Materialism, Religion, and Implications for Marketing-An Ethnographic Study of Nichiren Buddhism

Abstract

The pursuit of material pleasures, construed as symbolizing consumer culture, is often at odds with religion. Hence for consumers for whom religion is important, there may be a quandary reconciling religious values, such as simple living and modest possessions with living in today's society awash with the ideology of consumerism with its abundance of goods and propaganda of the materialistic good life. This study explores how consumers reconcile religious precepts with materialism in today's consumer culture and society with an ethnographic study of a worldwide Buddhist organization that practices Nichiren Daishonin's Buddhism. The study reveals that religion can embrace even the paradoxical entities of consumerism, materialism, and spiritualism; transcend thought duality; and emanate the positive potential intrinsic to all, leading to an individual human revolution with implications for marketing and societal transformation. The researcher hopes to add to the understanding of the religion, consumerism, and materialism linkage. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.