Part 3:

THE MATERIAL/ECONOMIC SELF

To be content with little is difficult; to be content with
much, impossible.

- Marie Ebner von Eschenbach

The most essential things in my daily life.

Directions:

1. Look at yourself in the mirror and see how many accessories you have.
2. Get you bag and look at the things found in ti.
3. List down 5 accessories on your body or things in your bag that you feel you
cannot live without and briefly explain its importance to you.
The difference between needs and wants.

A need is something thought to be a necessity or essential items required in life.

Examples include food, water, shelter.
A want is something unnecessary but desired or items which increase the quality
of living.

ROLAND BARTHES popularized the field of semiology, the study of objects as

signs. A sign is anything that conveys a meaning. Barthes revealed that everyday
objects are bot just things but a complex system of signs which allows one to read
meaning into people and places. What people increasingly produce are not material
objects but signs,
Semiotic is the study of sign. It examines how words, photographs, images and
objects can work as a language to communicate a range of ideas, associations and
feelings.
A sign has two elements: signifier which refer to its physical form (ex. A diamond ring)
and signified the mental concept it refers to (ex. engaged to be married).
Hence, objects are not just things but are reflections of the wider lives of
communications and individuals. All these suggests that objects act as a complex
systems of signs which allow one to read meaning into people, places and purpose.
The things people use, own and surrounds themselves with might accurately reflect
their personalities. Not, surprisingly, the clothes ones waer, the car one drives and the
furnishing of ones home are all expressions of one self, even when they act as
disguises rather than as reflections.
The theory of the meaning of material possessions (Dittmar, 1992, 2004) suggest that
material goods can fulfill a range of instrumental, social, symbolic and affective
functions.
1. Instrumental functions – relate to the functional properties of a product. For
example a person bought a pick up style of vehicle for family and business
functions.
2. Social symbolic functions – signify personal qualities, social standing, group
affiliation and gender role. For instance, buying an iphone instead of other mobile
phone brands.
3. Categorical functions – refer to the extent to which material possessions maybe
used to communicate group membership or status. Example, buying a condo unit in
Makati City.
4. Self-expressive functions – reflect a persons unique qualities, values or attitudes.
5. Example, buying hello kitty brands, collecting starbucks mugs etc.
Economic identity – is a psychological phenomenon that results from social
categorization. For instance, a category of economic status is whether a person
belongs to the rich, sustainable or poor sectors of society.

Symbolic Motives
1. Status – the extent to which people believe they can derive a sense of recognition
or achievement from owning and using the right kind of product, can be an
important motivator of behavior. Materialism is the importance ascribed to the
ownership and acquisition of material goods in achieving major life goals.
2. Affective motives – this can be a basis of the buying behavior. For example, a
person buys an object because of the joy/happiness she feels in acquiring it.
Anticipated affect is when a person is expecting to feel good or guilty when doing
something.
Consumer identity – is the pattern of consumption that describes the consumer .
Consumption has become increasingly more meaning based – brands are often use as
symbolic resources for the construction and maintenance of identity. This behavior
leads to consumerism.

Consumerism – is the preoccupation with and an inclination towards the buying of

consumer goods. By choice or by compulsion, people respond to goods and services
based on people’a assumptions that it is associated to their social identities.
Example of Material/Economic Self
Self is judged on the way you dress, the kind of clothes you wear, the car you
drive and the type of home you prefer or own.
 A “man’s Self is the sum total of all that he CAN call his”, This
included his body, family and reputation but also his “clothes
and his house… his lands and horses, and yacht and bank-
account.” If they grew, their owners felt triumphant. If they
faded, people felt a part of themselves was dying.
- William James-