A Culture in Storage
In the previous discussion on the philosophy of work, I argued that a vast majority of Americans work either to maintain their standards of living or their possessions. In discussing the latter, it often results in the accumulation of stuff, typically collectibles, as individuals conflate their identity with the things they own.
A sense of ownership, of holding claim to one’s possessions, isn’t inherently problematic. The problem arises when it is only through ownership that one feels a sense of personal worth. What results from such beliefs is the conception that the more one owns, the more valuable one is to one’s family or one’s society.
In a sense, though, this conception isn’t too far from the mark. If over the course of my lifetime, I have amassed a lot of possessions, in trying to establish credit with any banking system, I can then use those possessions as assets, to leverage capital, to buy more stuff.
Thus, I can leverage stuff to get more stuff.
The system is constructed such that one’s possessions, irrespective of how dated they may be, retain some worth, and that worth can later be used as leverage to amass even greater possessions. Though the average American collector may not have taken the time to think of the process of collecting in such explicit terms, there needs to be some level of understanding of this system, no matter how latent, for the system to work.
The more one possesses, the more assets one has. The more assets one has, the more leverage one has. The more leverage one has, the more capital one can borrow. The more capital one can borrow, the more stuff one can possess. And the cycle repeats.
There is, however, a very real limitation to a culture that values possessions. Americans have exceedingly found it difficult to purge their possessions, either through charitable donations or throwing unused items in the trash. Americana is bloated with stuff. We have become a culture of storage.
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Article comments
1 - Kevin Freitas
I would argue that the idea of possessing stuff and its continued collecting, has a much simpler explanation than the one you're proposing. That is, the value of a dollar and its importance and the notion of what it represents by working hard and getting paid for your labor. Meaning, you've invested a certain amount of sweat, energy and time which represents a certain physical and emotional investment and toll that is eventually compensated by dollars.
Since it is generally difficult to earn a buck, when you purchase "stuff" you can't help feeling that you've also invested your labor (hard work) in not only working towards the purchase but its safeguarding. This would lead me to believe the reason why it is also so difficult to part ways with it.