LESSON 2: TO BUY

OR NOT TO BUY?
INTRODUCTION:
We are living in a world of sale and shopping spree.
We are given a wide array of products to purchase from
a simple set of spoon and fork to owning a restaurant.
Almost everywhere, including the digital space, we can
find promotions of product purchase. Product
advertisements are suggestive of making us feel better or
look good. Part of us wants to have that product. What
makes us want to have those products are connected
with who we are. What we want to have and already
possess is related to our self.
Belk (1988) stated that "we regard our possessions
as parts of our selves. We are what we have and
what we possess." There is a direct link between
self-identity with what we have and possess. Our
wanting to have and possess has a connection with
another aspect of the self, the material self. Let us
try to examine ourselves further in the lens of
material self.
MATERIAL SELF
A Harvard psychologist in the late nineteenth
century. William James, wrote in his book, The
Principles of Psychology in 1890 that
understanding the self can be examined through its
different components. He described these
components as: (1) its constituents: (2) the feelings
and emotions they arouse-self-feelings; (3) the
actions to which they prompt-self-seeking and self-
preservation.
The material self, according
to James primarily is about
our bodies, clothes,
immediate family, and
home. We are deeply
affected by these things
because we have put much
investment of our self to
them.
The innermost part of our material self is our body.
Intentionally, we are investing in our body. We are
directly attached to this commodity that we cannot
live without. We strive hard to make sure that this
body functions well and good. Any ailment or
disorder directly affects us. We do have certain
preferential attachment or intimate closeness to
certain body parts because of its value to us.
Russel Belk (1988) – “We
regard our posessions as
part of ourselves. We are
what we have and what we
posses”
As we grow older, putting importance to material
possession decreases. However, material possession
gains higher value in our lifetime, if we use material
possession to find happiness, associate these things to
significant events, accomplishments and people in our
lives. There are even times, when material possession
of a person that is closely identified to the person,
gains acknowledgement with high regard, even if the
person already passed away.