“Run
after money, for you will never get it”
An ideal society for an
average Keralite is American society. The great Kerala dream has now become
“Study in IIT, secure a job in US and
live there happily ever after”
Perhaps there are more
“Secure a safe and high paying job, buy
a luxury car, built a large house, and always be ahead of my neighbour”
The root cause or the
driving force behind these dreams is materialism-an imported value of the west.
Materialism essentially refers to the way of thinking that gives too much
importance to material possessions rather than to spiritual or intellectual
things. Amassing of wealth will naturally lead to the increase in consumption. When
amount of wealth accrued is high cash spent on unwanted stuffs also increases.
Then the dominant values of society changes to materialism. Society moves from
conservative to rational or from eastern to western culture.
The western societies
place high status on people owning large chunk of money and material
possessions which at least according to them will bring happiness. The
influence of mass media, social networks, and urban culture all leads to
imitation of western culture.
As mentioned earlier when
wealth accumulates people begin to forget the past and start spending lavishly
assuming that the price of agricultural commodities will stay as it is forever.
This is especially true when the wealth flow is newfound. (As the Malayalam
proverb says “alpanu aishwaryam kittiyal ardharathiyilum kudapidikkum”). The
newfound wealth and accompanying consumerist culture gradually gives way to
conspicuous consumption. Huge houses, Luxury cars, luxurious ceremonies,
funerals, get-togethers, changing food patterns, festivals which have become on
show today are exhibitions of materialistic culture and boastfulness. The
trickle-down effect in the true sense happens when the poor starts to imitate
the dominant ideology of the rich.
Numerous facets of
conspicuous consumption that have come to dominate our society are dealt in the
subsequent chapters.
