meaning that we consciously or
unconsciously integrated into our identity projects.

The things that we buy, buy less, or not buy at all do shape our identity especially
in the case of green lifestyles.

Green lifestyle means having taking decisions and actions that reduce the
consumption of goods, energy and water.
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
According to Horton, socialization through shared practices, networks, spaces,
and times can create positive changes and influence individuals to adopt
sustainable practices.

Taken from the article, the green practices shared by the interviewers were:
o
People buy less and try to extend the life of what they have.
o
They recycle (cans, plastic, glass, newspaper, junk mail)
o
They use cloth bags, compact fluorescent or LED light bulbs.
o
They avoid kitchen paper products.
o
They keep their thermostats low in winter and rarely if ever use air
conditioners.
o
They take short showers and run hot water heater on low.
o
They use baking soda instead of commercial green cleaning products.
o
They do large loads in the dishwasher and in the washing machine.
o
They use clotheslines or drying racks.
o
They grow their own food, and cook from scratch buying local and
organic food.
o
They avoid red meat or are vegetarians/vegans.
o
They buy recycled toilet paper and tissues.
o
They use restrictors on water faucets.
o
They have rain barrels or rain gardens and they reuse gray water.
o
They ride their bicycles to work or carpool.
o
They shop at and donate to thrift stores/consignment shops or pick things
up off the curb.
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o
They have solar panels on their roofs or pay a premium for renewable
energy through their local provider.

o
They use geothermal power to heat and cool their homes.
o
They own a hybrid card.
This research shows that green practices are more likely to multiply if the
individual defines those practices as a meaningful part of a larger project.

At the beginning of the changing process decisions and actions are highly
deliberative but as actions develop they become automatic responses.

This research explains the idea of a new lifestyle do-yourself mechanism called
bricolage.
o
It states that bricolage includes materials and practices from old lifestyles
and seeing them with a new perspective to recombine them with newly
adopted materials, practices, and environmental discourses in order to
form a new pattern.

This study states that a change in behavior follows a change in values.
Typology application: One important finding from this article, which was stating that
socialization from shared practices, networks, and spaces can create positive changes
and influence individuals in changing their current not sustainable practices. This finding
helped me to envision an eco-village or an art community center for children and/or
adults to learn about sustainable practices, with spaces to create art, and spaces to
discuss and share their green lifestyle and new green ways to solve problems. This could
be hospitality and educational/residential typology.
Quotations:
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1. “At the same time, what we do not buy, or buy less of, can shape our identity as
much as what we do buy, especially in the case of green lifestyles (Chitewere,
2008; Horton, 2006).” Page 97
2. “Bricolage is a makeshift, do-it-yourself mechanism used to build, change, or
repair something – int the present case, a lifestyle. It involves the cobbling
together of resources at hand by nonexperts who figure things out as the go.”
Page 107
3. “Bricolage includes materials and practices from old lifestyles viewed in a new
light and recombines them with newly adopted materials, practices, and
environmental discourses to form a new pattern” Page 107
4. “A change in behavior can precede a change in values (Goldblatt, 2005), and
knowledge is built up over time after practices have started to change and is
used as a rationale for past and future changes.” Page 112
6) Kellogg, C. (2005), Eco Imperative. Archit Design, 75, 100–102. doi: 10.1002/ad.25
Author Credentials: Kellogg, C.
Journal: Architectural Design
Intended Audience: General audience
Objective Reasoning: The information covered is opinion. The information is valid and
the arguments toward creating a sustainable design are supported by the evidence of
what they constructed.
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Methodology: One could argue that the author of the article engaged in the
Pragmatic Worldview. The architects and clients developing this project also used a
pragmatic worldview. The research method used by the journalist is qualitative, since he
prepared an interview to point out the nice features of this sustainable project.
Coverage: This article substantiates other material I have read on the topic because it
explained the different sustainable materials used for the projects, some of them that I
have never heard of. This article marginally covers my topic but gave me a perspective
of a real sustainable design project.
Writing Style: The magazine article was easy to read with the information well
organized.
Findings + Significances:

This article talks about the renovation that the Department of Environmental
Studies at Vassar College went through.
o
This department main goal is of healing the earth. It serves as a gathering
space for students and faculty member of different areas of study as well.

