Today it is commonplace to see ads that say or suggest: "Ownership has its privileges." Such ads are normally touting real estate--complete with a county club membership and a card for entry through the front gate. There is plenty of pressure on us all to buy and own, even with the current downturn in real estate sales and prices and the credit crunch now in process.

The whole concept of ownership is actually buried deep in our DNA. It wasn't so long ago that ownership, particularly of land, equated to power. Even today it is possible to watch, and relate to, property-less Robin Hood movies in which he scampers out of Sherwood Forest to do battle with the land-owning class. Eventually, he saves the rightful king from death at the hand of the king's ambitious, younger brother. Thereupon, Robin is given the hand of Lady Marion in marriage...along with some property...for his noble deed!

In addition, a fundamental element of the current American Dream is owning things. Earlier generations--grandparents, great-grandparents, great-greats... migrated to America in search of freedom, employment, and life with an upside to it. People in their 60-70's now who grew up in the 1930s-40s, experienced the Great Depression and WWII. Many, if not most, know first-hand about economic difficulty. After WWII (1946), along with returning veterans, those generations made up for lost time and pushed growth in all dimensions--homes, cars, appliances, recreation, etc.

Parents of Today's "Baby Boomers"
Have you heard of the 1950s? Between 1947 and 1951, William Levitt built "Levittown, NY," the first mass-produced suburb. It is wildly regarded as the template for postwar suburbs across the USA. The first 10 Million-cars-sold years occurred in the early '50s. At the same time TV antennas sprouted on every other roof across the land. TV programming highlights then were Milton Berle, wrestling, and plenty of ads for washing machines and carpeting.

The people of the 50s were the parents of today's Baby Boomers--the 72 million people born in America between 1946 and 1964.

In that same period--the '40s and '50s--a giant of psychology, Abraham Maslow, formulated what he called the Hierarchy of Human Needs. The hierarchy has five levels. One or more may resonate with you.

1. Physiological Needs
Picture a pyramid. On the bottom, the widest level, Maslow said there exists our most basic physiological needs. They include needs such as for water, food, sleep, shelter, and sex. If these fundamental needs are unfulfilled, many of us will put forth whatever effort or sacrifice is required to fill them.

2. Safety and Security Needs
Once our physiological needs are reasonably satisfied, however, a new need arises; in effect, we move up to the second floor of the pyramid. Here exists our need for safety and security.. In a work situation, this translates, for example, into job security. At home it might mean we need some structure in our lives, including having health insurance. If our safety and security needs are unmet, we will work hard to meet them.

3. Belonging ("Status") Needs
When both physiological needs and safety needs are, by and large, cared for, a third layer of needs shows up: We crave to belong. We begin to sense a need for friends, a sweetheart, children, affectionate relationships in general, even a sense of community. If this need goes unmet, a person may well become increasing susceptible to loneliness and social anxieties.

Said another way, in day-to-day life at the third level we exhibit desires to have a partner and/or a family, to be a member of a church or ski club, or to be an accepted part of company or nonprofit enterprise. Belonging is often an important part of what we seek in our work and volunteer activities. Belonging conveys status.

4. Self-Esteem Needs
The fourth level in Maslow's hierarchy is the need for individual recognition, for self-esteem. We evolve through a period (level three) where fame, glory, recognition, attention, reputation, appreciation, dignity, or even dominance is important. Once reasonably filled, however, a different set of needs seep into our consciousness. Now we want self-respect, including feelings such as confidence, competence, achievement, mastery, independence, and freedom. Some observers say that this is a higher form of desire than "mere" status because, unlike wanting the respect of others, at level four an individual may achieve self-respect, and self-respect is more reliable than respect based on what others think.

5. Self-actualization
At the top of the pyramid, the narrowest level, is the desire to "be all you can be." At level five, a person hungers to be true to his or her "calling"...almost regardless of any consequences or what others may think. Whereas at levels three and four we are mindful of, and take guidance from, external reference points, at level five we operate on our own, internal guidance system. As people become senior citizens, sometimes this becomes a driving force, i.e., to be themselves.

Maslow noted that at any point in history much of a given society can inhabit a specific level. If most of a given society is hungry or lacks safety, the people as a whole will pursue ways to fulfill these unmet needs. As such time as a big, lower-level need is satisfied for much of a society, the next level emerges for most of it. This is a useful way to describe what happened after WWII. With basic physiological and safety needs reasonably fulfilled, belonging (status) needs appeared. People wanted to have a car and live in a subdivision and have a TV. But as that level became satisfied, many in the younger generations, at least, gravitated to level four, self-esteem. Me-ness.

Baby Boomers--The 'Me' Generations
Here's how Boomers define themselves in recent times on one of their dedicated websites:

"The 1960s is the decade that defined the boomers. The music, events, and the social changes made a permanent impression on us. Those of us born during the "peak" boomer years, '52-'57, were in our formative years during the sixties. There were so many changes in the sixties that how old you were during the decade greatly affected how you turned out. 1961 was a whole lot different from 1969!

Those born at the early end of the spectrum were in our early 20s by 1970. The deaths of President Kennedy, Bobby Kennedy, and Dr. Martin Luther King; the Vietnam war and related protests; and the Watergate scandal... all made deep impressions on us.

At the other end, those born after 1959 have no direct recollection of the assassination of President Kennedy; they were not yet listening to rock music by the time the Beatles broke up. They were much more likely to use illegal drugs.... often to a great and disturbing excess. And they were never subjected to the military draft."

Boomers-72 million of them--started turning age 60 on January 1, 2006.

Rent More, Own Less
Boomers and technology now make it socially and economically possible to use "things" without the involvement of ownership. Car leasing may have been the first wave in what is now a tsunami. Today, movies, music, and handbags are rented freely, used, and returned. A front-page article in the Wall Street Journal on October 17 (2006) is titled: 'In a Dizzying World, One Way to Keep Up: Renting Possessions."

The articles goes on to describe a growing list of rentables in addition to those mentioned earlier, including audio books, videogames, and information (from Encyclopedia Britannica). "Customers don't think about owning that kind of products (encyclopedias, DVDs) in perpetuity anymore," says a Britannica executive in the WSJ article.

And eBay is encouraging a fresh crop of users it calls "virtual renters." These customers "flip" things like iPods, cell phones, golf clubs, and PCs. "Flipping means to buy it, use it, and resell it quickly...via the Internet, of course.

There is also a variation on this theme: Buy Used. "As a rule of thumb, whenever there is a vibrant rental market, as there is with DVDs, you are probably going to find a strong market for used goods....video games, exercise equipment, tuxedos, rototillers, cars, computers... for anyone who wants to save money." So says Damon Darlin in a December 3 (2006) The New York Times story titled, "Buying Used Just Could Turn Out to Be the Next New Thing." Besides reducing costs, buying used also lowers the depth of commitment to those "things" acquired.

Overall, between renting, flipping, and going with second-hand, lowering one's noun count, the thrust of Simplicity 101 through 104, may be an idea whose time has come.


Copyright c 2009 Steven C. Brandt