Money, an ordinary piece of printed paper, has accelerated its worth over the centuries. People are willing to die for it as it can buy anyone almost anything they want in terms of goods, fame and power. Because of its worthiness, certain societies have built their collectivism cultures around money.
Cultures are the ‘templates” for living. We are all subscribed to certain thoughts within our specific culture groups and risk criticism if we act out of the “norms”. Collectivism is a form of social behaviour that is determined by the society. Saving part of our income has always been part of our Asian moral culture and a source of consumption. We try to benefit those around us by being thrifty so that others can enjoy materialistic pleasures too and our nation won’t sink into debts (if we were to save all our money in banks as investments). In other words, the whole economy gains from our actions.
I’m sure most of us have been taught by our parents from young to save up for the “rainy days”. And, if we were to spend a lot of money on something that is deemed as “unworthy”, we will get scolding from them. (leakage of income flow for buying imported goods) This form of act represents the rejection of spendthrift moves. We are also constantly bombarded by advertisements from our local banks with delicious incentives or paybacks if we were to recruit their services in handling our hard-earned money and the governmental institutions on how to be financially independent.
MONEY SAVER managing your money from “ The Survival Guide” , The Central Singapore CDC)
However, in recent times, the trends of saving ( into the bank)decreasing due to the economic recessions. People are losing hope in the financial industries as investments go down, followed by profits and eventually the interest of savings. This is shown in the article from channelnewsasia.com, 9th October 2009: Risk of losing money preventing Singaporeans from saving and investing more
This brings us back to the definition of our culture. So, when there’s an economic downturn, most people will avoid saving a large sum of money into the bank (regardless the type of account), leading to decrease in the amount of consumption. As compared to the uneventful periods, this act is against the normal norm. Yet, no one says anything (other than the media’s observations). Why? This is because of the dynamic factor of the culture. Culture changes over time, according to the cost and benefit analysis.
The majority of the population or the highest power holder (usually the government) will decide if the culture should be changed for betterment of everyone or should it remain as the disadvantages incurred is more than the advantages. But, in this case, the people within the culture are swaying their stand towards a more individualistic outlook and focuses on their personal goals of materialistic enjoyment as their foremost priority. Hence, in a sense, these people somehow create their own in-group of thinking for themselves and not contributing for the society’s well being. i.e. Saving money into their own deposit box and not into bank, causing the flow of money to become a stand-still. This is illustrated in the video below(macroeconomics):
After breaking down all the theories behind the potential phenomenons of money, I cannot help but noticing that money seems to be “governing” a very large part in our culture and daily lives. Or is it the other way round? Is it beneficial to sacrifice our time, effort and even lives for a piece of paper just to exchange something with others? Is it worthwhile to even consider money when we want to set our cultural rules or should we focus on behaviors that are more important such as filial piety?
You decide.
Chu Yuan
Rachel Lim Said:
on October 12, 2009 at 9:52 PM
Hi Chu Yuan!
Yes I agree that money has become an integral part of our culture. In fact, I think people worldwide put alot of emphasis on money. The difference between the asian culture and the western culture, is that we tend to save more while the westerners prefer to spend. (More people are trying to save now though due to the economice meltdown).
While I think that cultural behaviors like filial piety seem more important than such a materialistic thing as money, I have to say we cannot deny the benefits money can bring. It is unfortunate that money governs our culture, but the things ‘this piece of paper’ can exchange for are sometimes more than worth it. For example – life. Hospital treatments are not free of charge, and sometimes it is the extra income that can save a patient’s life. The people in poorer countries do not mind slogging for that extra cash to buy food for survival. Another example would be – betterment for future generations. Parents can be so generous. They are willing to work to ensure their children are brought up educated and have basic necessities.
People may be caught up in the money race, sometimes for selfish purposes, but sometimes for very good intentions that form the platform of our culture.
Elle Said:
on October 14, 2009 at 11:10 PM
I would agree with rachel that money brings lots of benefits we cannot deny eg life, goods etc.
However, values like filial piety is important too and we should emphasize on the importance. Yet, this is often done through campaigns, media, advetisements etc where money is involved.
Sadly, money governs our culture and it is really amazing what these pieces of paper can bring us. Why is this paper named as “$2, $50…” and the amount of goods worth for this amount of money?
We can never trace back the origins of “Money” or maybe from barter trades? Perhaps, money is incoporated for easy process of selling and buying stuff. It sort of solve conflicts between the traders so maybe it is not a bad thing afterall for it to govern our culture. =)
Celeste Said:
on October 15, 2009 at 12:21 AM
HI CHUYUAN!
