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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to wonder when money and stuff became so important?

95 replies

unicornfarts · 10/01/2018 09:12

Perhaps I'm being nostalgic/ deluding myself, but I thought there was a time when it was normal to be respected/ feel valued by your community as long as you contributed something of use to your fellow man. Now it seems that (especially) if you're doing a low skilled job, no matter how useful it is, you're somehow 'worth' less and get treated badly just because you're not highly paid, or maybe you don't have a sparkly new car/ trendy clothes. Why have we all become so materialistic? Maybe IABU and just need to move in different circles? Hoping for cheering replies that there are less 'grabby' and entitled communities out there!

OP posts:
gillybeanz · 10/01/2018 12:08

I think it started in the 70's when credit became acceptable.
Previous to this if you couldn't afford luxuries you went without.
Greed was the result, and people didn't have to wait and save they could have it now on credit.
The class system became eroded and wc could now have the same as middle class, on the never never.

Gromance02 · 10/01/2018 13:01

I agree OP. I also think that a lot of people do/buy things just to be able to tell people about them or to show off. It is very sad. I recently had a very expensive holiday but the only people that know about it are the people I went with.

shartsi · 10/01/2018 13:07

OP slaves contributed a lot to society but they were not valued or respected. So it is not a new thing to look down on "lesser " beings.

DrMarthaJones · 10/01/2018 13:10

Perhaps I'm being nostalgic/ deluding myself, but I thought there was a time when it was normal to be respected/ feel valued by your community as long as you contributed something of use to your fellow man

Lol, when was that then? Was it on a Tuesday?

Original poster
unicornfarts · 10/01/2018 14:05

Shartsi - didn;t mean to suggest it's a new thing to look down on others; wondering why so many people still do it, based not on the type of person you are/ the skills you offer/ the things you do, but instead on what you have......

I am sure it is moot to discuss whether there ever were halcyon days when everything was fine and dandy - quite probably there never were. I know people will be people....just wishing that routine politeness and respect was more normal!

OP posts:
DonutChamp · 10/01/2018 14:10

Yanbu

It's called "keeping up with the Joneses".

blueshoes · 10/01/2018 14:30

This has always been around - humans are social and hierarchical animals. Social media and rampant consumerism just makes it more in your face.

Religion does nothing to alleviate this. Religion is just another way to allow people to feel superior to others (non-believers).

blueshoes · 10/01/2018 14:31

There were no halcyon days, unless you have in mind a little non-diverse village where conformity ruled.

pinkginanyone · 10/01/2018 14:36

It’s getting worse and worse every year and it makes me so sad! My DH works with a lot of “middle class” people who have the best of everything... we have nothing and he feels it everyday.

I left a respected career and became a min wage worker (to escape the stress) the difference in the way people view/treat me is astonishing & not in a positive way. Ok when I was working 70 HRs a week I had money and could afford much more. Now we are poorer but happier... a little.

I suppose incount myself lucky I don’t live in an area that is flashy or has the “keeping up with the Jones” mentality. However I am well aware that if we move back to my hometown we would feel the need to be seen with more than we have.

DrMarthaJones · 10/01/2018 14:40

I am sure it is moot to discuss whether there ever were halcyon days when everything was fine and dandy - quite probably there never were. I know people will be people....just wishing that routine politeness and respect was more normal!

So why start a post saying exactly that? You know it's nonsense, so why say it?

Every generation has this idea that things were somehow better at some unspecified point in time, but can never say when or how. Because it's utter bullshit.

When was it when the low skilled worker was so valued? When they had no rights to min wage and limited working hours? When they went down mines at the age of 8? When they got no insurance, no dole and no welfare? When women earned a fraction of what men earned, when children had to work or starve?
When was it that things were so great for the working man?

WatchTheFoxes · 10/01/2018 14:43

There have always been people who choose to do good. That's got nothing to do with spirituality.

Religious people are far more likely than non-religious to help their community, do charity and volunteer work etc. So being religious does have a huge impact on doing good.

DrMarthaJones · 10/01/2018 14:45

Religious people are far more likely than non-religious to help their community, do charity and volunteer work etc. So being religious does have a huge impact on doing good

Source please? Because in my experience, thats utter bollocks. And quite offensive bollocks at that.

stuffstuffeverywhere · 10/01/2018 14:48

Easy answer to OP.

The industrial revolution.

Before that, most people could make most of the essentials they needed. After that, ordinary people were convinced they needed to work for other people to make money to buy shit made by people doing exactly the same thing.

LaurieMarlow · 10/01/2018 14:50

Source please? Because in my experience, thats utter bollocks. And quite offensive bollocks at that

Exactly, watch's post sounds like utter claptrap to me.

stuffstuffeverywhere · 10/01/2018 14:52

And what on earth has religion got to do with this?

Because churches aren't materialistic at all... 😜

Capelin · 10/01/2018 14:53

I work in a university. People definitely aren’t valued here for following designer trends etc. We’ve recently been interviewing for new lecturers and you wouldn’t believe how scruffy most of the candidates looked! I’m saying that in a positive way btw.

DrMarthaJones · 10/01/2018 14:56

Before that, most people could make most of the essentials they needed. After that, ordinary people were convinced they needed to work for other people to make money to buy shit made by people doing exactly the same thing

Don't be daft. Before the industrial revolution most people were tied peasants who were practically owned by the landowners, living at subsitance level and watching at least half their children die, and the other half working to support the family.

DrMarthaJones · 10/01/2018 14:56

Before that, most people could make most of the essentials they needed. After that, ordinary people were convinced they needed to work for other people to make money to buy shit made by people doing exactly the same thing

Don't be daft. Before the industrial revolution most people were tied peasants who were practically owned by the landowners, living at subsitance level and watching at least half their children die, and the other half working to support the family.

stuffstuffeverywhere · 10/01/2018 14:58

And you think that changed with the industrial revolution?

stuffstuffeverywhere · 10/01/2018 15:00

Still peasants, just 'owned' by the factory owners.

Health and mortality actually declined until sanitation and proper healthcare became a thing. That's nineteenth/ twentieth century, btw

goose1964 · 10/01/2018 15:02

Started in the 80s and got worse from then

DrMarthaJones · 10/01/2018 15:03

No, That was actually my point Hmm

stuffstuffeverywhere · 10/01/2018 15:07

You've lost me

metacrisis · 10/01/2018 15:08

You have to read the quoted post AND the response, and then you can follow the thread.

stuffstuffeverywhere · 10/01/2018 15:08

My point was, that the industrial revolution made things worse- worse life with more material shit which you had to work to earn.

What part of that, is 'being daft' exactly?