It seems that in the modern World a person is defined by what they own. This is in stark contrast to the historical analogies of definition by social status as under the feudal system, or by what he does as was seen in the development of career based surnames across Europe. This shift has had a knock on effect I believe in that it has been taken a step further to the stage where people are not simply defined, but judged by their possessions. This can be seen in the demand for labelled clothes, high profile accessories, the latest trainers, the flashest cars and so on. It is interesting to consider how this state of affairs has come about. There are a number of possible reasons for this but I feel that the main ones are the increase in commercialism and marketing and the associated drive through visual imagery to make one feel inferior, a complaint that has been leveled at the fashion industry over the effect it has on womens body image and mental health, and the almost traditional equation of material success with power and strength.
There is a problem with this however. By equating success and consequently popularity with material worth it becomes dfficult to suggest that the developing World should forego the same consumerism for the benefit of the global society. It is difficult to marry the finite nature of the resources used by consumer goods, and the damage caused by procuring those resources, with the requirements of striving to achieve sustainability. We are already seeing conflict positions global with regard to the mismatch between the food requirements of an expanding population, the agricultural requiremets of the bio-fuel industry and the environmental requirements of the ecological systems that maintain this planets climates and atmosphere in an inhabitable state.
Perhaps it is time for the Western World to take a lead and rather than embracing consumerism, use those marketing skills to persuade people that a more ascetic approach is the way forward. This would be one of the things I like
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