And the relationships, the relations that people used to have among each other's broken down. Ready to talk about changing People's readiness at least to consider real changes in their lifestyles is evident in the survey. The graph on this page shows people's responses to a list of possible actions Americans could take to reduce the amount we consume and the level of materialism in our society. But when it comes to actually making that change happen, a number of obstacles arise. One barrier standing before people is a difficulty imagining how such a change could happen - beyond their own individual choices and households.
Individual change is easy to envisage.
But the problem of materialism is as much a collective as an individual one. And yet people cannot seem to describe how a more collective kind of change could take place. There is a real tension embedded here - rooted in a sense of ambivalence about how much we want and how much we need. The challenge now is to find ways for people to create a public conversation around the issues of consumption, materialism, and the environment that can lead to real change. Americans said in the survey and focus groups that they share a deep and abiding concern about the core values driving our society.