Thought of the Day 05.05.09

In considering the following statements, try to imagine how an average American might respond to them.

“We’ve never had a credit card.”
“We don’t buy Christmas gifts or send Christmas cards.”
“We don’t owe any money on our house.”
“It’s been over ten years since I bought new clothes other than undergarments and socks.”
“We never take out loans to buy cars.”
“What’s E-bay?”

Unless I’ve seriously miscalculated, the reaction to any of these statements would likely be the same: astonishment. How could anyone in 2009 could so be completely out of step with the economic culture of this country? In fact, if you asserted more than one of these, you might even encounter something like contempt in addition to shock and disbelief.

What’s interesting is that sociologists actually have a word for rituals and value systems which are so dominant that people who do not participate in them are considered strangers or outsiders. They call them religions.