Entry 6: "What Is Wrong with Happiness?"

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Hi all:

This article is by Zygmunt Bauman.  I have never had any heroes (except maybe for Micky Mantle and Bob Dylan).  But now Bauman is my hero, not so much for what he has to say about consumer society, but because he is still saying lively, interesting stuff at 85 years of age.  I can only hope my brain works as well as his at 85.

He is a pretty astute observer of consumer society.  Formerly an academic sociologist, he is widely read in sociology and other stuff.  In this article he brings up Nietzsche.  Not the usual sociological stuff.

You have to take time with his writing.  It's not fast food; you can't just swallow it down on the go.  You have to sit down and chew a little.

Again, as with previous posts to the blog, pick an interesting quotation, type it in, and write a few lines about why you picked it.  Or try to paraphrase his line of thinking.  You can of course include a quotation in this too.

I think this is a pretty interesting article.  We all want to be happy, I guess, and Bauman talks about the difficulties of finding happiness in a consumer society.

Nick

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16 Comments

"Observers suggest that about half the goods crucial for human happiness have no market price and can't be purchases in shops"

I chose this quote because this article talks a lot about the pursuit of happiness. It ties in with the past articles proving that purchasing products gives a sense of instant gratification but half the goods that actually make us happy cannot be bought. I found it interesting because I agree that friendship, love, family, and emotions cannot be bought at some store. Another point that Bauman made is that people try to make up for the lost and guilt of buying happiness by spending even more time and energy trying to make more money. The time that people spend away from their families making more money to buy products that can soothe their guilt can be spent with their family, that would bring actual happiness. Consumers have let their purchases become their identity and I think Bauman's really just trying to tell us that no matter how much money we have and how much we buy, we won't be happy. You can't buy happiness because what's wrong with happiness is that purchasing goods only brings temporary happiness.

"Showing 'character' and having one's 'identity' recognized, as well as finding and obtaining the means to assure the achievement of these interrelated purposes, become central preoccupations in the pursuit of a happy life." (Page 59)

I chose this particular quotation, because Bauman pretty much sums up what an 'identity' means to the current consumer society. Consumerism has fulfilled our inner need for a purpose in life, to the point that this purpose has become building an 'identity' around goods recognized and approved by society. Then this 'purpose of self identity' is supposed to lead us to 'happiness'. But when you examine this 'path to happiness', you realize it is just a path of superficial actions. To gain 'happiness', we are told by the consumerist society to purchase brand name goods with logos. With these goods, we are able to construct an identity recognized and admired by society. Then through this acknowledgment from society for our 'recognized identity', we are to feel happy because we should feel somewhat significant. Finally, this feeling of significance should satisfy our basic human need for a purpose in life. You then realize at the end of this whole summarized process, that it is based completely on purchasing consumer goods. Which brings us to the question, does money really buy happiness?

EDIT:

"Showing 'character' and having one's 'identity' recognized, as well as finding and obtaining the means to assure the achievement of these interrelated purposes, become central preoccupations in the pursuit of a happy life." (Page 59)

I chose this particular quotation, because Bauman pretty much sums up what an 'identity' means to the current consumer society. Consumerism has fulfilled our inner need for a purpose in life, to the point that this purpose has become building an 'identity' around goods recognized and approved by society. Then this 'purpose of self identity' is supposed to lead us to 'happiness'. But when you examine this 'path to happiness', you realize it is just a path of superficial actions. To gain 'happiness', we are told by the consumerist society to purchase brand name goods with logos. With these goods, we are able to construct an identity recognized and admired by society. Then through this acknowledgment from society for our 'recognized identity', we are to feel happy because we should feel somewhat significant. Finally, this feeling of significance should satisfy our basic human need for a purpose in life. You then realize at the end of this whole summarized process, that it is based completely on purchasing consumer goods. Which brings us to the question, do people of our current generation genuinely believe money buys some form of happiness?

“When the effects that were once attained thanks to our own ingenuity, dedication and hard-learned skills are ‘outsourced’ to a gadget requiring only a swish of a credit card and a push of a button, something that used to make many people happy and was probably vital for everybody’s happiness is lost on the way: pride in ‘work well done’, in dexterity, smartness and skill, in a daunting task performed, an indomitable obstacle overcome” (56).

