How we sold our souls

The phenomenon of "hauling" – popular mainly among teenage girls – can be viewed as a harmless extension of showing off to your mates. But some experts believe it is a worrying sign of how people of all ages now define themselves by what they own.

Dr Carol Craig, chief executive of the Glasgow-based Centre for Confidence and Well-being believes the time has come to have a serious debate over how materialism and "celebrity culture" is beginning to dominate society. The issue has become a main focus of the work of the centre this year, with plans for a series of events to debate the topic and the publication of a book on materialist values in autumn. Talks which have already taken place have highlighted concerns over make-up parties for three-year-olds and mothers who are more interested in "turning their bodies orange" than looking after their children. Parents have also repeatedly expressed fears about the "unwholesome values" that their children are growing up with.

Just as the great thinkers of the Scottish Enlightenment attempted to address the "evils" of the 18th century, such as superstition, Craig says a move to root out the "toxic values" of modern society is required. But she is keen to point out the issue is not about criticism of people spending on small luxuries or paying attention to their image.

"I am not for a minute trying to say we shouldn't care about our appearance at all, I don't think that is reasonable," she said.

"What this is about is the extent to which your appearance, money, image and so on, start to dominate so much in your life that it takes over and it begins to take over the things that really do matter.

"That is really the issue here and that is what is now happening."

Craig argued that before the advent of mass media, people would have compared themselves with relatives or neighbours, but the global celebrity culture means they are now invited to compare themselves with those deemed to be the most beautiful, talented or rich.

She said those attending the events held by the Centre for Confidence and Well-being had revealed stories about the extent to which materialistic values were affecting lives.

"A lot of people were saying there is something deeply wrong going on," she said. "One woman said I am working with quite poor women out in the housing estates, who are young mothers and they are more interested in turning their bodies orange as she put it, than they are looking after their babies.

"Other people are saying very similar things – if you go into an area where people really don't have an awful lot of money, they are prioritising spending money on their appearance or expensive items for babies, that kind of thing, before they will be putting food on the table.

"If you are lapping up television and adverts and the media for five or six hours a day, of course you are going to think that is what having a good life and feeling good about yourself is about."

In 2007, a Unicef study sparked much debate after revealing Britain was languishing at the bottom of a league of 21 industrialised countries, including substantially poorer ones, for child well-being. Last year an investigation into the reasons for this, which used Sweden and Spain as a comparison, concluded that parents in Britain were struggling to spend time with their children and feeling more under pressure to continually buy things for their children and themselves.

"Boxes of toys, broken presents and unused electronics in the home were witness to this drive to acquire new possessions," the report noted.

Lead author of the study Agnes Nairn, professor of marketing at EM-Lyon Business School in France, believes the influence of advertising over successive generations is one factor why the UK scores poorly in child wellbeing.

"If you look at Sweden they banned advertising to children in the 1990s and Spain has really only had commercial television since the end of the 1980s," she said. "The parents in the studies we did in Spain were perfectly happy to say to their kids, 'No you can't have that, it is ridiculous'.

"Whereas the UK parents, who have been advertised at since the 1960s and 70s, felt they didn't really know what to do. It was, 'Should I buy my child this, so they can fit in?'

"That is to do with the amount of commercialisation there has been across two or three generations now which isn't the case in other countries."

Nairn said the phenomenon of "hauling" could be seen by some as simply an extension on the internet of teenagers showing people what they have bought from a shopping trip.

But she added: "The idea you need to show this to millions of people is somewhat strange. Young people are defining themselves by what they own, rather than who they are as a human being.

"I think it is a strange and a bit alarming example of the underlying culture. Young people seem incredibly pressurised to have the latest stuff – their reason for that is that it is part of their identity."

In addition, Nairn said that research has indicated it is those who are least likely to be able to afford expensive items that are the ones who are most likely to succumb to advertising.

"Some of the work we have looked at shows quite clearly it is the children who can't afford designer brands are the ones that really want them and the same goes for the parents," she said. "That has a terrible impact as you end up with families who spend all their money on iPods and so forth and they can't afford the rent.

"Unfortunately that always gets slanted towards these irresponsible dreadful parents, but it is much more complicated than that.

"If you feel completely disenfranchised – which a lot of kids in Britain do – having an iPod can make you feel good for five seconds. Unfortunately it only lasts for about five seconds."

Renowned philosopher and writer Roger Scruton agrees with the "broad idea" that materialism is to blame for many social ills. "We all like for instance, warmth and food and shelter and companionship and all that, and nobody is telling us that is wrong," he said. "But there are wrong ways of going about it.

"Obviously the desire to be constantly consuming more than we need is one thing that people might say is at the root of some of our social ills – constantly chasing after new excitements, rather than finding peace and contentment with the old ones."

But writer and philosopher Julian Baggini, founding editor of The Philosophers' Magazine, argues that one difficulty is people tend to fail to acknowledge their own materialistic values.

"People recognise there is something wrong with materialism but they don't think they are materialistic," he said. "They always think their level of concern for material prosperity is reasonable.

"It is always other people who are too materialistic, not them. I think it is because people tend to compare themselves against their peers and it also tends to be the peers who are a little bit better off than themselves. No-one thinks they are living in excess luxury."

He argued that much of the celebrity culture featured in glossy magazines was recognised as a "fantasy world" by the majority of people and the impact of reality television and shows with vast prizes was more significant.

"It is the fact that people without any particular talent who are just off the street can appear on reality TV," he said. "And before the Lottery it would be a great achievement to go on quiz programmes such as Blankety Blank and get a cheque book and pen.

"The idea that the ordinary person can actually do astonishingly well has become a lot more prevalent."

He added: "It is a bit more of the import of the American ideal really, that you can be anything you want to be.