The college’s main renovation goal was to minimize toxics and waste.
o
However, the architect Dennis Wedlick thought that he should create a
design with a deep sense of permanence where users will not get tired of
it too quick and then throw it away.
o
Architect decided that to enhance the sense of permanence he was
going to preserve the building’s structure, which was built in the late 19th
century.

Some of characteristic of the design are:
o
90% of the materials were either recycled or renewable.
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Finding Beauty in a Broken World – An Eco Art School
o
The trims are from wood chips from managed forests.
o
The upholstery fabric for some chairs was made from recycled plastic
bottles.
o
The ceiling is covered with a fabric made of recycled cardboard, hemp
and silk stretched on a steel frame.

The College staff thinks that one of the goals of sustainable design is to raise
awareness.
Typology application: I could create an educational typology, a sustainable art school
for children. This article stated that the architect in charge of the renovation for that
department wanted to create a sense of permanence by preserving the original
building’s structure. In the same manner I think it would be interesting to preserve and
enhance the structure I possibly use for my project.
Quotations:
1. “To enhance the sense of permanence, the architect and his clients decided
that the architecture should preserve the building and ‘speak to its history’.”
Page 101
2. “We feel one of the goals for sustainable design is to raise awareness.” Page 102
Subquestion 4: Is sustainable consumption associated with a certain population or
culture?
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1) Elliott, R. (2013). The taste for green: The possibilities and dynamics of status
differentiation through “green” consumption. Poetics, 41(3), 294-322. ISSN 0304422X, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.poetic.2013.03.003.
(http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0304422X13000272)
Author Credentials: Rebecca Elliott from the Department of Sociology in Berkeley, CA.
Journal: Elsevier
Intended Audience: Professionals/ Students
Objective Reasoning: The information covered was fact. The information appeared to
be well researched. It is supported by evidence with the survey they developed. The
arguments advanced in line with other works I have read about consumerism.
Methodology: The researcher used a Pragmatic Worldview paradigm because
conclusions are drawn from quantitative and qualitative assumptions.
Coverage: The coverage was data from an adult survey conducted by ABC
News/Discovery Channel/Stanford University national (United States) fielded from July
23 to July 28, 2008, N = 10005. The survey was based on dual frame design where using
random-digit dialing respondents were chosen and were first weighted by Census
region to their respective population proportions. Then this sample was rim-weighted.
This sampling technique enabled proper representation of the population and added
credibility to the study as the findings incorporated probability weights for Census
parameters such as sex, age, race and education.
Writing Style: The information is organized logically and all the main points presented
clearly.
Findings + Significances:
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Finding Beauty in a Broken World – An Eco Art School

The author studies the green consumption’s connection to social status
positioning that consumers can use it as an opportunity to conspicuously signify
their social status.

The author found that relatively well educated people find green consumption
practice more appealing however in green consumption social differentiation
implication does occur though in part and does depends on good’s symbolic
nature rather than its taste.

