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The PoMa paradox

By Don Arthur - posted Friday, 19 June 2009


While outer-suburban families are happy to shop at supermarkets and buy whatever’s on special, the contents of their shopping trolleys would provoke an anxiety attack in the typical PoMa household. White sliced bread, cordial laced with artificial colours and diabetes inducing sugar, and hamburger mince made from burping, farting climate destroying cattle.

Being a post materialist consumer means managing anxiety. Anxiety about caring for children, anxiety about health, anxiety about the state of the planet and your contribution to its demise (note: must remember to buy carbon offsets for that hiking trip in the Andes) and anxiety about whether it’s right to be taking Zoloft instead of persisting with Yoga and St John’s Wort.

Rather than pursuing social status, the PoMa consumer is building a life around relationships and experiences. And spending on goods is often focused on “moral necessities” - goods which are essential for family safety, environmental responsibility or good world citizenship.

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The PoMa lifestyle isn’t materialistic but it is expensive. Too expensive to allow anyone to quit their job, grow vegetables, write a novel and take care of the kids full-time … although that often seems like an attractive idea.


Note: This all began as a response to a post by Andrew Norton - Do people mistakenly prioritise money-making in their lives? Like Andrew I’m sceptical about the idea that many people overwork because they mistakenly think more money will make them happier.

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First published in Club Troppo on June 17, 2009.



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About the Author

Don Arthur lives Canberra where he is employed as a researcher with a non-profit social services agency. He has written for Policy magazine and the Evatt Foundation. He currently writes for the group blog Club Troppo. The views expressed here are his own and are not necessarily shared by his employers - past or present.

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Creative Commons LicenseThis work is licensed under a Creative Commons License.

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