I chose this quote because it reminded me of an article I read about Ernest Dichter, an advertising pioneer, and his research on the marketing of Betty Crocker cake mixes. The very first cake mixes only required the addition of water because it already included powdered egg. However, sales were slow and Dichter concluded that housewives were experiencing feelings of guilt due to how easy it had become to bake a cake. He noted that housewives liked to feel as if they were actually doing something. So, Betty Crocker changed their product to require the consumer to add an egg and eventually oil. And, the sales increased dramatically. I think this is an example of how human actions can become ‘outsourced’ by products. And as a result, it can deprive people of happiness since they can’t take pride in their work; and, they can’t demonstrate their “smartness and skill”.

"With our 'cult of instant gratification'...many of us have lost the ability to wait".

I chose this quote because of how much it applies to our modern life today. Everything must be quick and simple. The microwave, the instant text messaging, the high-speed internet; all of these are created for the convience of the consumer. Waiting in line or being on-hold on the phone angers most of us. However, Bauman says that we need to take in that moment of waiting and transform our anger into relaxation. Finally, we get the chance to think and calm down, however, all we can think about is the wasted time. However, I also feel that time is important in everyone's busy lives and it is very difficult to always "be in the moment"; we need to think about what we need to do next. It is our custom and culture. Yes, it would make us happier, calmer, and healthier if we weren't so frustrated all the time. But in reality, rarely anyone can achieve Bauman's definition of happiness. We feel that being busy working all the time for money will make us happy. So, although following the author's suggestion in finding true happiness is wonderful, it is more of a fantasy.

"[GNP] leaves out of consideration our courage, wisdom and culture. It says nothing about our compassion and dedication to our country. In a word, the GNP measures everything, except what makes life worth the pain of living it." (pg 55)

First I just want to say that this was the most interesting article to date. For him being 85 I am very inspired. This quotation stuck out to me because of the way he wrote it. He writes it with so much passion and conviction. This is by far my favorite quote because of how powerful it is to me. Consumers aren't really all that happy or content with their lives, even after they buy something. He says that the GNP doesn't talk about the pain we go through to live our lives. That is so true. We obviously have some kind of love or pride or whatever it is you want to call it for our country. We consume so we can help the economy. We obviously don't want to see our country fail. It gets so hard to consume sometimes. Especially because some people fall for the consuming trap. A lot of people have credit cards and they spend the limit and they don't have that money. I feel especially around christmas people do this. We, the American people, have to sacrifice certain things and go through certain pains to show our country we are brave enough, committed enough, and overall selfless to make this country a place where it seems happiness exists. It is our culture to do these things. We try to look for happiness because we are always sad about the different advertisements and commercials that it makes us feel happy for that second when we buy it. It is a bittersweet moment. You are happy you are now a stylish women and said you just spent some of your savings. It gets hard and people can't be happy with this being a constant cycle.

“In a society of shoppers and a life of shopping we are happy as long as we haven’t lost the hope of becoming happy; we are secure from unhappiness as long as some of that hope is still ticking.” (page 15)

I chose this quote because it made me wonder if anyone is ever truly happy. It makes me sad to think that the hope of happiness, rather than genuine happiness, is what keeps people going in life. I definitely blame consumerism for peoples’ ever-chasing dream of happiness. I often see weight loss commercials with testimonials of people speaking about how before they lost weight they were depressed and insecure, but after they lost weight they became outgoing and happy. These types of commercials are often accompanied by before and after photos depicting a somber person before and a bright and smiling person after. Consumerism has planted the idea in our minds that our flaws and what we don’t have are what’s keeping us from true happiness. So we buy that acne cream, or that new shirt in hopes that these products will improve our living conditions and bring happiness. Why can’t we be happy with what we have and who we are?

''Rustin explains why:societies like ours,moved by millions of men and women pursuing happiness,are getting richer,but it is far from clear whether they are getting happier...Robert Lane has found that despite the massive,spectacular rise of American incomes in the postwar years,the self-reported happiness of Americans has declined.''