Results of his study showed that green consumption desirability is directly related
with increasing level of education, along with having children of 18 years old at
home and being identifying them as environmentalist.
Typology application: I could develop a retail typology. It would be interesting to
create a sustainable restaurant that offers a space for additional social activities and
connections. In this way, I’m bringing in those consumers that are only interested in
showing a false social status plus the consumers that are really in sustainability.
Quotations:
1. “Green consumption has emerged as one strategy that individuals can use to try
to reduce their personal and household impacts in terms of waste management
and energy use.” Page 294
2. “Rather than—or not merely—reflecting an environmentalist ethos, perhaps
green/sustainable consumption acts as a vehicle for signaling social status, and it
appeals to people for this reason.” Page 295
3. “The results of the logistic regression show that saying you try to buy
environmentally friendly products is associated with particular social attributes; in
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Finding Beauty in a Broken World – An Eco Art School
other words, the desirability of green consumption is socially patterned, with the
finding on education suggesting a relationship with social status.” Page 306
4. “When consumers choose green products—these kinds of green household
goods— they ‘‘choose’’ in ways that conform to their current positions and their
social trajectories, to use Bourdieu’s term, their habitus. Thus, the social
differentiation reflected in and constitutive of consumption operates through
purchasing actions that are often undertaken with a minimum of reflection.”
Page 307
2) Hofmeister-Tóth, Á., Kelemen, K., & Piskóti, M. (2011). Environmentally conscious
consumption patterns in Hungarian households. Society and Economy, 33(1), 5168. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1556/SocEc.33.2011.1.6
Author Credentials: Agnes Hofmesiter-Toth is a professor, Institute of Marketing and
Media, Corvinus University of Budapest.
Kata Kelemen is an assistant teacher, Institute of Marketing and Media, Corvinus
University of Budapest.
Marianna Piskoti is a PhD student, Institute of Marketing and Media, Corvinus University
of Budapest.
Journal: Society and Economy 33 (2011) 1, pp. 51-68
Intended Audience: Professionals/ Students
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Objective Reasoning: The information in this study is valid and well research. It is mostly
opinion since the researchers developed a survey that leads to their conclusions. It also
included facts from other referenced articles.
Methodology: The researchers used the Pragmatic Worldview paradigm. This worldview
is concerned with applications and solutions to the problems and in this study the
researchers focused on the changes in environment-related consumer behavior
patterns. They wanted to determine the most significant factors that influence
consumers to adopt a pro-environmental behavior. This study was qualitative; the
researchers used a qualitative survey.
Coverage: The survey covered three regions in Hungary – Budapest, Miskolc and Gyor
with a total of 20 respondents, 5, 5 and 10 respondents respectively. Respondents were
18 years of age with at least secondary school education and positive to neutral
attitude towards sustainable consumption. Small sample and non-representative survey
is suitable for qualitative survey.
Writing Style: This publication is organized logically. The authors used a language that
was easy to read.
Findings + Significances:

The article presents a comprehensive literature review on the sustainable
consumption’s theoretical aspects.

The author conducted a survey to study the environmentally conscious patterns
of consumption in Hungary and how sustainable consumption can be
encouraged by increasing the awareness and providing appropriate information
about sustainable consumption.
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
The authors found that in Hungary knowledge of respondents regarding
environmentally conscious behavior is limited and reinforced that there are
appropriate alternate activities to increase the awareness and consumption of
sustainable products.

This research is significant in understanding what motivates individuals to
consume sustainably and what factors create barriers to sustainable
consumption.
o
These factors can be used to change behavior of society members in
increasing awareness about sustainable consumption and make them
more environmentally conscious.

The studies found that people will adopt sustainable consumption if they assume
that it is for the benefit of their health rather than benefit for the environment.

The result of the study was positive in showing that environmental consciousness
can be raised by simplifying and breaking down the tasks the individuals knew
already this will make them more involved and more confident.

