Theories of Conspicuous Consumption and Buddhism (Article)

神奈川県茅ヶ崎市 Aiming to gain the comprehension of consumer needs, clarify the meaning of Conspicuous Consumption and its needs, the chronological research of them have been attempted. That is, understandings and ethic views of Conspicuous Consumption by Mandeville, Smith, Rae,Pigou, Veblen, Galbraith, and Baudrillard are introduced and examined. Basically, Conspicuous Consumption has been considered to be sin from the view point of Christianity. However some see it as necessity from the view point of economic development. Along with the development of economics, the character of Conspicuous Consumption has been changed. According to Baudrillard, the meaning of consumption has been modified to communication, which includes Conspicuous Consumption, from economical and rational exchange. Views of Baudrillard are seemed to fit today’s complicated “Society of Consumption”, and conclude the discussion concerning to Conspicuous Consumption. After gaining the understanding of the progress of Conspicuous Consumption theories, the application of Buddhism has been attempted. As Conspicuous Consumption is based upon the human needs, Buddhism, which focuses on needs themselves, should be expected to rely upon. According to Buddhism, Conspicuous Consumption is based on anger along with greed, not with needs. Buddhism does not see needs as wrong, but sees greed and anger as sin. According to Buddhism, to understand the psychological mechanism of greed and anger should be the solutionfor both of them. And Buddhism suggests that people should avoid from greed and anger and limit their needs for goods and services. Through the comparison research of Conspicuous Consumption, the feasibility of Buddhism to apply to it has been tested. Buddhism approach may sound odd but should be considered seriously to apply to economics, management, and marketing. Max Weber thought Buddhism as highly organized one and Schumacher insisted on the importance to build Buddhism Economics. Under the circumstances that western civilization has faced the critical point, the practical value of Buddhism should be highlighted more and more by Asian - especially Japanese - researchers