society and money

Professor Baldwin posed the question in class to whether people would rather have a BMW or a Corolla. Everyone in class picked the BMW, of course. In our society we are fixated with flashy and expensive-looking things. We rank each other by the amount of money we have based on the things we purchase. If someone walks down the street in a normal white t-shirt and ripped jeans, we would think they had a lot less money than someone walking down the street in designer clothes. It's just something that has been programmed into our brains by society. As a result, most of us desire to have the nice things in life. The flashy BMW, the diamond necklaces and enormous mansions. We like to have these things surrounding us because it puts us at a higher rank in society.