Tocqueville traveled to the United States to study democracy. He chose this location because the country was relatively new and their wasn’t any political history at this time that could hinder his studies. While in America Tocqueville studied six main concepts: mores, social class, individualism, civil associations, materialism, and social change. Tocqueville had some insight as to the negative aspects that materialism could bring to a society.
He said that materialism could be all consuming in that people become caught up with unnecessary objects, which can lead them to stop focusing on societal responsibilities. This can become a problem in many ways because those who buy more goods create more waste- thus contributing to the many environmental issues that are going on in our world at this time, an example being, global warming.
In the time of Tocqueville, he felt that materialism made the weak weaker and the strong stronger meaning, those that worked as laborers would continue to be at the hands of their employers and lose their ability to think for themselves. He said that materialism was progressively weakening the worker and strengthening the master.
Tocqueville felt that materialism was a negative aspect of democracy, when really it was due to the capitalist economic structure of America. Granted, the concept of capitalism didn’t exist yet in Tocquville’s time. He did place the blame of materialism on democracy though and this was and still is an incorrect idea.
To describe Tocqueville’s ideas of materialism I found a commercial on Youtube that shows how someone can get caught up on objects as pleasure so much to the point that she refuses to eat to save money. This is a comedic approach as to the idea of materialism, but in the end is still advertising another way you can spend your money. I feel that Tocqueville’s concepts of materialism are still relevant today in the fact people are aware of it, but yet it is still a driving force of many people’s internal desires.
Commercial about materialism
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-AvkgrXb-dU
I agree with Tocqueville's idea that materialism has negative effects on society. I also think that it goes hand in hand with his ideas of individualism. We have a very individualistic society, meaning that we have lost our sense of community and are more focused on our own lives. Being individualistic, we are independent and focused on our own success, which I think leads to increased materialism because we become more focused on tangible things as rewards for our success.
ReplyDeleteGreat view point on materialism. I wrote my blog on the same subject so I think it was interesting to look at it from a different perspective. I definitely agree with you when you said that materialism is a still relevant today and that it is still a driving force for many people. Your commercial showed that perfectly, as that is how some people really do act about the newest products. One question that I would raise is why do you think it is an incorrect idea for Tocqueville to place the blame for materialism on a democratic society? Just curious as to why you thought so! :)
ReplyDeleteNice summary. I found his views on materialism quite strong as well. There seems to be a bit of a contradiction though, doesn't there? If we have the top people in the hierarchy thinking, creating and advancing us, we NEED the things to move us forward. I suppose we need to ask then: Where do we draw the line of materials helping or hindering? (This reminds me an NPR program about the different "levels of Amish" the Amish can choose now!)
ReplyDeleteDescriptive summary, I thought that it covered Toqueville's concept of materialism well. What else do you think about his ideas on materialism as a negative force? Do you believe materialism as it still exists today is a completely negative aspect of our society?
ReplyDeleteI wonder how we might look at it proactively in order to make a change and how we might progress (even in small ways) past this excessive materialism. I wrote about the same topic and struggled to add much in terms of positive action, so I am wondering if you had any thoughts on this.
I thought you did a good job summarizing Tocqueville and his concept of materialism. I agree with you on the fact that it is more a capitalist economic structure than it is democracy. I also thought it was good that you pointed out that capitalism wasn't around Tocqueville's time because that is something that I never thought of until reading your blog. The one thing that I would ask is why exactly do you think Democracy wasn't the cause of materialism?
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