Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-s2hrs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-13T11:43:03.209Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Materialism and life satisfaction in Australia: Is more better?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 May 2015

Shaun Saunders  and
Allen Michael
Shaun Saunders
Affiliation:
University of Newcastle Australia
Allen Michael
Affiliation:
University of Newcastle Australia
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The Australian Oxford Dictionary (1992) defines materialism means an “excessive concern for material possessions” which according to critics is likely to be associated with dissatisfaction (eg, Fromm, 1955; Cushman, 1990, Harman, 1996). Despite this, materialism has often been referred to as a predominant American value (eg, Funkhouser, 1989) and also an Australian one (Hawkins, Neal, Quester & Best, 1994). The present study aims to assess the relationship between Materialism and Life Satisfaction amongst Australians.

Type
Short papers
Information
South Pacific Journal of Psychology , Volume 12 , 2000 , pp. 48 - 51
Copyright
Copyright © University of Papua New Guinea and Massey University, New Zealand/Aotearoa 2000

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Belk, R. (1984). Three scales to measure constructs related to materialism: Reliability, validity, and relationships to measures of happiness. Advances in Consumer Research, 11, 291–297.Google Scholar
Campbell, D. (1969). Various Social Attitude Scales, in Robinson, J. P., Shaver, P., & Arbor, A. (Eds.), Measures of political attitudes (pp. 648–653). Michigan: Survey Research Centre, University of Michigan.Google Scholar
Csikszentmihalyi, M., & Rochberg-Halton, E. (1981). The Meaning of things: Domestic Symbols and the Self. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Cushman, P. (1990). Why the self is empty: Toward a historically situated psychology. American Psychologist, 45, 599–611.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Diener, E., Emmons, R., Larsen, R., Griffin, S. (1985). The satisfaction with life scale. Journal of Personality Assessment, 49, 71–75.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Fromm., E. (1955). The sane society. New York: Holt, Rinehart, & Winston.Google Scholar
Funkhouser, G. (1989). Value changes necessary for a sustainable society. Bulletin of Science, Technology & Society, 9, 19–32.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Harman, W. (1996: 07-August). Reassessing the Economic Assumption. The Futurist, 13, 15.Google Scholar
Hawkins, D., Neal, C., Quester, P., & Best, R. (1994). Consumer behaviour: Implications for marketing strategy (First Australasian Edition). Australia: Irwin.Google Scholar
Inglehart, R. (1981). Post-materialism in an environment of insecurity. American Political Science Review, 75, 880–900.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Maslow, A. (1954). Motivation and personality. New York: Harper & Row.Google Scholar
Nunnally, J. (1978). Psychometric theory (2nd ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill.Google Scholar
Richins, M. & Dawson, S. (1992). A consumer values orientation for materialism and its measurement: Scale development and validation. Journal of Consumer Research, 19, 303–316.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Saunders, S., Munro, D., & Bore, M. (1998). Maslow's hierarchy of needs and its relationship with psychological health and materialism. South Pacific Journal of Psychology, 10, 15–25.CrossRefGoogle Scholar