Being materialistic means having values that place relatively high priority on having many possessions and making a lot of money, as well as a good social and popular image, which are expressed through possessions.
I believe that materialism is viewed negatively because people may have had unpleasant experiences with materialistic people. We know from research that materialism is associated with treating people in a competitive, manipulative, selfish, and less empathetic way. Such behaviors are generally not appreciated by people, even though they are encouraged by some aspects of our capitalist economic system. The research shows two sets of factors that lead people to have materialistic values. First, people are more materialistic when they are exposed to messages that suggest that these activities are important, whether through their parents and friends, society or the media. Second, and somewhat less obvious, is that people are more materialistic when they feel insecure or threatened, whether due to rejection, economic fears or thoughts about their own death.
Materialism is about values, the desire for money, possessions and the like. On the other hand, compulsive use occurs when a person feels unable to control the desire to consume, often because he or she is trying to fill some void or to overcome anxiety.
Materialism and compulsive consumerism are related to each other. In a recent meta-analysis of the association between materialism and people's well-being, it was found that the correlation between people's materialism and the average of problems reported by compulsive use was strong and consistent across many studies.
Materialism is a risk factor for compulsive consumption, but they are not the same thing. Some materialists are more "relaxed" with their money and others are more "rigid". Both types worry about having money and possessions, but the relaxed materialist will spend and spend, while the rigid materialist will try to continue accumulating wealth.
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