File spoon-archives/bhaskar.archive/bhaskar_2000/bhaskar.0006, message 93


Date: Thu, 8 Jun 2000 13:44:44 +0100
From: Mervyn Hartwig <mh-AT-jaspere.demon.co.uk>
Subject: Re: BHA: Realism and latent theology /anthropology


Hi Jan, Bwanika

I too found Bwanika's post very interesting. 

Bwanika wrote:

>My argument as opposed to Nick's libertarian theology (aah), 
>which was thoroughly practised in Latin America as an undercover of
>pseudo socialism, 

Your politics are showing, Bwanika. On the face of it, they prove my
point about political reaction.

What both of you overlook in the anti-market homilies you attach to your
posts ('Reflection: Desire to Be Rich and Famous ... a Sure Path to
Discontent', etc.) is that New Age by and large thoroughly *embraces*
the market and success. It is heavily commodified - a user-pays religion
for the middle classes - thickly peopled with charlatans and quacks who
charge a hefty fee for their services even as they denounce
'materialism'.

Wanna be Rich and Famous? - become a New Age guru. You could have 'a
massive following, holding a huge swathe of ... India in the palm of
[your] hand' (FETW 135-6) and lead us all 'like Moses' to the promised
land... (16). True, though, the book denounces 'materialism'...


Mervyn


Jan Straathof <janstr-AT-chan.nl> writes
>Hi Bwanika,
>
>i really enjoyed your post, you wrote:
>
>>It is indeed a confusing book, which can't readily be captured with an
>>'empiricist ego' with a great void as lack of practice or TIC. I strongly
>>believe Bhaskar at last has brought upon the world, a theory "an
>>explanatory theory" and indeed liberated Habermasian " life world" and
>>Durkheimian  "organic solidity".
>
>yes, this is also my line of thought, roughy sketched i would
>say that -at base- the book is trying to initiate a sort of a
>buddhist marxist utopianism [with Christ and Krishna as
>guiding spirits]
>
>yours in SRA,
>Jan
>
>----------------------------
>Reflection:
>
>Desire to Be Rich and Famous Called a Sure Path to Discontent
>
>by Alfie Kohn
>
>New York - The adage that money cannot buy happiness may
>be familiar, but is easily forgotten in a consumer society. A
>much more persistent and seductive message is beamed from
>every television screen: Contentment is available for the price
>of this car, that computer, a little more getting and spending.
>
>Over the last few years, however, psychological researchers
>have been amassing an impressive body of data suggesting
>that satisfaction simply is not for sale. Not only does having
>more things prove to be unfulfilling, but also people for whom
>affluence is a priority in life tend to experience an unusual
>degree of anxiety and depression as well as a lower overall
>level of well-being. Likewise, those who would like nothing
>more than to be famous or attractive do not fare as well,
>psychologically speaking, as those who primarily want to
>develop close relationships, become more self-aware or
>contribute to the community.
>
>Earlier research had demonstrated that neither income nor
>attractiveness is strongly correlated with a sense of well-being.
>But Dr. Richard Ryan, professor of psychology at the University
>of Rochester, and Dr. Tim Kasser, a former student who is
>now an assistant professor of psychology at Knox College in
>Illinois, have discovered that the news is even worse.
>
>In three sets of studies published in leading psychology journals
>since 1993, with a new article this year in Personality and Social
>Psychology Bulletin and still more papers on the way, the resear-
>chers sketch an increasingly bleak portrait of people who value
>``extrinsic goals'' like money, fame and beauty.
>
>Such people are not only more depressed than others, but also
>report more behavioral problems and physical discomfort, as
>well as scoring lower on measures of vitality and self-actuali-
>zation. While not every study has investigated the full list of
>effects, the pattern that emerges from the research project as
>a whole is remarkably consistent.
>
>Ryan and Kasser said their studies provided a look at the "dark
>side of the American dream,'' noting that the culture in some
>ways seemed to be built on precisely what turned out to be
>detrimental to mental health. Americans are encouraged to
>try to strike it rich, but,``the more we seek satisfactions in
>material goods, the less we find them there,'' Ryan said.
>"The satisfaction has a short half-life; it's very fleeting.''
>
>Moreover, the detrimental effect of extrinsic goals seems to
>hold regardless of age or even level of income: A preoccupation
>with money bodes ill regardless of how much money one
>already has. The effects also appear not to be limited to any
>one culture. Kasser and his associates have now collected data
>from subjects in 13 countries, including Germany, Russia and
>India. The fact that pursuing wealth is psychologically unhelp-
>ful and often destructive, he reports, ``comes through very
>strongly in every culture I've looked at.''
>
>Affluence, per se, does not necessarily result in an unsatisfying
>life. Problems are primarily associated with "living a life where
>that's your focus,'' Ryan said. Nevertheless, the negative
>psychological picture does seem to be associated with the extent
>to which people believe that they are already on the way to
>attaining extrinsic goals.
>
>For example, the paper to be published this year surveyed about
>300 youths, some in the United States and some in Russia. In
>both countries, lower levels of mental health were found not
>only in people who wanted to make a lot of money but also in
>those who thought they were likely to succeed at it.
>
>Another study by the same researchers, not yet accepted for
>publication, found that college students who were already
>``relatively high in the attainment of appearance, financial
>success and popularity'' were nevertheless ``lower in well-being
>and self-esteem.'' Those who aspired to affluence also had
>more transient relationships, watched more television and
>were more likely to use cigarettes, alcohol and other drugs
>than were those who placed less emphasis on extrinsic goals.
>
>Apart from its obvious implications for a culture that thrives
>on material gain, this whole line of research raises questions
>about the proclivity of some psychologists to analyze the
>dynamics of what is often called goal-directed behavior
>while, in effect, ignoring the nature of the goal. Likewise, it
>challenges homespun advice to``follow one's dream,'' whatever
>it may be.
>
>These data strongly suggest that not all goals or dreams are
>created equal. According to the researchers, pursuing goals
>that reflect genuine human needs, like wanting to feel connected
>to others, turns out to be more psychologically beneficial than
>spending one's life trying to impress others or to accumulate
>trendy clothes, fancy gizmos and the money to keep buying
>them.
>
>The latter quest may amount to using compensation to try to
>compensate for something more meaningful. The empirical
>support for this piece of the puzzle comes from a particularly
>provocative study that Kasser and Ryan conducted with Dr.
>Melvin Zax at the University of Rochester and Dr. Arnold
>Sameroff at the University of Michigan. These researchers
>discovered that 18-year- olds for whom financial success
>was especially important turned out to be disproportionately
>likely to have mothers who were not very nurturing. When
>parents are "cold and controlling,'' the researchers wrote,
>"their children apparently focus on attaining security and
>a sense of worth through external sources.''
>
>This seems consistent with anecdotal accounts of very wealthy
>men who grew up in troubled homes. Such stories are sometimes
>cited as evidence that they made the best of a bad thing, turning
>out well despite or because of their unhappy childhoods. The
>problem with this interpretation, according to the research, is
>that they may not have turned out so well after all. They just
>turned out wealthy.
>
>(c)2000 San Francisco Chronicle
>
>
>
>
>
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-- 
Mervyn Hartwig
13 Spenser Road
Herne Hill
London SE24 ONS
United Kingdom
Tel: 020 7 737 2892
Email: mh-AT-jaspere.demon.co.uk


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