I agree with you that saving money is indeed a social norm in an Asian society like ours.
However, I disagree that saving money is more of a collectivism culture as compared to it as an individualism culture. If we did choose not to save money, which yes, it would sort of be breaking the norm, but really, who would be able to judge us? Furthermore, in our society today, the focus has been more on spending and consumerism. See the building of more and more shopping centres today, rather than saving campaigns.
I would say it is an Individual culture as the social behaviour of saving money would be largely determined by personal goals and attitudes, instead of being influenced by others.
cforceleste.blogspot.com
Sarah Said:
on October 24, 2009 at 6:51 PM
I agree on your stand that saving money is both beneficial to the nation and the inividuals. Sadly, money does influence over much of our lives. We have to have it for survival in this urban environment as we cannot grow our old food nor catch our own fishes. Instead, we have jobs that pay us money to exchange for these things.
It is also because of money that we fell out of relationships with our loved ones and our friends. Who doesn’t want to live a comfortable life? Everyone wants to be the ultimate winner and that’s why people work so hard to earn money. That’s also why our culture is falling apart. Look at the past China that did not have captalism influences. Their culture had remain relatively in their lives. But until recently decades, people start to focus more on progression and money so much that the culture has evolved around money instead of relationships.
Chu Yuan Said:
on October 25, 2009 at 12:06 PM
Not necessary true that all cultures are evolving around money. How about those community cultures? Such as the Muslim conmmuity and the Chinese dialect group communities? Im sure some of them still focuses more on building relationships and passing on the traditional way of living. But, we must still acknowlege the fact that our “kampong” culture is losing out amongst the uprising culture of “kaisu-ism”, which inevitably revolves around money
Edmund Said:
on October 25, 2009 at 5:00 PM
I have to agree that money is governing a huge part of our lives. After all, it is hard to even get basic necessities such as food and water if we had no money. However, I see money as a way of the people in power ( the government and the super rich, of controlling others. See it this way. People often see a growth in GDP as sign of a growing economy right? But is that necessarily true? By making basic necessities more expansive than what they really should be and by increasing the amount of payable taxes, the people in power are able to force the people whom they have control over to work harder. This is mainly done to offset the financial strains caused by the increased standard of living. And because the people are forced to work harder, there is an increase in GDP. So if we think about it, does this growth actually helps anyone? Well, it definitely helps the people in power to stay in power at least for they would claim credit for the economic growth. =D
Madeline Said:
on November 2, 2009 at 12:27 AM
Hey ChuYuan,
I agree with you that money has become an increasing important in our lives. this actually make me wonder what is it that make us view money that importantly, over our values, over our morals.
Instead of our culture, I guess its also the mindset of how we placed the value of life, and this value has always been influence by the media, especially attaining the 5Cs in life. Because of these 5Cs, it kind of push everyone to wanting to earn more and work harder. I guess that in a way or another, we are indeed govern by money, but such situation could be changed if we are able to focus on the other more important values in life like kinship.
♥ junying Said:
on November 5, 2009 at 9:41 AM
Hi, first I would like to say that your title reminds me of JUSTIN! The money man! HAHA!
I agree that role of money does show a significant part of a culture. In how we treat the importance of money, how we spend or save money, our culture is revealed.
Like what you have mentioned, Asian society has this culture of saving up for a rainy day. In most Chinese cultures, there is a trend of many being so stingy that they are unwilling to spend their savings and many see this money as them wanting to bring it to their grave. In Singapore, our culture of saving is show by how the government plays a part with CPF. Apart from our own personal savings, we also have this CPF savings which help us in our future planning. Which other country has such a system where the government helps its citizen do the saving up? It evidently shows our culture here in Singapore.
Nicole G. Said:
on November 5, 2009 at 10:51 PM
I feel that money has formed an intergral part of our society specifically, in US! However, the over-emphasis on money and material-based ( specifically, the 5Cs) society has resulted in a society which has neglected certain basics of life which includes family, love and just being contented with whatever we have.
Despite being in a relatively developed country, there are things which we can learn from the less-developed country where the people there make the most of what they have even though the lack many luxuries that we enjoy in our society,
BY TRYING TO MOVE FORWARD, WE MAY SOMETIMES BE MOVING BACKWARDS IN CERTAIN AREAS OF OUR LIVES.
Nicole Said:
on November 6, 2009 at 9:55 PM
Great insight!
Money plays such a HUGE role in our lives. In fact, my family was just discussing the impacts of it over dinner. Indeed, money and culture are closely interwined together especially in the Asian culture. Our parents place so much emphasis on how we use and spend our money. Any disregard towards their hardearn money would result in very dire consequences. Been there, done that! Haha. Could that be the reason why our banks are prospering? The amount of money we place into our back accounts should be astounding. Sometimes I wonder how we trust the banks so much to out our money into them, especially when they take it to invest. Oh wells, interet rate!
