Haven’t we been taught to believe that envy, the only vice warned against in both the Ten Commandments and the Seven Deadly Sins, is a seriously destructive emotion? There are exceptions. Shira Boss’s envy of her neighbors in the apartment next door was the productive seed that grew into this unusual look at an aspect… Continue reading Recommended Reading Green with Envy: Why Keeping Up With The Joneses is Keeping Us In Debt
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Study Suggests That 5.8% of U.S. Population Are Compulsive Buyers
The results of a long-awaited and large-scale prevalence study were published in the October issue of the American Journal of Psychiatry. Professor Larry Koran headed the study, a telephone survey conducted with a random sample of approximately 2500 Americans. According to the results, 6.0% of American women and 5.5% of American men scored in the… Continue reading Study Suggests That 5.8% of U.S. Population Are Compulsive Buyers
Recommended Reading: I Want it Now: Navigating Childhood in a Materialistic World Donna Bee-Gates (Palgrave Macmillan, 2007)
Scheduled for publication in January (Palgrave Macmillan), Donna Bee-Gates’ I Want It Now: Navigating Childhood in a Materialistic World is ambitious in its scope, depth, and mission. Bee-Gates forcefully argues that too much consumerism is hazardous to children’s health. She documents the rise in materialism in our culture (and throughout the world) and the risks… Continue reading Recommended Reading: I Want it Now: Navigating Childhood in a Materialistic World Donna Bee-Gates (Palgrave Macmillan, 2007)
Shopping: A National Pastime in Asia
Shopping for shopping’s sake has become a “national pastime” for many Asian countries, a global online survey done by AC Nielsen suggests. Of the top ten markets where people shop regularly for recreation, seven are in Asian countries: people in Singapore, Hong Kong, and Thailand rank the highest in the world. On average, they shop… Continue reading Shopping: A National Pastime in Asia
Financial Education in the Workplace
On August 16th, a persuasive online article appeared about the harmful effects that financial stress has in the workplace. Jeffrey Strain, who authors this website, cites research that shows greatly decreased efficiency and effectiveness in financially stressed workers. He argues that companies would do well to promote healthier lifestyles in their employees by offering financial… Continue reading Financial Education in the Workplace
Extreme Overshopping Leads To Legal Troubles
Lisa Walker, 42, of New York City, more commonly known as Antoinette Millard, charged nearly a million dollars of goods on her no-limit American Express card during a three-month period in 2004. The former investment banker, who quit her job and pretended to be a Saudi Princess, tried to buy her way into high society.… Continue reading Extreme Overshopping Leads To Legal Troubles
Recommended Reading: Hooked: Buddhist Writings on Greed, Desire, and the Urge to Consume Stephanie Kaza, ed. (Boston: Shambhala Publications, 2005)
Buddhism contains some wonderfully apt messages that concern “affluenza” and “luxury fever,” our modern day plagues of materialism and overconsump-tion, and reading this extraordinary and diverse collection is a very inviting way to access those messages. Compiled by Stephanie Kaza at the Univer-sity of Vermont, these essays sharply challenge today’s ingrained cultural assumption that what’s… Continue reading Recommended Reading: Hooked: Buddhist Writings on Greed, Desire, and the Urge to Consume Stephanie Kaza, ed. (Boston: Shambhala Publications, 2005)
Overshopping Goes Increasingly Global
Within the past few years, research and anecdotal reports of compulsive buying in Australia, Canada, China, England, France, Germany, Korea, India, Ireland, Slovakia, and Spain have been published. Is overshopping a new phenomenon in these countries? Is it on the rise? While there’s probably insufficient historical data to answer the first question, preliminary evidence suggests… Continue reading Overshopping Goes Increasingly Global
Recommended Reading: Give It Up! My Year of Learning to Live Better with Less By Mary Carlomagno (New York: Harper Collins, 2006)
Each month, for a year, Carlomagno chose to do without one of her favorite things: alcohol one month, shopping another, cell phones, dining out, elevators, multi-tasking, television, taxis, coffee, chocolate. Her discoveries and observations, which she shares in an easy, anecdotal style, confirm her book’s title: we can indeed live better by living with less.… Continue reading Recommended Reading: Give It Up! My Year of Learning to Live Better with Less By Mary Carlomagno (New York: Harper Collins, 2006)
Consumer Monster Mockumentary
Canadian filmmaker Jeremy Lutter has nearly finished shooting Not For$ale, a mockumentary about overconsumption. Styled after Michael Moore’s work, the film follows the picaresque journey of a Cookie Monsterish yellow puppet. At home in Canada, he meets a variety of people who teach him about the growing movement to scale back our consumption. His addiction… Continue reading Consumer Monster Mockumentary