Where does demand come from?

[TinyBubbles]

I was thinking about what [MENTION=1009]mf[/MENTION] said before, about how modern education is targeted towards giving people one right answer, rather than encouraging a range of responses, and thought perhaps, since education is driven by the need to increase the number of workers in a particular field and sustain the industry for the next X number of years, that this must reflect society's continued demand for certain products/services. But from where exactly do these demands arise? Why ARE people pulled to desire certain products over others - why do they want what they want?

You could say that for certain things without which we couldn't survive (food, clothes, drugs?) that there is a natural, intrinsically generated demand for these products, and that industries are built around and in response to these demands. But is this actually true? Is wanting food actually a real NEED, or a pseudo belief? Cells obviously could not sustain themselves without a regular input of food, so by not eating you will die, but why, exactly, does this make food a need? What you're really saying is that surviving is the need, and that eating is a means to that end - but again, why is it important to survive? Because it's painful to die? Why does the human body want to sustain and propagate itself, why does life continue to breed? If it's because it's painful to die, then the fundamental need in life is not food, it's not to survive, it's to AVOID PAIN. And if you think about it in that context, then whatever external messages we get that encourage us to believe that this route will lead us to less pain compared to that one (and that itself would depend on what you're exposed to - or marketed to?), then that's what you're going to accept and follow, and a consistent history of following this ideal over that one will eventually precipitate into the fundamental principles by which you navigate through life (which might explain why older folks are more resistant to change), rather than some overall, overriding sense of better or worse, or right or wrong. The heart of the matter would be to avoid pain, and morality would be an overlay ONTOP of that fundamental driving force. But that's only one possibility.

Uh, getting back to the original question, what do you think drives people to want certain things over others? Would love to hear your thoughts (and feel free to ignore my above nonsense, lol).

 

[Phoenix Down]

Epicurean much?

Try studying some microeconomics. You might enjoy that.

As for what drives desire, I ask myself that question on a regular basis. The best answer I can give you is our culture, experiences, and our genetics predispose us to certain tendencies. There is either an internal or external reward that drives us to do stuff.... or not to do stuff.

 

[Quinlan]

Genetics.

 

[Galileo]

I think it's what our societies also tell us we need. I mean, yes, our bodies tell us we need food and water, sure, but most of the material stuff we need because society dictates that we need it.

society says that nudity in public is not decent, so we must have clothes.

Society also dictates what kind of clothes we should have, thanks to television and magazines.

it's this whole "keeping up with the jones's" thing that many people in society seem to feel that they need to do.

It's important to own a home because other people at work do and because the adverts on the television are telling them that they need it for securety and it's just oh-soooo easy to do it with our easy homeloan rates or whatever.

When I spent time in Switzerland I was interested to find that homeload adverts didn't come on during every comercial break, and didn't litter every newspaper. there is not such a demand for them there. it's not so important to own a home there.

 

[Jack]

modern education is targeted towards giving people one right answer, rather than encouraging a range of responses,

That is a very astute observation.

Uh, getting back to the original question, what do you think drives people to want certain things over others? Would love to hear your thoughts (and feel free to ignore my above nonsense, lol).

It seems to me, people live lives in two ways economically. Avoiding pain as much as possible, or running toward a goal of some kind irrespective of pain. For example, I think, that if I cut down on buying movies, junk food, etc. I may go hungry a little more, I might lose a little temporary pleasure, or satiation, but once that investment pays off, I have a greater satisfaction of creating something that will continually generate revenue. In fact, it may even outlast me (like a franchise or a charity for example). Most people do pursue pleasure and satiation, and avoid pain, over their moral ideals, dreams, etc. but were you to ask them why, they would tell you that they can't do anything else. They would, if they could, but they can't. In the words of Thoreau, "Most men lead lives of quiet desperation." I believe that the reason so many do, is largely the result of mass social conditioning to be consumers.

 

[Nixie]

I tend to think that demands and needs fall along your aspects of being. Some are physical reasons, some are emotional reasons, some are intellectual reasons, some are spiritual reasons and some are a combination of two or more aspects. Everything in our life is governed by our physical, emotional, intellectual and spiritual aspects.

 

[kita]

I believe everything people do can be explained either by genetics (evolution) or their own history of reinforcement. People do things for which they have been rewarded in the past.

 

[KazeCraven]

I think the difference between want and need really comes down to what people think they can do without. Trying to get technical about it will make it break down, of course, because it's just a really fuzzy construct we've made to separate serious and less serious wants.

Why do people want what they want? How about this: everyone has some basic motivations and beliefs about what they think will meet those needs (wants). The details would be in psychology and history of advertising, among other things. Demand is just the manifestation of all those wants (acceptance, food, sex, image, comfort, convenience, avoidance of pain/health, etc.)

 

[Inquisitive]

 

[middle1]

Epicurean much?

Try studying some microeconomics. You might enjoy that.

As for what drives desire, I ask myself that question on a regular basis. The best answer I can give you is our culture, experiences, and our genetics predispose us to certain tendencies. There is either an internal or external reward that drives us to do stuff.... or not to do stuff.

LOL, microeconomics was the first thing that came to my mind when I saw this thread.