This study also showed that not all regions have same environmental problems
and one message cannot raise the awareness but it has to be customized and
reinforced regularly to make change happen.
Typology application: The information in this article helped me to understand that
education plays a crucial role in adopting or not a more sustainable behavior. As the
author stated, ecological education was classified as a macro-level factor. With this in
mind, I think that creating an educational typology is of critical importance. In addition,
a mixed typology (hospitality) can be created by adding a lounging space where
conferences, lectures, workshops take place.
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Quotations:
1. “A key element of the idea of sustainability is the rethinking of consumption. The
revelation that society’s current consumption habits may threaten the
satisfaction of future generations’ needs was formulated already in the 1970s.”
Page 51
2. “According to Nemcsicsne Zsoka (2007), the first step towards sustainable
consumption is the individual’s environmental consciousness, the presence and
depth of his/her ecological knowledge, ecological values, ecological attitudes,
willingness to act and actual behavior.” Page 53
3. “Ecological education, which appeared in several stages of the qualitative
study, was classified as a macro-level factor. Respondents clearly expressed the
need to have an environmentally conscious way of thinking and behavior
becomes an everyday norm and routine for future generations. This is a common
task for the state, media, families and communities, all of which can initiate and
support environmentally conscious education.” Page 63
4. “Providing easy-to-comprehend solutions to environmentally conscious
consumption might be an efficient form of communication capable of inducing
real changes. The difficulty here is that different regions might have different
problems and it may be difficult to address them in a single message. Continuous
feedback and reinforcement to the individual might also be very useful in
fostering change.” Page 67
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3) Figueroa-Rosario, W. (2003). Exploration of the meaning and process of wellness
among families in Vieques: A qualitative study. ProQuest Dissertations and
Theses, 346-346. Retrieved from
http://ezproxy.fiu.edu/login?url=http://search.proquest.com/docview/288104798
?accountid=10901. (288104798).
Author Credentials: Wanda Figueroa-Rosario seeking a Doctor of Philosophy degree at
the University of Denver.
Journal: UMI University Microfilms International was founded in 1930s by Eugene Power
in Ann Arbor. UMI provides an economical alternative to graduate students to offset
printing as a means of meeting their doctoral publication requirements. As of today, a
vast number of educational institutions in the U.S. publish their doctoral dissertations
through UMI. By 1995, UMI starting offering online availability to selected database at no
cost, becoming the origins of was is now known as ProQuest Online.
Intended Audience: Professionals/ Students
Objective Reasoning: The information covered is opinion. The information appears to
be valid and well researched because the author directly interviewed families from this
Island. She was completely immersed in the topic of research.
Methodology: The paradigm used was the Social Constructivist Worldview. This
worldview states that meanings are constructed by human beings as they engage in
the world they are interpreting. The researcher used some open-ended questions so
that the participants could share their views. Also individuals that participated in the
interviews were humans engage with their world and were making sense of it based on
their historical and social perspectives.
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Coverage: The study covered four resilient families from the Vieques Island, 7 head start
parents, 3 civil disobedient camp and 2 people from community. Overall thirty three
residents from Vieques were selected for the study. The four families that have been
selected lived in Vieques over their lifetime and based on their abilities and strength to
deal successfully with day to day stressful life. People in close proximity to these families
were also interviewed for the study. Thus for the study a purposive sample was selected
and is appropriate for qualitative case study analysis.
Writing Style: All the main points in this study were clearly presented and the text was
easy to read.
Findings + Significances:

The author studies the values that determine and shape the wellness concept
and processes that are responsible for maintenance and development of
wellness among four Vieques island’s four resilient families.

The author found three primary values vital for relational wellness development
and maintenance for the community members and families from Vieques, which
include family unity, patriotism and community support.
o
Open communication among family members, flexible and equitable
home rules, moral concepts teaching, sense of cooperation for the entire
family good and family celebrations and activities that involve all family
members develop family unity.

The author found that in Vieques the value of community support is instilled
across generations, and it promotes social justice, sense of unity, collaboration,
respect for others and caring.
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
For the Vieques community strongest support is provided by informal social
networks.
o
Resources from outer systems incorporated into family systems also
support wellness of the children in the family.

Community involvement during the civil disobedience movement against US also
promoted community and personal growth and love for Vieques also promotes
community wellness.

The author found in his study that wellness promotion depends upon the values
established not only by one’s family system but also the values established within
the community and these values should guide the process toward a wellness
state and work in concert and complement each other, they should not be
coerced or compete each other and must promote both collective and
personal wellness.

