The Paradox of
Posted by tom | Aug 6, 2006Choice: Why More is Less. How the Culture of Abundance Robs Us of Satisfaction, written by Barry Schwartz, Professor of Psychology who serves as Dorwin Cartwright Professor of Social Theory and Social Action, considers
When people have no choice, life is almost unbearable. As the number of choice increases, as it has in our consumer culture, the autonomy, control, and liberation this variety brings are powerful and positive. But as the number of choices keeps growing, negative aspects of having a multitude of options begin to appear. As the number of choices grows further, the negatives escalate until we become overloaded. At this point, choice no longer liberates, but debilitates. It might even be said to tyrannize . . .
I believe that many modern Americans are feeling less and less satisfied even as their freedom of choice expands. This book is intended to explain why this is so and suggest what can be done about it . . . we make the most of our freedoms by learning to make good choices about the things that matter, while at the same time unburdening ourselves from too much concern about the things that don't (pp.2, 4).
All of this triggered by the time, emotions, and choices involved in buying a pair of jeans (how about that for the application of one's scholarship, which argues people are not perfect rational choosers, they make bad decisions at least some of the time, & some of the most vital choices -- education, meaningful work, social relations, medical care, civic life -- are not best addressed by markets providing unlimited freedom of choice and autonomy), interested in more?
Well you'll have to wait until tomorrow. But let me comment that as followers of Christ we already know that submission to the materialism, consumerism, and comparitivism of this age takes us down the wrong path. Our first allegiance is not to having the whole world, but instead to living under the rule and reign, i.e., the structure and direction, of the Word of God.
PS. Free section on supermarket shopping.
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