The Pressure To Appear Wealthy
The High Cost of Materialism In A Capitalistic Society
You wake up one Sunday morning and are greeted with a notification from your favorite influencer on Instagram. You open the app, and there she stands with her new car, surrounded by Chanel bags. Suddenly, your confidence drops. You’re suddenly reminded that she is your age and has accumulated so much wealth. How is that possible in this economy, you think. Are you doing something wrong? Is there a formula to life you have yet to figure out? Perhaps not, you work a 9 to 5 job like many others. What are these influencers doing that you aren’t?
The answer is simple. The life of an average person is spent, tirelessly working away behind a machine, working towards a pay that makes enough to pay rent and buy groceries. The average person goes on a vacation every few years, after much planning and budgeting. However, with the popularity of social media, it has become more common for individuals to flaunt wealth they may or may not own. Social media behaves as a shield between an individual and the audience. This divider allows the individual to create a false image to portray on social media, one that allows them to create a false identity.
The value of material possessions has risen dramatically since labor became cheaper in the East, allowing western companies to essentially exploit workers in sweatshops. The workers are paid unfairly low wages, as well as forced to work in poor conditions. Overtime hours are not compensated for, and human rights violations are often disregarded. Employees as young as five are employed in these factories, faced with harassment, sexual misconduct, and forced to work above their wage.
While on the other side of the planet, major empires worth millions market and sell these products to the elite. From fast fashion and couture to electronics and cars, many of these products are sold for a fraction of the price. The blood, sweat, and tears shed by the hard-working factory workers aren’t compensated for, as the middle and upper classes of western countries bathe in materials handed over to them. While those in the west work tirelessly for these companies to aid the system that continuously uses them, with little to no advantage of their own.
Materialism has grown since the introduction of social media. While media has been used in the past, in the form of magazines and advertisements, the access to social media by large corporations and the common public allows the demand for more materials. Often, influencers and celebrities flaunt their wealth and lifestyle through these apps. This, in turn, persuades others to purchase items to follow trends created. Material possessions behave as a way to set a status quo, one which many try to adhere to regardless of their financial situation.
The capitalistic society is based on creating insecurity within the general public to follow and adhere to certain trends in order to find their place in society. This often starts in the teen years and continues throughout their life until they are able to generate enough self-awareness to understand the world around them. Be it the beauty industry that changes its beauty standards every decade, fashion trends that change yearly, or the latest technology released every few months, all these factors contribute to the excess craving to fit into the status quo by the average individual. It’s a never-ending cycle that keeps an average individual on the “ hamster wheel” on a constant chase to have everything.
While the idea of wealth has significantly changed over the past few decades, the need to flaunt it remains constant. While in the past, wealth was shown with large palaces and gold adornments, the contemporary individual uses status symbols such as private jets and limited couture items to show their wealth. Material possessions have always played a role and will continue to play a role as they’re highly valued by society. Capitalism controls the masses, as the supply and demand rise for material possessions.