"It used to be the case that people knew their station in life. Of course that was too rigid, but now it seems it is too open and people think anything is genuinely possible."

JOHN Haldane, professor of philosophy at St Andrews University, said that materialism alongside other factors such as individualism and hedonism, had worked together to produce a "deeply unhappy and consumerist society".

"You only need to go into any pub on a Friday night in any city to see rampant materialism, hedonism and individualism," he said. "It has got nothing to do with whether people are left-wing or right-wing, whether they are young or old or whatever it might be.

"These [values] afflict the society quite pervasively. But they have taken a deeper root among the young than they have among older generations.

"Part of the reason for that is that older generations were less affluent and so had much more of an attitude of mend and do."

Haldane, who is director of the university's centre for ethics, philosophy and public affairs, said materialism in today's society was not so much about hoarding money, but "acquiring debt in the pursuit of pleasure".

He added: "There is nothing wrong with pleasure as such. You can get pleasure from sitting reading a book, that can be very cheap and you can buy books very cheaply at charity shops.

"But it is this kind of relentless, almost kind of blotting out the realities of life, fuelled by personal indebtedness and so on.

"It is almost as if there is nothing else to do, or nothing else to immerse yourself in except 120 channels on TV and endless DVDs or down the pub or whatever it might be. It is that kind of filling up the empty space with noise and distraction."

Haldane also predicted that levels of personal debt in the UK will bring about a fresh economic crisis for individuals, with fears welfare cuts and mortgage interest rate rises will bring additional pressure on household budgets.

But the squeeze on finances may also act as a "countervailing force" against materialism, hedonism and individualism, he argued.

"You can't be materialistic if you haven't got the means of pursuing it," he said. "You will, I think, tend to start to see people clustering together in the face of the storm and attending more to the realities of life than entertainment."

In a recent talk held in Glasgow as part of the TEDx ideas forum, Craig argued the debate over the issue was reminiscent of the work of 18th century scholars such as Adam Smith which attempted to "shine the light in dark places" of society during the Scottish Enlightenment.

"For the enlightenment scholars like Smith, what they wanted to root out was some of what they saw as the evils of their day, and that was irrationality, superstition and religious fanaticism," she said.

"We need a similar project of enlightenment, we need to shine the light into dark places.

"These dark places are these toxic base values - that are undermining our environment, destroying our environment and diminishing all our lives."

Confidence at the heart of Scots' problems

THE Centre for Confidence and Well-being was launched eight years ago with the intention of tackling Scotland's "cannae do" attitude.

It aims to change Scottish culture and encourage positive attitudes, individuality, creativity and innovation.

At the launch, founder and chief executive Dr Carol Craig warned that lacking confidence had implications for economic growth and enterprise, as well as physical and mental health.

But she also said the centre would strive to avoid creating a nation of "self-obsessed Pollyannas".

Craig's think-tank was founded after widespread acclaim for her first book, The Scots' Crisis Of Confidence, which explored the nation's attitude and predilection for negativity. Two years ago she published the The Tears That Made The Clyde, in which she argued that Glasgow's health and social problems are not only due to factors such as poverty and unemployment, but a deep-seated macho culture.

Craig has previously spoken of the impact that Scotland's lack of confidence has on the nation's health, saying some studies had shown feelings of pessimism could reduce life expectancy by as much as eight years.

She also recommends children should be taught how to overcome their Scottish pessimism. However in 2009, she warned teachers "obsessed with praising" were creating a generation of egotistical pupils, criticising a "fashionable" self-esteem agenda which had gone too far. According to the centre's website – www.centreforconfidence.co.uk – it receives a small amount of core funding from the Scottish Government.

WE LOVE ... DESIGNERS

WE may be in the Age of Austerity, but the luxury goods industry is booming with fashion designers across the globe boasting of seeing increased profits.

Global sales sank in 2009 in the wake of the credit crisis, but the trend is reversing, with sales of top brands beating expectations. Overall, global luxury goods sales reached around €185 billion (about £152.7bn) last year, compared with €172bn in 2010.

Last year, the world's largest luxury goods group, LVMH – which controls prestigious brands covering wine, watches, perfumes and fashion, including Louis Vuitton – reported bumper sales figures.

The firm also revealed it had waiting lists for its purses and handbags, illustrating that cheap chic is so last season.

WE LOVE ... GADGETS

With its iPhone, iPad and iPod, Apple is one of the most-used brands in the UK.

When the new third-generation iPad was launched last month, more than three million were bought across the globe in the first weekend alone.

Apple's sales figures are particularly impressive, given the original iPad tablet took 80 days to surpass three million in sales.

Ahead of the new iPad's release, Apple had already sold 55 million tablets and completely dominates the tablet market.

However, Android continues to be the smartphone market leader in every territory, with a 47% share of the UK market.

And despite last year's power outage, BlackBerry handsets were the most popular phones bought as gifts last Christmas.

we love ... celebrity

From Justin Bieber to Beyoncé, celebrities are earning millions by selling products and becoming the face of a brand.

Millions of girls across the globe have caught Bieber fever – and it has made the teenage popstar a millionaire many times over.

He has an impressive mix of products he sells or lends his name to, including nail polish, Someday fragrance for women, as well as a unisex fragrance called My World. The teen sensation made a massive $53 million last year.

R 'n' B superstar Beyoncé also raked it in last year – she earned more than $35m. Not content with acting royalties and music-related earnings, Beyoncé makes millions from her Dereon clothing line and endorsement deals with companies, including L'Oreal.

David Beckham sells two fragrances, Instinct and Intimately, which bring in some sweet money for the football star. Around 80% of Beckham's earnings last year, which total $40m, come from product endorsements