This study is significant in understanding which values promote wellness among
families and communities.
Typology application: Possible hospitality/ educational project. An educational project
is much needed where children and rest of the staff teach and practice values of selfdetermination, kindness, cooperation, respect and self-sufficiency. These are some of
the values that families in the island of Vieque possess.
Quotations:
1. “When families incorporate people from outer contexts or systems into their
microsystem or family context, they create opportunities for children to interact
meaningfully with new attachment figures, thus expanding the nucleus of
support whereby children build resilient characteristics.” Page 261
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2. “The determination, self-confidence, goal-orientation, work ethic, coping
strategies, internal locus of control, and problem-solving skills possessed by these
women have been documented extensively in resiliency literature (Brooks &
Goldstein, 2001; Garmezy, 1983; Luthar & Zigler, 1991; Werner & Smith, 1982).
3. “Community networks have proven to be a strength for the community of
Vieques. Taking that into consideration, as well as the families’ preference for
using informal sources or ecological niches to promote and sustain their wellness,
action plans should focus on the utilization of formal systems. Formal systems can
be used to strengthen informal systems.” Page 270
4) Mayank, B., & Amit J. Green Marketing: A study of consumer perception and
preferences in India. Electronic Green Journal, 1(36). ISSN 1076-7975. Retrieved
from http://escholarship.org/uc/item/5mc39217
Author Credentials: Bhatia, Mayank, Ahmedabad Institute of Technology Affiliated to
Gujurat Technological University, Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India. She has 6 years of
experience in the industry and 4 years in academic.
Jain, Amit is an Associate Professor in the Marketing Area in JK Lakshmipat University. Dr.
Jain has several publications to his credit. He has also worked in research papers at
national and international conferences organized by institutes in different countries.
Journal: Electronic Green Journal, 1(36)
Intended Audience: Professionals/ Students
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Objective Reasoning: The information covered is opinion. The information appears to
be valid and well-researched. The ideas and arguments do advanced more or less in
line with other works I have read on the topic.
Methodology: I think this study uses the Advocacy and Participatory (emancipatory)
Worldview. This worldview is typically seen with qualitative research, and that’s what this
study is: qualitative. Also this worldview holds that research inquiry needs to be
intertwined with politics and a political agenda and the authors of this study state that
green marketing calls upon businesses to follow ethical and green practices while
dealing with customers, dealers, suppliers, employees. They also mentioned the Public
Sector Units and the state governments.
Coverage: The survey covered 106 respondents. 10 consumers were selected for
pretesting the questionnaire designed for the survey; this has ensured that questionnaire
has high level of content validity. The sample was selected based on convenience. As
the sample size was very small it cannot be said that it is representative of the entire
population and credibility of the study is questionable.
Writing Style: The publication is organized logically and the text was easy to read. In
addition, all the main points were clearly presented.
Findings + Significances:

The authors study the concept of Green marketing’s importance in Indian
market, perception and preferences of Indian consumers as there was little
research conducted on this subject in India.

The authors found that among the Indian consumers there exists a high level of
awareness about green products and practices and other environmental issues.
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
The research also suggests that managers must communicate green products’
high green value to consumers using well designed marketing communication
campaigns.

As marketing companies’ campaigns regarding green products have a positive
significant impact on increasing the awareness and perception about green
products and practices and are useful in persuading consumers to prefer and
buy green products.

