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Paradox of Affluence

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Paradox of Affluence
The paradox of affluence states that despite the increase in wealth across the nation peoples overall satisfaction has not increased. Even though money is something almost everyone strives for in their everyday life is that what we really want? We work for a promotion, which, in turn, give us more money and buys us things that we think we need. In David Myers’ book, “The Paradox of Affluence: Spiritual Hunger in an Age of Plenty.” Myer’s makes claims that over the last 40 to 50 years the wealth of American’s has tripled while the overall happiness has stills stayed the same. Even though people are buying more and more to supplement their needs and wants they are still not as happy as they think they would be. Commercials play a drastic role in effecting the mindset of individuals into believing something that may or may not be true. For instance, a happy family in an expensive car, watching a super sized television, or going on expensive trips is happier than the poor individual sitting on the couch watching this commercial.
Maslow’s hierarchy of needs is different from the paradox of affluence because it states that a person’s basic needs must first be met before they can truly be granted happiness. There is a level of order that needs to be gone through before an individual attains happiness. Starting at the bottom of the list would have to be the most basic of needs as in food. Moving higher up the list, an individual would move between safety and even further into personal relationships and love and so on. Even if our wallets increase and we are buying more and more if we are not fulfilling our most basic needs from Maslow’s hierarchy then we are not happy. Although we may be able to use money to purchase the food we would not be able to purchase perfect security nor would we be capable of purchasing “true” friendships. Learning to take

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