The possible effects of materialism

As the three sources outlined above accentuate, materialistic attitudes have wide-ranging negative effects on Americans and American society. More precisely, materialism causes increased levels of unhappiness, lack of social cohesion and overusing our planet’s resources.

In the following section, we have outlined some of the most important points, when you have to analyse the possible effects of materialism, as they are presented in these sources. Use these points as inspiration, when you write y…

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Personal well-being

Firstly, being too focused on material goals affects personal well-being.

The research quoted in the video “The High Price of Materialism” has shown that pursuing materialist aims has reverse effects on the level of personal satisfaction (1:14). In other words, the more one cares about material things, the less satisfied one is with their life. 

Furthermore, according to the author of the video, research has shown …

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Social cohesion

Secondly, apart from the negative impact on an individual level, materialism affects our relationship with others and the community we live in; in other words, it affects our social cohesion.

According to “The High Price of Materialism”, people become less inclined to cherish social values when materialistic values start to weigh more (1:40).  This means that people have less empathy for others and discard generosity and cooperation within a community.

Strong evidence in favour of this argument comes from the development of “afflue…