Money doesn't buy happiness!There are many wealthy families in America and around the world that are not living a happy life.They do have lots of money and lots of luxurious items,however they feel like their lives are incomplete and therefore aren't happy with their lifestyles.It can be said that instead of bringing happiness and joy to people's lives,all money does is bring more problems(more money=more problems).There are many movies/television shows that show how the lives of rich people compare to the lives of middle class people.Most people would expect the rich people's lives to be overwhelmingly better than the lives of the middle class people.However,that is not always true.In some cases,middle class people live a happier life than rich people because although they don't have as much money at their disposal as rich people,they still manage to survive with the amount of money they have and they are satisfied with their lifestyles.Rich people on the other hand always seem to be stressed out and worried about things like:payments,limiting their expenses,balancing their checkbooks,etc.Wealthy families also have a tough time making real friends.A lot of times,rich families have conditional friends that only pretend to be their friends because of their money.If rich families were to someday lose most(if not all)of their money,they would also lose most of their ''friendships.''Middle class people have an easier time making real friends than high class people.Although money does help improve people's lifestyles,it isn't the only thing neccesary for people to live joyfully.There are some things in life that money simply can't buy and happiness is one of those things.

"Markets have flawlessly spotted the opportunity of capitalizing on the impulse to self-sacrifice, that faithful companion of love and friendship. The willingness to self-sacrifice has been commercialized, just like most other needs or desires..." (Bauman 57)

A typical mother would give anything to save her child. She would give her own life if that were the case. Why is self-sacrifice so important to the producers and marketing agents these days? When producers or marketers advertise about buying and giving things to people that need it, they play on people's motions. For example, the animal abuse commercials people see on television, make people feel sad and the need to help those poor animals even if they might not have the money to do so. So they give something up in order to help some one or thing out. People do this in their everyday lives. Like the story Bauman talks about where the boy eats his strawberries too fast so the dad give him his. What does this teach the child? It teaches him not to savor what he has because he will just be given more. This teaches the kid that as long as someone else has something that he wants there will be a will and way to get it.
In the early to mid 1900's people didn't think this way. When a parent sacrificed something for their child, the child showed appreciation for it. When there wasn't enough food to go around, they would make sure everyone got a share. Consumerism has taught people what its like to be greedy. Producers have made the human race into a sort of monster that is completely accepted in this world. Everyone wants more and more and more and it's a cycle that will only end in destruction.

“In a society of shoppers and a life of shopping we are happy as long as we haven’t lost the hope of becoming happy; we are secure from unhappiness as long as some of that hope is still ticking.”

I chose this quote because I believe that it is very true for most of us. Every single person in this world has shopped at some point of their life and and there are those of us that consider shopping as a hobby. They shop when they’re depressed to try to forget things and replace that feeling by going shopping for happiness. They know that shopping is that little hope inside of them that they still own even when they are feeling a bit down. They can count on it and if that hope stays with them then they will always feel secure with that. Happiness is something hard to look for all the time and in this society people seem to be gaining happiness by shopping. They buy nice, expensive things that they like in order to fill in that empty feeling of unhappiness. They think that all they need in this world is to buy and spend money. Truth is that there are a lot more things that matter and that are more important than going shopping. Consuming and shopping has become like a tradition and most of us have come to believe that that is all there is to in this life. Happiness should be something we search for and find in everything, even in the biggest problems. Although we might not like this, we should take in count that we are living and that this is all just part of life. That’s why finding happiness in the worst things is important, but having that bit of hope all the time is good too.

"Again and again, as so man times before, we find that one can't have a cake and eat it. Or that there are no free lunches. That there is a price to be paid for every gain."

I totally agree with this quote and I think most people would agree on it, too. Basically, the quote is saying that everything takes effort and nothing is free in the world. If you want to accomplish something, you must pay sincere effort. I could say that I grew up with this quote because this is what my parents always told me. Once in a while they would teach me lesson about life and the lesson includes this quote. when I read this quote, I could totally connect myself to it. This quote is directly at everyone living in this world. It is crucial for us to understand that every gain needss to be paid for. Maybe sometimes you might think you have put in a great amount of effort and it turns out to be a little gain. Or you might have experience the times when you put in a bit of effort and accomplished something big. While you are putting in lots of effort, the moment when you accomplish something could bring you great amount of happinese. Different people have a different measure of happinese, and a different meaning of happinese. For example, two people accomplishing the same thing will have different measure of how happy they are. One person can be very happy and the other person is just a bit happy like it's no big deal. The important point is that happinese is created by ourselves and what we pay off to in order to gain.

