Are your desires your own...?

Question

or are they socially manufactured?

Answer 1

Honestly, mine are my own. When I was younger I think society effected the way I thought about desires, owning things such as vehicles, houses, etc... But now that I am older when I desire something I desire it because I truly want or have a need for the desire.

Answer 2

The more important question would be whether we are what we want to be or how we have been manufactured by the society. There is a bit of both, but in any case, the society can influence us only if we want to be. In the ultimate analysis, therefore, we have to own ourselves and our desires rather than blame social or other environments.

Answer 3

Interesting question. Certainly your desires are your own...but just as certainly we are all bombarded with advertising messages telling us what it is we really want to desire. So can I call a desire my own if it has been placed in my head by an advertiser? Probably, because even though advertising is incessant, nothing forces me to accept it. I can filter, I can accept, and as long as I have the free will to choose, then I would say any desire that I am willing to act on is my own. Yes, I would like a jet plane that would fly me and my friends across the ocean...a desire admittedly implanted by advertising. But I won't succumb...which is easy because there's no way I could afford the plane. This is but a silly example of how one person can resist advertising. I'm sure you have as many as I. So I believe all the desires I have, desires on which I am willing to work, to make an effort to achieve, those desires are my own.

Answer 4

My desires are at least 50% mine.

It can take a conversation with someone, looking at a magazine or the tv to start the creation of a desire i probably never thought about. Someone else's experience can bring forth an original desire to my mind.

I think we're all helped along the way with what we think we want.

Doesn't matter anyway, when you get what you desire, you then move onto the next thing.

Answer 5

Personally. Mine are my own. But this is a good question that I think more and more people need to ask themselves. People are becoming more and more programmed by society, advertising, and the supposed social norms. People are too busy trying to be someone else these days, instead of being themselves. I think most people have altogether abandoned their desires and replaced them with envy and jealousy and their lively pursuits aim toward fitting in best with what they are being told the social norms are.
People spend money they dont have, buying things they dont need, to impress people they dont even like. This is so true. It shows what people are really motivated by. It isnt their own desires. We are taught this mentality from such an early age in our culture that we dont even realise how to come in to touch with our true desires. Our desires are immediately buried underneath our Egos.

Answer 6

Depends on the desires. If the desire is to have a perfect centerfold model as a girl friend, then yes most definatly it is social derived. But if it is (for example) to have enough to sustain yourself and your family then while it does have a social aspect since the society says how much it costs, it is actually a normal human desire and seperate from society.


Hope this helps.

Answer 7

My desires are my own, because I am who I am. But most people have "socially manufactured" desires, yes. It's because they're afraid to be themselves. They're afraid to be different. And some are just being passive, so they let other people think for them, instead of them.

Answer 8

Both. We are products of our social environment and therefore influnced by the desires and beliefs of those around to us, but we still ultimately decide for ourselves what our own preferences are while taking the influence of modern society into consideration.

For example a child raised by parents who smoke are more likely to become smokers themselves. That same child may not have had a desire to smoke if his or her parents never smoked themselves. But the few who decide not to smoke despite the fact that their parents do have made a conscious decision on their own based on their own desires.

In his novel, "Invisible Monsters" Chuck Palahniuk wrote...

"Nothing of me is original. I am the combined effort of everyone I've ever known."

Answer 9

Great question. A little of both, I believe. Some are basic instinct like hunger, some are higher instincts like curiosity. Those are mine. My consumerist nature ( I buy things I don't need to survive), the sports I follow, TV. Those are socially manufactured. A lot of things are mixed.

Answer 10

Your desires are planted in some base instincts life has. Your desires are not necessarily your own, but may be those of your endorphin releasing brain.