Hedonic Consumption and Meta Needs: a Investigation on AlGhazali

Abstract

Like any productive activity, the phenomenon of consumption itself is an individual and social action like other productive activities in consumer societies. People express this action with different conceptual definitions for different reasons. In hedonic consumption, people attribute meanings to the act of purchasing and the product they buy, and they see consumption as an important purpose of life. The person may feel unhappy if the meaning and importance attributed to a particular brand in these societies is not completed by owning it. The pleasure of meeting him is, unfortunately, momentary; with hedonic adaptation, the person has to chase other pleasures. The effort to convey a message to the social environment through the symbolic meanings of the goods and services consumed by the person is seen as worthless by Ghazali, who prioritizes meeting the commodity needs. Ghazali’s view of human psychology is transpersonal, and Ghazali does not consider the physical aspect of man apart from his psychological and biological aspects, spiritual or spiritual aspects. Ghazali sees man as a being with the potential for continued development, especially regarding his spiritual aspect. It sees humanization not as a biological growth but as a psychological and spiritual deepening. Ghazali’s goal of maturing man is to lead him to his spiritual depth and religious orientation. Ghazali argues that not meeting the spiritual needs of man will create a deep feeling of “emptiness,” “nothingness,” and “spiritual hunger” in him. Ghazali, who argues that those who see the products they consume as status symbols do not have individual values, even that they are idiots of fame, aims to turn people towards their spiritual or meta-needs. Ghazali, who prioritizes commodity needs, sees hedonic consumption as a consumption frenzy stemming from ordinary life or the folly of fame. For Ghazali, who prioritizes meta-needs, hedonic consumption is not a simple shopping or an act of meeting needs but a pathological condition that should be questioned. Based on the assumption that a happy life is possible to the extent of consumption, hedonic consumption is a simple pleasure appealing only to the biological side of a person for someone who prioritizes meta-needs. This research focuses on two themes. The first is hedonic consumption; an act people do for desire, pleasure and imitation, not because of their needs. The other is the meta needs, which, like Ghazali, do not see the needs as endless and unlimited and consider it necessary to meet the physical needs of the person at a minimum level and turn to psychological needs. In this research, both the hedonic consumption act was questioned at the conceptual level and aimed to examine the concept of “meta-need,” which does not give more meaning to human needs than it deserves. In this way, what should be the main purpose and priority of the historical march of man through Ghazali will be questioned.