"Whatever your cash and credit standing, you won't find in a shopping mall love and friendship, the pleasures of domesticity, the satisfaction that comes from caring for loved ones or helping a neighbour in distress, the self-esteem to be drawn from work well done, gratifying the 'workmanship instinct' common to us all, the appreciation, sympathy and respect of workmates and other people with whom one associates; you won't find there freedom from the threats of disregard, contempt, snubs and humiliation."

This quote speaks so much truth in that a shopping mall can only bring you temporary happiness. True happiness can be achieved through selfless acts and shopping doesn't count. Buying items may give you a sense of power and that might make you happy, but money really can't buy you happiness. For example, you buy a new cell phone. It's an awesome phone and it makes you super happy. After a while, it's going to stop working. There's going to be a new model. You're going to buy that one. It stops working. This whole time you keep spending money for temporary happiness. People need each other to be happy. Love makes people happy. Laughter makes people happy. Michael Rustin's question, "What is wrong with happiness?", I believe, asks what's wrong with the happiness we settle for. People hardly interact anymore, well some. With the media, everybody is trying to become like their rich neighbors or stylish celebrities. Everybody is so busy trying to fit in that they miss out on true happiness. The only way to attain happiness is to be yourself and to not let anybody dictate your life.

"Therefore, what you see as (marketing's) "worst" effect will depend on your child's weakness or predilections. ... Is obesity worse than bulimia? Is violence worse than preteen sexual precocity?"
I chose thus quote because it makes the point that targeted marketing is very effective, in that we will perceive certain issues to be more severe based on what our children, or any loved one, is susceptible to, while those issues are not necessarily more severe.

"Unless you find a label, a logo, a shop you can trust, you are confused and may be lost."

Isn't that a strange perspective? To be "lost" because you aren't confident about a certain brand or company? We fear that the money we spend on items could possibly be wasted if we are not satisfied with the purchase. Is this brand of pants better quality than the cheaper options, or should I go with the company that has been around the longest?
I chose this quote because it's something we don't think about, mainly because I think very few of us feel "lost." We are full-time consumers, and it's our instinct to feel familiar or comfortable with the consumer world.

"values are measured by the other values which have to be sacrificed to obtain them...Social standing is nothing unless it is socially recognized."

This quote establishes the fact that people create what is "in style", they create what is valued and people do so by recognizing others. I think this is what creates fads in our society. One person may wear a specific article of clothing and another person can recognize it and give value to it by complimenting that person and from then on that article of clothing is the next big stylish clothing that everyone must get their hands on. The value of money is another example of how people give value to materials. If you really think about it, a $100 bill is valued over a $1 bill although both pieces of paper are composed the same. They only have value because everyone in society partakes in the idea that these flimsy pieces of paper have a value.

"Gifts that take no effort and call for no sacrifice, and therefore do not require resignation from some other coveted values, are worthless in this respect." ("What is Wrong with Happiness?"Zygmimt Bauman pg. 56)

The sentence before this quoting says that "any offerings call for a certain sacrifice of the giver" supporting the quote stated above. I disagree for the most part, there doesn't have to be a sacrifice in order to show value to something you are giving to per say a significant other. Yes I do believe something handmade and coming from the heart and created through your imagination is far more meaningful. However simply because you bought a gift doesn't mean it is worthless. You took the time and effort to buy something for this significant other, with the thought of buying something for them gives you enjoy and excitment. I personally rely on that when giving gifts I don't get caught up in the thought that there has to be a self-sacrifice done along with me giving my gift.

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This page contains a single entry by Nick Tingle published on September 13, 2012 11:32 AM.

Entry 5: Response to "Introduction..." was the previous entry in this blog.

Entry 8: "The More You Subtract...." is the next entry in this blog.

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