JP, the work I did was about the value of rubbish in society and was quite academic, and probably a bit broad for here. But part of it included how society has evolved from family households where the woman would stay at home doing the cooking, cleaning, making and mending, and goods were used and repaired until they were completely worn out and the user had, had their money's worth. To the current situation where it is common for both partners to go out to work, making time a more valuable commodity, and making it the norm for people to replace rather than repair goods & clothing, to buy pre-prepared and foods and all the packaging that comes with them, to eat take-away foods fairly frequently etc, and also by virtue of both partners working there creates a need for 2 cars rather than one, more clothing, the need to own more technology & more up to date technology, and even the need to use leisure time in a more consumerist way. Add to this how common it is thesedays for couples to divorce resulting in one family dividing and living in 2 homes with 2 sets of everything a family home needs. All of this contributes to our consumerist society. I think unfortunately, thesedays there is a tendency to measure everything on it's material value and the sense of belonging, power, status etc that comes with that...and the true worth of things on a personal level is has been disvalued and overlooked. This also ties in with the concept of "disposable society"...and people buying into this so strongly that they can't see the benefit in taking part in activities that are only of value to themselves rather than a part of their consumerist, material focussed, norm, that is endorsed by their peers. I agree JP that in this society where everything can be bought, and everything is "easy come - easy go", that that concept is easily extendable to people, friendships, relationships etc. It's such a multifaceted, complex topic, that it's difficult to find a focus and not digress on here! But I would say that in eating disorder recovery work, it is essential to move away from these attitudes and examine the real person that we are inside, to discover what we enjoy, what makes us happy, what helps us to relax etc, and to pin a suitable amount of importance on our internal values.