However, there is an interesting aspect that bothers me and that is the mindset of the West. I’m sure they have seen the way we manage our money and how we really save every penny and prepare for what you mentioned, “rainy days”. It is evident that they do not place as much emphasis on thrift as we do. I hear that college students are allowed to get a credit card without the need for parental approval. This encourages to spend outside of their means, landing their economy in debt. HUGE debt. Maybe i’m exaggerating but you get the drift. Its appalling how they allow themselves to spend without thinking. Guess its the way their culture brought them up. Must not be ethnocentric. HAHA.
commmediadiscourse Said:
on November 7, 2009 at 9:15 PM
Well, although money is not everything, without money, we can’t even survive.
Let me use the chinese phrase which we often hear.
钱虽然不是万能，但如没钱，就万万不能。
Don’t you agree with this phrase?
With the inflation of prices of everything, without a sufficient amount of money, we will not even have the means to buy our staples. Every necessity in the house requires money.
Also, countries like Singapore and Japan are facing the problem of an aging population; hence it is important that people have enough money to last through their old age because the costs of hospital treatments are rising.
However, I do not think that one should just save and save without spending. If everyone in the country choose to save and only spend on the bare necessities, then the country will never prosper. The country’s economy depends very much on the consumerism of the people. Hence, I feel that those people who have a higher spending power should still spend as per normal in order to maintain the country’s economy.
=) Kai Ting
Sally Said:
on November 7, 2009 at 10:04 PM
I still believe in true love. Yes, a relationship does require stable income especially in our materailstic society. But, if one goes after another for the sake of money, he or she is against his or her own moral values. Would anyone live his or her life in gulit and lies? I can’t think of any.
Anyway, one can’t his or her wealth to death. But, at least one can live behind his or her love as a legancy for the rest. Yeah, so true love is still the most important thing!
Louis Wong Said:
on November 7, 2009 at 11:07 PM
Indeed money is important. But I feel love and fillal piety is what money cannot win, because money can buy everything, but it cannot buy love, money can pay everything but it cannot pay love in return
benn Said:
on November 7, 2009 at 11:22 PM
It is true that money is not everything and there are things that money can’t buy. But without money, we wont even be able to buy food to keep our body functioning! When you’re dead, you can forget about love. I feel that the main problem with our society is our “money-mindedness”. But really we cant blame ourselves for behaving like this. After all, the economy being as volatile as it is, can bring billionaires to bankruptcy. What more about us normal people? With this fear instilled within us, we will often be blinded and choose wealth over what it really means to be human.
Lim Mei Xian Said:
on November 8, 2009 at 12:38 PM
I agree with you that culture has a huge impact on how we deal with money matters. Many cultures believe in saving up for the future, and so many people have this mentality that your money is safe in the bank. However, this thought seems to only be valid when the economy is good. When there is an economic downturn, people rush to banks to withdraw their money. it has become a part of our culture that shows itself only when times are bad.
Cindy Said:
on November 8, 2009 at 1:01 PM
We create money and not the other way around. So we shouldn’t let money rule over our judgement. Moeny can only buy material wealth and power but doesn’t mean it can buy relationships. Furthermore, once it’s gone, it’s GONE. FULLSTOP. There ain’t nobody going to help you get over any crisis, be it emotionally or fiancially. Yes, it’s still required if we want to get something that we don’t have but it doesn’t mean that we have to view it as important as the relationships that we have in our daily lives.
Justin Said:
on November 8, 2009 at 11:07 PM
i am not a money grubber but i cant deny i love money.
why? because of the environment we live in. in singapore what we talk about is money. without money we cant do this we cant do that. heck, without money i would not even be writing some s*** blog.
anyway it is what our cultures shape us. its different in other countries. in scandinavian countries, money is of a lesser importance and more importantly is how to enjoy life and be happy.
anyway, in such a competitive society like singapore, without money we cant do anything. it is only when we are able to reach the standards of countries like sweden or norway, then we would view money as an object of lesser importance.
Wen Jie Said:
on November 9, 2009 at 12:00 AM
Hi! I think culture has shaped our attitide towards saving. Since the Lehman Brothers collapsed last year, many people are now more wary of saving in the bank. But if the economy stabilises soon, people may actually start to save. We can’t live without money, so I think it is beneficial to sacrifice our time and effort, but not lives for money. And without money, we won’t be able to focus on behaviors that are more important such as filial piety.