Introduction
The concept of materialism has been extensively been studied by different scholars and researchers. This concept has mainly been studied as a marketing tool which different advertisers use to woo customers to buy their products. Materialism can be defined as an attitude or perception concerning the possession of various things in a persons’ life. Materialism is generally learned via socialization or it can be acquired depending on the environment, which a person is located (cherrier et al 12).
Materialism can also be propagated via other different channels. The marketing strategies of various companies can help in portraying a certain product as classy and therefore help in instilling the mentality of materialism on the population. The media can also be used to propagate the materialism through the different programs and ideologies which it tries to instill on the people so as to achieve a specific goal.
American materialism
Americans are generally richer than other people in the world. They have so much wealth and attach special importance to the possession of material things. This makes the Americans to sometimes be referred to as the most materialistic society in the world. The Americans spend large sums of money on things which other people would consider not worth to spend such large sums of money.
They generally derive pleasure and attach significant importance to the possession of these materials (Colorado Para 5). The luxury materials which the Americans invest in are houses, luxury vehicles and entertainment and communication gadgets. The Americans usually use this equipment only for pleasure.
The materialism is generally instilled in the citizens as they are growing up. They are shown that for one to be successful on must have a well paying job, a nice car, a house and a family. The Americans therefore strive to achieve this as by achieving they would consider themselves as being successful. Their social status would also improve due to the achievement of the above possessions (Lockett Para 1)
The government has also been termed as materialistic due to the large sums of money it spends on ventures which are not very important. Despite having a large debt, the American government spends large sums of money on the Iraqi and the afghan war.
The war does not warrant the spending of such amounts of money since the money can be used in various other activities which be beneficial to the citizens and the economy in general. The amount of money spent on the wars makes some people to term the American government as materialistic.
The effect on the American culture can also be felt by other countries. Americans has moved to other parts of the world due to globalization. The internet and the media also show so much of the American content or use the views of the Americans. This makes the people of the countries where the information is shown to develop the traits, which are portrayed by the mass communication methods.
How the American materialism affects Kuwait
During the gulf war, the American army intervened to protect the annexing of Kuwait by the Iraqi government under the leadership of the late Saddam Hussein. When the war ended many Americans were left in Kuwait. These American citizens exert profound influence on the culture of the people of Kuwait by introducing the culture of materialism (Schaap-Jones Para 5).
Entry of the Americans into Kuwait led to the establishment of various American companies in various parts of Kuwait (Schaap-Jones 2010 para 5). These establishments generally promote materialism as they are mainly associated with the social status of different people and tend to show their customers that they are of a higher social status if they visit the establishments.
Before the coming of the Americans the Kuwait culture used to religious based and the citizens of the places were generally not materialistic. These people did not pay attention to the materialistic things. They mainly attached significant importance to religion and culture (Schaap-Jones Para 1).
.The constitution of Kuwait is very liberal. It gives the citizens of Kuwait so much freedom. The freedom allows the citizens to be liberal in their religious and social activities. The freedom offered by the constitution allowed the propagation of materialistic values as the governments could not inhibit the citizens from performing specific actions which would be termed as propagating materialism since the freedom of the citizens was entrenched in the constitution (Schaap-Jones Para 2).
Prior to the development of the satellite television networks, all the television stations in the Arab world were controlled by the government. The governments usually imposed strict regulation to control the content of the television stations. However economic liberalization which started due to the American influence immediately after the gulf war, allowed the setting up of the satellite television stations.
These stations usually employed the western methods of broadcasting which promoted the materialism. The promotion of the materialism is sometimes referred to “affluenza” (Harmon p 1). This is what has happened in Kuwait. There are several satellite televisions which air their programs in Arabic but mainly propagate the western ideas.
Materialism encourages people to work harder so as to be able to maintain their desirable lifestyles. This has therefore made the Kuwaiti women to seek employment so that they can be able to afford the luxurious lifestyles which they crave. By so doing the women are also becoming the major source of livelihoods of different families.
This will ultimately result in social tensions in the comparatively conservative Kuwaiti society. This is because the women were traditionally meant to stay home and take care of the family whereas the men were the breadwinners of the family (Cherian Para 10).
American imposed materialism has also come up with advantages. Materialism has emphasized the benefit of acquiring high quality education which is usually provided in the private institutions of leaning. Materialism has therefore encouraged the young people to enroll to different private educational institutions so as to attain the high quality education (Schaap-Jones Para 7).
Conclusion
Most of the citizens of Kuwait see that the increased materialism of the society has a bad influence on the society. Most of the people who are of this view are mainly the old people who would like to be conservative. However the younger generation sees no problem with being materialistic as materialism enables them to acquire gadgets and tools which make their lives more enjoyable. The Kuwaiti population is therefore becoming more and more materialistic and the levels of materialism may be higher for future generations.
Works Cited
Cherian, Sunil. “I’m jealous of Kuwaiti mothers.” Kuwait Times. 2010. Web.
Cherrier, Helene et al. The globalizing Arab world: impacts on the consumers level of materialism and vanity. N.d. Web.
Colorado, Ray. “Understanding America.” Understanding America. 2001. Web.
Harmon, Mark. “Arab youth TV viewing & affluenza.” Arab media & society. 2008. Web.
Locket, Terrel. “American Materialism.” Bukisa: Share Your Knowledge. 2010. Web.
Schaap-Jones.The Effects of Globalization on Kuwait. 2010. Web.