Education in Possession – how to Achieve Happiness in the Materialistically Oriented World

• Authors: Małgorzata E. Górnik-Durose

Abstracts

EN

In the article reasons for “education in possession” are introduced. The author defines the concept of “education in possession” in terms of educational objectives and means of their realization which are to help people in conscious and responsible choices related to fulfilling their vital needs using effectively available material resources. In the approach applied instead of looking at the problem from the point of view of idealistically set goals and directions of education, a question has been asked if acquiring and possessing material goods can provide clear advantages for individuals in relation to the quality of their lives. Such advantages are considered to serve as standards for the appropriateness of people’s choices and at the same time as benchmarks for educational objectives. The author, drawing conclusions from the results of numerous studies on the relationship between psychological well-being and material wealth, shows that wealth fulfils its function in relation to the fulfillment of human needs in the area of necessary comfort and in relation to the effectiveness of individuals’ everyday activities. Beyond that material strivings seem to be psychologically disadvantageous and lose their importance. After reaching a certain level being wealthier does not mean being happier, because the obtained surplus of possessions, being unnecessary, requires dealing with additional costs of the psychological nature. These psychological costs of material wealth have their roots in external and internal factors. The former are connected with objective discrepancies in wealth within societies and cultural rules and values, the latter with a type of motivation for acquiring material possession, nature of material goals, an individual level of materialism, a conflict between values, and a way of managing material resources. The avoidance of the costs described is treated in the article as a major educational objective in the field of “education in possession”.

Keywords

EN

well-being; material wealth; psychological costs; education in possession

• Publisher: Wydawnictwo Adam Marszałek
• Journal: The New Educational Review
• Year: 2006
• Volume: 10
• Pages: 91-113

Dates

published

2006

Contributors

author

Małgorzata E. Górnik-Durose

• University of Silesia, Poland

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Identifiers

DOI

10.15804/tner.06.10.3.08

Biblioteka Nauki

29520301