This study mentioned that the following are some characteristics of products to
be recognized as green:
o
Energy efficient (both in use and in production).
o
Water efficient (both in use and production).
o
Low emitting (low on hazardous emissions).
o
Safe and/or healthy products.
o
Recyclable and/or with recycled content.
o
Durable (long-lasting).
o
Biodegradable.
o
Renewable.
o
Reused products.
o
Third party certified to public or transport standard (e.g., organic, certified
wood).
o
Locally produced.
Typology application: This research has opened up the possibilities to do an
educational typology. I find a need with educating more people about sustainable
products and lifestyle because it will probably be the only chance to change their
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mentalities. Education takes people out of the ignorance and start making them aware
of sustainable issues.
Quotations:
1. “Research has given good insights for marketers of the green products and
suggests the need of designing the marketing communication campaigns
promoting green products due to high green value among the consumers.”
Page 1
2. “Thus using green marketing by the organizations not only provides an
opportunity to meet consumer expectations and address their environmental
concerns, but also to gain a competitive advantage and a strong consumer
base.” Page 1-2
3. “Green marketing is also termed as environmental marketing or ecological
marketing. According to American Marketing Association, marketing of products
that are presumed to be environmentally safe is called as Green Marketing.”
Page 2
4. “Consumers’ agreement regarding environmental degradation was high and
may prefer green products over conventional products to protect the
environment. Marketers can come up with new green products and
communicate the benefits to the consumers.” Page 8
Subquestion 5: Is there a relationship between materialism and the well-being of
people?
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1) Bauer M.A., Wilkie J.E.B., Kim J.K., & Bodenhausen G.V. (2012). Cuing
Consumerism: Situational Materialism Undermines Personal and Social WellBeing. Psychological Science, 23 (5), 517-523.
Author Credentials: Monika A. Bauer, James E.B. Wilkie, Jung K. Kim, andGalen V.
Bodenhausen from Northwestern University.
Journal: Psychological Science 23(5) 517-523
Intended Audience: Professionals/ Students
Objective Reasoning: The information covered is opinion, conclusions that the
researchers arrived after their experiments. The information appears to be valid.
Methodology: They used qualitative and quantitative strategies. It is quantitative
because the researchers developed a table with numerical values about the effects of
consumer cues on participants’ responses from the experiments 1 to 4 that they
generated. It is qualitative in the sense that premises and hypotheses emerge from
interpreted data. Additionally, the study uses the Pragmatic Worldview. This worldview is
concerned with applications and solutions to problems.
Coverage: This work substantiates other sources. There were four experiments the
researchers developed. The first one was done with fifty undergraduates (28 females, 22
male; average age 18.84 years). The second experiment used fifty-eight
undergraduates (37 females, 21 male; average age 19.7 years). The third experiment
involved sixty-six undergraduates (42 female, 24 male; average age 19 years). The
fourth experiment used seventy-seven individuals (43 female, 34 male; average age 32
years). Their experiments brought more light to the issue of consumerism.
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Writing Style: The text was easy to read and all the information was organized in a
logical manner.
Findings + Significances:

Individuals living a materialistic lifestyle tend to feel more anxiety, unhappiness
and lower quality of social relationships.
o
In other words, materialistic individuals tend to experience low levels of
well-being.

This study points out that money brings a self-sufficiency orientation where
people prefer to have greater distance from others, and to help others less.

This study also asserts that when we invest in efforts to improve a community we
find happiness, health and life satisfaction.

Researchers state that a wide variety of correlational studies indicates that
individuals who score higher in materialism values have lower levels of mental
and physical well-being.
Typology application: I can create a hospitality typology, an ecovillage or spiritual
retreat. This study clearly shows how materialistic individuals tend to experience lower
levels of well-being. So creating a sustainable space that contributes to an individual
peace of mind, happiness, and relaxation can indirectly have a positive effect in a
person’s mind creating a link between sustainability and happiness.
Quotations:
1. “More materialistic values also predict high levels of anxiety and unhappiness
(Kasser&Ahuvia, 2002) and are associated with lower-quality social relationships
(Kasser&Ryan, 1993, 2001).” Page 517
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2. “Vohs et al. argued that “money brings about a self-sufficiency orientation in
which people prefer to be free of dependency and dependents” (p.1154).”
Page 522
3. “Our findings corroborate the view that individuals and societies pay a high price
for adopting a ubiquitously consumerist orientation that may undermine social
cohesion.” Page 522
4. “After all, it is by investing in efforts to connect with and benefit their communities
that individuals often find personal happiness, health, and life satisfaction
(Helliwell & Putnam, 2004).” Page 522
2) Kasser, T., Rosenblum, K. L., Sameroff, A. J., Deci, E. L., Niemiec, C. P., Ryan, R. M.,
... & Hawks, S. (2013). Changes in materialism, changes in psychological wellbeing: Evidence from three longitudinal studies and an intervention
experiment. Motivation and Emotion, 38(1), 1-22.
Author Credentials:
T. Kasser from the Department of Psychology, Knox College, Galesburg
K.K.Rosenblum from the Center for Human Growth and Development, University of
Michigan
A.J. Sameroff from the Department of Psychology, University of Michigan
E.L. Deci, C.P. Niemiec , R.M Ryan from the Department of Clinical and Social
Psychology, University of Rochester, NY
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O.Amadottir, R. Bond, H. Dittmar from the Department of Psychology, University of
Sussex
N. Dungan, S. Hawks from ShareSaveSpend, Minneapolis, MN.
Journal: Motivation and Emotion Journal (2014) 38:1-22
Intended Audience: Professionals/ Students
Objective Reasoning: The information covered was fact. The information appears to be
well-researched. The arguments they present are well supported by the evidence of the
3 studies they developed to examine how changes in materialistic aspirations relate to
changes in well-being.
Methodology: The researchers used the Pragmatic Worldview Paradigm. This worldview
aims in solving problems as they exists right now, and a that’s what they researchers
were trying to find; they wanted to examined how changes in materialism relate to
changes in well-being. The researchers used a qualitative and quantitative strategy for
the study, so mixed methods. There is numerical measurement material and well as
construction of a reality that cannot be isolated from contextual factors.
Coverage: They conducted four studies to longitudinally examine individuals and their
hypothesis. The samples were US young adults and Icelandic adults.
Writing Style: The ideas were organized logically. The text was easy to read, I found all
the main points clearly presented.
Findings + Significances:

This research points out that there are two cross-cultural studies that have
empirically
supported
the
claim
that
corporate
capitalist
economic
organizations maintenance depends upon individuals to setting a high priority on
materialistic goals.
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
Countries where individuals set materialistic values showed a lower score on an
index of child- well being developed by UNICEF.

A solution to the issue could be that psychologists develop means of promoting
resilience to materialistic messages.

An attempt should be made to promote values that promote materialism.

Per the results of this research, there is a possibility that an individual increases his
self-esteem if he decreases his materialistic goals.

The results of the first Study they did showed that to the degree individuals
placed less importance on financial success goals between ages of 18 and 30,
their mental health improved.

Messages that come from parent, peers, and commercial television play a
crucial role in the relative importance that people place on materialistic aims.

Researchers state that an attempt should be made to promote values that
oppose materialism.
o
For instance, self-transcendent values and intrinsic goals (personal goals of
growth and freedom, have close relationships with loved ones, and
benefiting the wider world) would be consider as values that oppose
extrinsic goals for money, status and wealth.
Typology application: I could design a spiritual retreat combined with a school that
teaches children to love themselves and to improve their self-esteem. Thanks to this
research I know that it is possible to intervene in adolescents’ lives so they can decrease
the values they place on materialistic values. – Hospitality mixed with Educational
would be they typology.
Quotations:
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1. “Starting in the mid-1980s and early 1990s (Blek 1985; Kasser and Ryan 1993;
Richins and Dawson 1992), empirical evidence began to accumulate showing
that the more that people prioritized values and goals for money and
possessions, relative to toher aims in life, the lower they scored on outcomes such
as life satisfaction, happiness, vitality, and self-actualization, and the higher they
scored on outcomes such as depression, anxiety, behavior disorders, and a host
of other types of psychopathology (see Kasser 202, for a review).” Page 1-2
2. “Such results are consistent with the theoretical proposition that when people
become less focused on attaining money and possessions, they feel more
autonomous, competent, and related to others, and these experiences of
psychological need satisfaction are associated with improved well-being,
whereas an increased orientation towards materialistic aims is associated with
declines in need satisfaction, and declines in well-being.” Page 8
3. “First, the results showed that it is possible to intervene in adolescents’ lives so as
to decrease the priority they place on materialistic goals.” Page 17
4. “Further, recent research (Maio et al. 2009) suggests that merely activating selftranscendent, intrinsic aims might suppress the extent to which people prioritize
materialistic aims, at least in the short term.” Page 20
3) Chancellor, J., & Lyubomirsky, L. (2012). Money for Happiness: The Hedonic
Benefits of
Thrift. Consumer’s dilemma: The search for well-being in the material world. New
York:
Springer.
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Author Credentials: Joseph Chancellor, Sonja Lyubomirsky, from the University of
California, Riverside
Intended Audience: Professionals/ Students
Objective Reasoning: The information is valid and well researched. The information
covered is opinion.
Methodology: Qualitative strategy, and a Social Constructivist Worldview. This
worldview indicates that meanings are constructed by human beings as they engage
in the world they are interpreting. These meanings are negotiated socially and
historically.
Coverage: The study covered a broad literature on emotions, economics, well-being,
and consumer psychology to suggest 10 ways to increase happiness with less spending.
They have covered more than 300 journal articles, reports and books and online articles
to support their arguments and suggest sound practices that can lessen money
spending. Such broad coverage improves credibility of the study.
Writing Style: The information in this article was easy to read and all the main ideas
were well presented.
Findings + Significances:

The authors highlight the benefits associated with being thrift when materialism,
consumerism and overconsumption are being blamed for many social and
economic problems.

The authors study the relationship between happiness and money and claim
that happiness cannot be increased with more money because of three main
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Finding Beauty in a Broken World – An Eco Art School
reasons, hedonic adaptation, affecting forecasting errors and chronic
overspending.

They suggest that that individuals can practice thrift by practicing 10 ways in
their daily lives that will result in spending and consuming less while making the
individual happier in the process.

From the study we learn that money matters and can buy some happiness
however more money does not mean more happiness and it eventually erodes
happiness and sometimes happiness does not require money.

Thus the authors suggest that thrift is a better alternative. The 10 ways they
suggested were “cure ills before seeking thrills, meet needs before indulging
desires, don’t borrow - buy it outright, postpone pleasure, learn the thrill of saving,
don’t impress- enjoy, don’t hoard - share, don’t have- do, don’t forget-focus,
don’t binge – savor” (p.13-39).

This study points out that many associate thrift with being stingy but that the word
actually comes from the term thrive.

Research state that thrift has close associations with the virtues of generosity
(when we use one’s surplus to benefit others), temperance (when we consume
in moderation), and wisdom (when we are more conscious about not wasting
resources).

Research points out that about 2,500 years ago, Socrates saw his life mission as
persuading people to pay less attention to the pursuit of money, reputation and
honors and place more attention to seek truth, wisdom and self-improvement.
(Page 11)

Other historical facts:
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Finding Beauty in a Broken World – An Eco Art School
o
King Salomon, who was the richest man of his era, noticed that when
people love money too much they would lose sleep because they were
worried about losing their wealth, plus they were never satisfied with their
incomes.
o
In Buddhist religion, monks would practice extreme thrift by squeezing
maximum utility out of their meager possessions, they would recycle old
robes into quilts, old quilts into covers, old covers into rugs, old rugs into
dusters, and lastly, old dusters into a mixture of clay and cloth to repair
monastery’s walls. (Page 12)
o
Furthermore, in the North American culture, we can find evidence of how
communities would discourage wasteful and excess consumption; such is
the case of Puritan and Quaker communities.

George Bernard Shaw said that “Our necessities are few, but our want are
endless.”
Typology application: This study opened up the possibility to create a retail store. I can
create a space where children learn how to reuse recyclable materials to create new
art or products. In addition there could be another space where second hand goods
are sold.
Quotations:
1. “In times of scarcity, thrift ensures physical survival. But even in times of plenty,
thrift aids in psychological survival, by helping individuals avoid unfulfilling
distractions and orient their lives toward need satisfying pursuits.” Page 13
2.
“The true source of cheerfulness,” wrote William Goodwin “is benevolence.”
Generosity can be both enjoyable and inexpensive. Prosocial behavior is
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Finding Beauty in a Broken World – An Eco Art School
associated with a number of positive outcomes, such as well-being, life
satisfaction, and positive affect.” Page 30
3. “The virtue of thrift in particular holds special relevance to the modern era. In a
world of unlimited resources, the choice to consume or conserve might be strictly
philosophical. However, in an increasingly populated and interconnected world,
one’s lifestyle choices not only affect neighbors down the street but also across
the ocean.” Page 42
4. “Thrift can complement this endeavor by extending the meaning of
sustainability, ensuring that the collective can flourish as well as the individual.”
Page 42
D. Possible typologies

Educational

Hospitality

Retail

Art Center
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