јндрей јхраменов

Human Values in the Age of Consumerism

O tempores, o mores!

Human values are the things that differentiate us from animals. If an animal can be taught that doing a thing is taboo, we can explain the same restriction to a person, appealing to initial dichotomies of good-bad, fair-unfair, right-wrong, and sane-insane. The Criminal Code of Russia is rather rigid, but it is not its rules that keep me from stealing, killing and slandering

Technologic progress aside, human values are the only things that change historically. Human civilization develops in a helical fashion and the vertical dimension of this move is a set of values that is generally extending. That is why any mention of manslaughter in the Middle Ages or in the time of the Roman Empire lacks objectivity. It was natural to kill a foreigner, to eliminate a hostile tribe, or to make a cup of an enemyТs skull. Another goal of this essay is the adequate interpretation of up-to-date facts.

To begin with, we should understand what consumerism is and how it corresponds to human values. We also claim that material values are out of this work. We study spiritual values in the society.

There is a common belief that consumerism as a disease of modern society, that its age is an age of deterioration and the decay of values. However, this is no more than a belief.

The Age of Consumerism is a consequence of the mass production that started with Henry FordТs conveyor belts. Goods were stripped of individuality and ceased to be chef-d'?uvres. In previous times, every single pair of boots was a hand-made masterpiece and cost a fortune. The low prices and huge volumes of contemporary goods made society deem it lives in the Age of Prosperity. Prosperity, in turn, spurs consumption.

In the middle of the by all means cruel XXth century, a famous economist A. Maslow invented a model called the Уpyramid of human needsФ. Many refer to it as a strong proof to theories ranging from economics to psychology and history. However, there would have been more use in creating Уa pyramid of human valuesФ that had the most ancient values on the bottom. Gaps between sets of values and legislative restrictions make it impossible to follow the latter. When we speak about the connection between values and needs, we should remember that it is harder to deprive a human being of core values (we will name them later), while modern ones tend to vanish in the face of danger, surviving needs and other fundamental needs of Mr. Maslow.

Consumerism is a successor to Prosperity. We should also remember that there is another successor as well: Stability. In its turn, stability means the satisfaction of fundamental needs and fewer of the challenges that may cause the loss of the upper layers of the human values pyramid. That is why studying Human Values in the Age of Consumerism is of crucial importance: no previous age caters to the upper values.

Firstly, let us examine the base of the pyramid. The lowest human value is not self-preservation or the preservation of the species, as many might think. These are instincts and we are speaking about the results of higher nervous activity. Human values started with identity. Beings of one identity tried not to kill each other or at least the women and children of the same identity. Ancient empires led wars for territory and identity. The Roman Empire enslaved barbarians only in the very beginning. Even Julius Caesar took Germans into his army. Big patriarchal families had their identity, which then became tribes, and now Ц nations. Nothing has changed since old times: Nazis and modern fascists appeal to national identity. One of the oldest values is truth within an identity. Nothing has changed here, either; it is identity that now unites СhumanityТ. We will not speak about the hierarchy of various current identities, because this is an idea for a new area of research. First level values have been formulated for approximately 40,000 years.

Second come honor, goodwill and everything connected to this complex. In Russian, the words СhonorТ and СfairТ have one root (mainly closer to СfairТ). Individual virtues do not appear in opposition to collective identity, but rather result logically within its framework. Primitive criminal communities stand for justice among their members. We should also outline the appearance of dignity as a product of being honorable. Second level values have been formulated for 10 centuries.

Third comes the value of individual freedom. As we can see, every level of human values is based on the level that it follows. There is a strong determination link between values and the real world and it is built reflectively: values change reality, while the reality makes them possible. The 1960s were the time of freedom. All the colonies reached independenceЧ that is mostly regarded as freedom. Third level values have been formulated for 100 years.

Fourthly, we stipulate a wide array of values: rights & democracy. Unfortunately for the rest of the world, the Age of Prosperity/Consumerism has actually started only for the population of the so-called СGolden billionТ. For the majority of human beings the values of the third, and especially fourth, level mean nothing. Many consider the American invasion of Iraq and other non-democratic countries either insanity or an urge for mineral resources. It is none of the above. They strongly, irrationally believe that they can and must bring democracy to other countries and that they must protect human rights. We will not understand them unless we start to believe in these values. Fourth level values are now being formulated.

This is a sketch of the human values structure. The age of consumerism is only another era in human history. The implantation of the values of the fourth level is a matter of time and it will be fulfilled during the age of consumerism. If deprived of the ability to satisfy their basic needs, a human being gradually starts to lose their values (beginning with the fourth stage down to the first).