Publication (142 pages).

The Dependence Effect
The problematic nature of non-physical needs
is also commented on by John Kenneth Galbraith.
He focuses on how satisfaction is a
myth that leads to more need, creating a cycle.
Similar to Durkheim, Galbraith notes that
els of satisfaction. Less satisfaction
creates more unhappiness, then psychologically grounded desires take
“when man has satisfied his physical needs,
which begs more needs, and so over. These can never be satisfied or, in any
the cycle continues. Durkheim case, no progress can be proved”. Galbraith
thought affluence was tied with believes that the “urgency of desire is a function
of the quantity of goods which the indi-
unhappiness, due to the inability
to satisfy needs morally. He vidual has available to satisfy that desire”. By
believed poverty could create this he means that a person’s desire increases
the happiest society because it when the originally desired goods are obtained;
the satisfaction of a want begets more
is the best cultivator of morality
due to limited availability of want. But he also comments that with increas-
material items.The affluence/
happiness debate has thus become a popular
topic in sociology, psychology, and economics.
ingly available goods come
decreasing returns on satisfaction
while fulfilling desire. For
Galbraith, the creation of new
needs is rooted in the process
of production. He claims “production
only fills a void that it
has itself created”. The driving
force behind production is to
keep creating and fulfilling
wants, which is made easier
bythe increasing levels of dissatisfaction.
This he calls the
‘dependence effect’; the idea
that an affluent society creates
more wants by continually failing
to fully satisfy the already
existing wants (. This leaves the
person with more and more
goods but less satisfaction. This
cycle is not created by individuals
but is produced and maintained
through advertising,
whose job it is to create desire.
Galbraith also notes that needs
are tied to status; higher levels
of want and production create
higher levels of accumulation
in the name of prestige. Thus,
desire is also linked to the luxury
commodity through ideas
of status. This connects the
commodity industry to the
maintenance of a cyclical system
of want creation and subsequently
to declining levels of
satisfaction and happiness.
27