An integrated model of consumer materialism: Can economic socialization and maternal values predict materialistic attitudes in adolescents?

In this study, an integrated model of materialism was attempted. Based on questionnaire data from 246 adolescents, this study showed that materialism in adolescents is positively related to peer influence and is negatively related to satisfaction with one’s mother, religious service attendance, and economic socialization. Within a sample of 82 adolescents for which their mothers’ materialism scores were also available, maternal materialism correlated with adolescents’ materialism. With maternal materialism taken into account, adolescents’ materialism correlated with peer influence and religious service attendance, but economic socialization did not have an impact, although neuroticism did. Contrary to previous research, family structure was not related to adolescents’ materialism, although family environments were very important predictors of the adolescents’ materialism to the extent that their mother’s materialism level and their mother’s report of the family communication style alone could reliably predict her child’s level of materialism. Implications of the findings for the study of materialism are discussed, and ideas for future investigation are offered.     

The dreams of people high and low in materialism

Dreams were analyzed to examine some of the intrapsychic dynamics that past research has suggested relate to materialistic tendencies [J. Personality Social Psychol. 63 (1993) 410; Personality Social Psychol. Bull. 22 (1996) 280]. The “most meaningful or impactful” dreams of people high in materialism showed more insecurity themes (e.g., falling, death), conflictual interpersonal relationships (with family and lovers), and concerns with self-esteem. In contrast, people low in materialism felt able to overcome danger and typically moved toward greater intimacy in their dreams. Findings support the idea that people who focus on the pursuit of money and goods may suffer from an underlying feeling of insecurity, have poor interpersonal relationships, and have a low or contingent sense of self-esteem.     

The relationship of materialism to spending tendencies, saving, and debt

This study is a response to the Richins and Rudmin [J. Econ. Psychol. 15 (1994) 217–231] call for work examining the relationship between materialism and aspects of economic psychology. The research was designed to investigate how people with differing levels of materialism vary in their propensity to spend and/or save and their attitudes and behaviors toward borrowing money. The results indicate that highly materialistic people are more likely to view themselves as spenders and have more favorable attitudes toward borrowing. These differences were evident in behavioral measures, although the differences were strongest for behaviors related to debt rather than saving. The implications of these findings for establishing a more comprehensive view of materialism in modern society are discussed.     

Gender differences in honesty: The role of social value orientation

This paper experimentally analyzes the role of individual social value orientation (SVO) on honest behavior. We focus on a situation where dishonest behavior pays off at somebody else’s cost. In which case, distributional preferences might matter for the willingness to act honestly. To examine this link we conduct a laboratory experiment where we first elicit SVO to measure distributional preferences. Afterwards, we implement a die rolling game to elicit dishonest behavior at an individual level. We detect a positive correlation between subjects’ SVO angle and honest behavior. Furthermore, the data confirm common gender differences, i.e., women are significantly more honest than men. Additionally, we find that, on average, women have higher SVO angles than men. A mediation analysis reveals that SVO explains the gender effect.     

Intention to pay taxes or to avoid them: The impact of social value orientation

Economic factors such as audit rates and fines have shown inconsistent effects on tax payments, suggesting that they are not sufficient to explain tax compliance. Moreover, the tax compliance rate is surprisingly higher than what the standard economic model would predict. In the last fifteen years, literature aimed at solving this so called “puzzle of compliance” has increased and pointed out several factors that could possibly explain tax compliance processes, e.g., knowledge of the tax laws, trust toward the political system, as well as personal or social norms. The studies presented here examined the impact of social value orientation on tax morale and intention to avoid/evade taxes. Social value orientation was examined both as a chronic personal orientation (Studies 1 and 2) and as a contextual factor made salient by experimental manipulations (Study 3). The results are supportive of a relationship between social value orientation and measures of tax compliance. Furthermore, results of Study 3 provided evidence for a causal effect of social value orientation on intended tax non-compliance. The effect of social value orientation on intended tax non-compliance was mediated by tax morale (Studies 2 and 3). Results are discussed with reference to their potential practical applications.     

The value of unattractive characteristics in social entitlements.

Social programs legislated as entitlements are attractive to promoters of health and welfare services because of the programmatic security and stability such a status offers. Yet existing entitlements and other publicly funded services routinely fail to exhibit the high performance standards that an entitlement status requires. Such "flaws" as confusion over purpose, obstructive procedures, inefficient administration, and cost overruns can also serve important functional and political purposes. Therefore, administrators and evaluators who are in a position to witness these discrepancies will sometimes find their roles as manager and critic compromised. Instead of pursuing policies that would satisfy entitlement principles, they may only be in a position to implement and defend the "flaws" as reasonable compromises. There is the risk, however, that the public will remain skeptical about overall programmatic results despite optimistic evaluation reports. More careful legislation, more disciplined administration, and more neutral evaluation will be required if human services are to retain the public's confidence.     

On natural-social commodities. The form and value of things

This article re-reads Marx's account of the commodity as a socio-natural entity. In doing so, it re-evaluates the status of the political (as opposed to questions of political economy) in Marx's analysis and also reads his argument in light of Actor-Network-Theory's call for the thingness of things to be taken seriously. The paper argues that there is a complex duality to the commodity as it is always comprised of both use-value and exchange-value and hence as both 'natural' and 'social'. It is pointed out that the usual translation of words with the root 'gesellschaft-' as 'social' is unhelpful and that a better term would be 'societal', as this enables Marx, and us, to re-approach the very distinction between the natural, the societal and the social. Marx's notion of 'value as equivalence' is then outlined and it is argued that this crucial stage in his account is often passed over. Value as equivalence is not a mere social production but relies upon the expression of the use-value of one thing in another. This leads to the third move which is an outline of the importance of value-form and social form. It is argued that it is this formation of a commodity (comprising both the natural and the social) which is the key both to understanding it as a specific historical entity as well as offering a powerful, non-reductive, account of the natural, social, material and historical character of things. Overall, the article attempts to develop a novel conception of natural-social commodities which does not premise either side of this dyad and so might help social theorists to talk of real things whilst avoiding charges of essentialism and reductionism as well as possible Latourian critiques of over-generalization.     

The death of bin Laden: How Russian and U.S. media frame counterterrorism

This study explored how Russian and U.S. newspapers covered the death of Osama bin Laden in 2011 through the lens of framing theory. Results reflect significant disparity in how media in different countries covered the same event, suggesting that terrorism events were framed as national concerns rather than global issues, thus potentially limiting governments and the media from building a shared understanding with international audiences. The findings also indicate that more robust media relations efforts are needed to counter simplistic media counterterrorism frames. Finally, the study identified new frames for counterterrorism including secrecy and humanizing terrorists. These new frames suggest the need to expand the framing literature to provide a better understanding of how the media cover counterterrorism, which may impact the U.S. government's public diplomacy and counterterrorism efforts.