Quotes from RUSSELL W. BELK

Are we moving from a society where we ask "Why rent when you can buy?" to a society where we ask "Why own when you can rent by the hour?"

The development of contemporary consumer societies has had a profound effect on the way we view the world. Stated most simply, we have come to regard an increasing profusion of both natural and human-produced things as objects to be desired, acquired, savored, and possessed.

Collecting, especially of the classifying sort epitomized by stamp collecting, offered a means to seem to gain control of the world and of the past.

If possessions are viewed as part of self, it follows that an unintentional loss of possessions should be regarded as a loss or lessening of self.

We cannot hope to understand consumer behavior without first gaining some understanding of the meanings that consumers attach to possessions. A key to understanding what possessions mean is recognizing that, knowingly or unknowingly, intentionally or unintentionally, we regard our possessions as parts of ourselves.

Collectors tend to feel attached to their collections in ways that may seem irrational if viewed in terms of the normal functions of the things collected.

Objects in our possession literally can extend self, as when a tool or weapon allows us to do things of which we would otherwise be incapable. Possessions can also symbolically extend self, as when a uniform or trophy allows us to convince ourselves (and perhaps others) that we can be a different person than we would be without them.

Collecting is highly involving passionate consumption rather than an uninvolving form of consumption like buying canned peas (unless of course one is a collector of canned peas in which case such a purchase for the collection may matter a great deal).