Keeping Up With the Joneses: The Politics of Choice
In our society we are inundated by options. Take one look at a restaurant menu, wine list, or take a visit to your local grocer. Being confronted by so many options can be overwhelming. This can sometimes lead to an indecisiveness caused by the sheer anxiety we generate when confronted by making a choice.
When we make a decision we aim to make an ideal one. This is obvious, but it’s a bit more complex than simply put. The problem of making a choice is systemic and not just local to consumerism. The choices we make regarding our lifestyle and personal self are reflective of our need to be regarded as a certain type of person.
What dress should I wear? What food shall I eat? Where shall I live? What music do I listen to? What car should I drive? What ideologies should I embrace?
A lot of the choices that we make are concerned with others’ perception of who we are and what we stand for. This all ties back into our intrinsic need to belong. Often, we’ll make decisions that will tie us with or be received well by whatever subculture or demographic we identify with; political parties, social movements, etc.
Choice is a social matter.
Therefore, if we want to be perceived as hip, socially-conscious citizens we’ll do things like buy organic, locally grown foods. We’ll drink fair-trade coffee. We’ll drive hybrid automobiles. We’ll recycle and use post-consumer recycled products.
If we wish to belong to any other subculture, we’ll chiefly make similar choices based on the desires and preferences of this or that mob. Just like many people who enjoy hunting will drive large trucks or wear camouflage clothing even though they may live in an urban environment.
We buy into generality.
Why should we do this? Like I mentioned before, our primary desire is to belong. We’ll buy things and make claims or beliefs that we may or may not wholly agree on for the sake of fitting in, being perceived a certain way, and/or for the simple hope of not offending those we identify with.
When we choose something – a belief, a product, an ethos – we try to strike a balance between our outward desires and our inward preferences. This can be paralytic, stressful, and absorbing. Is this healthy? Where do we draw the line between our own desire to fit and need to be an individual?
Though I feel unity, brotherhood, friendship, and the “invisible extended family” to be important concepts, especially in our increasingly globalized society, I find that without strong, vocal, and social emphasis on personal individuality, social change will and potentially has stagnated. With stagnation comes decline and without change and responsible choice we shall find that our way of life is imperiled.
The beauty of our society and marketplace is that we can be who we want to be and we can stand for the things we believe in. We have that choice. We have those options and shall continue to, lest we become encumbered and overwhelmed by sheer possibility.
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image courtesy of Google and various blogs, et al.
Sourced information courtesy of the RSA, Wikipedia, et al.
Good observation!
In social psychology this need for belonging fuels what is known as group think, which many agree is the catalyst for tragedies like the Holocaust.
Now, if this were generally true for all subcultures then the government and local authorities would have a major crisis on their hands. I’m not convinced that drive for social acceptance leads to a George Orwell society. We carry a unique imprint wherever we go; as the individual we are never wholly like everyone else. I won’t be you no matter how hard I try. Mark Driscoll refers to these subcultures as tribes (I’m sure he isn’t the first). As a pastor, his passion derives from Matthew 28:19, go and make disciples of all nations. You see, he encourages his congregation to remain true to their tribe even after spiritual conversion or second birth. Again, I’m not convinced these tribes are an exclusion of the individual. Social change is a natural movement. Our own desire for said change is fueled by change of the past and we will drive change of the future. No one will stop that. Ever. No matter how many 1984s are written, individuals will not be lost. Our last thought will be our own no matter the impression of society. Everything we receive goes through a filter that is shaped from our personal experience and moderated by our subconscious. I will never be you and no two people will take information the same. So even within the tribe, we are our own experience and decisions, and we are bound to effect the tribe, even in our attempt to conform.