GEOG 352: Day 14

1. GEOG 352: Day 14 Needs and Wants

2. Housekeeping Items • Still working on the exams • Today we have two presentations: one by Jaylene and one by Morlie. • If what I have is not redundant, I may present or show you part of “The Economics of Happiness” or another film on the culture of Ladakh.

3. Maslow’s Hierarchy

4. Human Nature • If we take Maslow’s hierarchy as a starting-point for a moment, at least ¼ of the world’s people do not have even their basic physiological needs met, and probably at least that many – not necessarily the same ones – don’t have their safety and security ones met. • There are innumerable positions on human nature – that our nature is wired genetically on a species level, on an individual level, that it is shaped by our family socialization/ relationships, or by cultural norms and attitudes, which often differ by class and gender.

5. Human Nature • Maybe it is some combination of all of these factors. Moreover, we also need to take into account the role of free choice – as emphasized, for instance, by existentialists. Some people will behave very differently even if they face the same circumstances as other people. • In place of Maslow’s rigid hierarchy, the authors favour the human needs matrix developed by Manfred Max-Neef, where many needs are complementary and can be pursued simultaneously. • In Max-Neef’s view, many of these needs can be met without a vast throughput.

7. Max-Neef’s Needs vs. ‘Satisfiers’(source: http://strategiesforsustainability. blogspot.com/2005/10/i-knew-i-had-to-say-something-to.html) • Destroyers: paradoxical satisfiers that are supposed to satisfy one need, but end up destroying one’s ability to meet many other needs. These are almost always meant to meet the need for protection and include things like censorship, authoritarian-ism, and arms races – which in various ways inhibit people from meeting their needs of freedom, participation, creativity, etc. • Pseudo-satisfiers: these generally create a false sense of satisfaction, and can over time making harder to meet the need they were originally intended to satisfy. They include things like status symbols, stereotypes, prostitution, and fashion/fads.

8. Human Needs and ‘Satisfiers’ • Inhibiting satisfiers: usually associated with habits and customs. These ones can over-satisfy one need while making it difficult or impossible to meet other needs – an overprotective family is an example. In seeking to meet the need for protection, it can inhibit affection, understanding, participation, identity and freedom. Commercial TV probably falls under this category too. In satisfying idleness, understanding, creation and identity can be inhibited. • Singular satisfiers: these ones satisfy one need and are largely neutral to others and include things like many social programs (i.e. soup kitchens satisfy subsistence), and curative medicine (as opposed to preventative, satisfying subsistence). Max-Neef suggests sports spectacles satisfy idleness and possibly substitute for genuine participation and identity, maybe even affection, understanding and freedom.

9. Human Needs and ‘Satisfiers’ • Synergic satisfiers: satisfy one need, and as a result satisfy many other needs simultaneously. Examples include preventative medicine (protection, understanding, participation, subsistence), cultural TV (idleness, understanding), breast-feeding (subsistence, affection, protection, identity), and growing your own food (subsistence, understanding, participation, creation, identity, freedom).