Assessing materialism in Indian urban youth

1. INTRODUCTIONThe all-encompassing globalization has enhanced the significance of material possessions in one's life. The impression of growing influence of materialism in life reflects from the pride one finds in possessing and owning material goods. Literature defines materialism as a money- related issue (Dogan and Torlak, 2014; Rose and Orr, 2007; Dolliver, 2007; Ward and Wackman, 1971) and has viewed it from customer's perspective (Parker et. al., 2010; Holt, 2002; Sirgy et al., 1998; Pollay 1986). Materialism is growing at global level. The developing countries being enthusiastic of the western world are expected to experience the effect more severely (Ghadrian, 2010). With the expansion of metropolitan settings and with the increase in per capita real income, a developing country like India is facing sharp increase in demand for consumer goods. It sets forth the remarkable rise in materialistic tendencies in Indian population. A survey on 'Global Attitudes on Materialism, Finances and Family' (conducted by Ipsos - an independent leading market research firm, December 2013) showed that India is the second most materialistic country among certain Asia-Pacific Countries, after China. According to the survey, 58% of respondents (working in the primary sector and possessing merely a threshold level of education, income and connectivity) agreed that they measure their success by the things they own. The survey report concluded that people residing in the emerging economies like India are more likely to feel the pressure of making money and reflecting materialistic tendencies as compared to developed economies.India's changing consumption patterns necessitates a study of materialism for understanding its intensity and subsequently the buying patterns evolving on account of it. Though there are many tools for measuring materialism, all of them have been developed in western settings. The present study attempts to develop a tool to measure the materialism in Indian youth in the context of its changing culture and philosophy of living.2. LITERATURE REVIEWMaterialism is defined as 'the devotion to material needs and desires and opposite to the spiritual matters' (The Oxford English Reference Dictionary, 1995). Indian perceptions of materialism and spiritualism are not conflicting and there is a general belief that they can be balanced (Alladi Venkatesh, 1994). India has been experiencing the increasing consumer and economic power and is emerging as a consumer economy. (Arnould l989; Witkowski l993). The study of materialism in India is important due to the fact that it has to face many challenges related to tackling the social evils like dowry which have been associated with acquisition of material possessions (Kirshnarnurthy, 1981). Ger and Belk (1996), in their cross-cultural study, investigated materialism in various developed and developing countries revealing that India is one of the less materialistic countries among them. Ashok Gopal and Rajesh Srinivasan, (2006), in their study in India shows that, with growing materialism, people have diverted their savings and other priority spending towards possession of material goods. It showed that people between the age of 15 to 55 and ranging from small towns to metropolitans are increasingly reflecting such tendencies. India has recently been going through t cultural or social changes, and, thus, is expected to display the higher levels of materialism (Ghosh, 2012). 2.1. The concept of materialismMaterialism, as a research topic, has found its place in a large corpus of literature relating to consumer behaviour, marketing, philosophy, psychology, anthropology, sociology etc. It was established as a system to unravel the intentions of people in the world that perceive the existent, corporal or material things as most important (Cornforth, 1956). In philosophy, the term semimaterialist was used to delineate and comprehend the worldly activities (Stalin, 1940). …