“Since it is not the absolute
amount of material possessions that determines one’s position but rather what one has compared with what others have, it follows that economic inequality will always be promoted. The consumer culture always leads people to want more than they need because what the individual really desires is to enhance his or her status in relation to others. There is always a striving to have more than others because social status is partially defined by material possessions. The inequality and stratification of people along the lines of income and material possessions is bound to occur.”

Prof S T Kgatla: GLOBALIZATION: FACTS AND FICTIONS