1. An understanding of materialistic values in post-socialist Europe
Saamah Abdallah, NEF
Degrowth – Budapest, Sep 2016 in

2. What is materialism Materialistic value orientation:
“endorsement of values, goals, and associated beliefs that center on the importance of acquiring money and possessions for conveying status and image”
Related to extrinsic goals (Grouzet et al, 2005) and self-enhancement values (Schwartz, 1992)
Typically measured with survey questions

3. High price of materialism
Lower wellbeing and self-esteem
Risky health behaviours
Poor social relations
Less pro-social / altruistic behaviour
Less pro-environmental attitudes and behaviours
Larger ecological footprint
Dittmar et al. (2014)
Unanue et al. (2016)

4. Would you pick up my pencil?
Vohs, 2006

5. Present study
What are the patterns of materialism in post-socialist countries?
How is materialism changing over time?
Is there a link between materialism and working hours?
What are the implications for degrowth?

6. Methodology European Social Survey Rounds 1-7 (2002 to 2014)
Includes the Schwartz Values scale which describes hypothetical people and asks respondents to say how similar they are to that person.
Materialism assessed with: “Important to be rich, have money and expensive things”
Very much like me, like me, somewhat like me, a little like me, not like me, not like me at all
Response biases adjusted for by comparing response to materialism item to the average of all 21 Schwartz items.

7. European patterns
European Social Survey, 2012

8. Wealth and materialism

9. How is materialism changing over time?
Filled lines significant, based on regression at individual level, controlling for age and gender.
Overall, materialism increasing in post-socialist countries, decreasing in Western Europe

10. Who is more materialistic?
Males
Younger people
Those with lower education
Richer people
Unemployed people (not looking for work)

11. Digging deeper… Same as in West:
Liberal views (on migrants and homosexuality) ↓
Religiosity ↓
Helping others (formally & informally) ↓
Subjective social status ↑
Physical activity ↓
Working in public sector or ‘other’ sector ↓
Satisfaction with work-life balance ↓

12. Digging deeper… Different from the West Living with partner ↑
Watching TV ↑
Trust in other people ↑
Pro-EU attitudes ↑
Meeting friends ↑
Social support ↓
Religious activities ↑
Member of discriminated group ↓
Receives help from others ↓

13. Digging even deeper… Having neutral views on policy issues
E.g. being extremely left-wing or right-wing
Created ‘integration into mainstream society’ measure including: living with partner, in paid work, TV viewing, public trust, centrist political views, average subjective social status, meeting friends, religious activities, -member of discriminated group or ethnic group
Strongly predicted materialism in post-socialist countries, but in Western Europe.

14. Summary
Materialism is significantly higher in post-socialist Europe, and can’t be explained by lower GDP per capita
It’s rising and it’s higher for younger generations than older ones
There are sharp differences in terms of the predictors of materialism compared to in Western Europe.
Integration into mainstream society – often associated with positive social outcomes, actually seems to predict greater levels of materialism

15. Implications for degrowth in post-socialist Europe
Identifying who are natural allies:
counter-intuitively this includes older people and those on lower incomes
But also excluded groups, females, religious groups
Who to target:
Younger people
Those with higher incomes
What levers might we have identified:
Questioning status quo
Volunteering
Physical activity
Reducing TV consumption

16. Interventions that could reduce materialism
Direct school-based interventions
Restrictions on advertising
e.g. advertising towards children (as in Sweden, Norway and Quebec)
Bilboards (as in Sao Paulo and Grenoble)
Measuring progress differently
Time affluence
Localisation
Improving the social safety net
Kasser, 2011

17. Thank you saamah.abdallah@neweconomics.org saamah@gmail.com
“I perceive that the great part of the miseries of mankind are brought upon them by false estimates they have made of the value of things.”
Benjamin Franklin (1706–1790)

18. Government should take measures to reduce differences in income