{"id":16388,"date":"2018-02-08T18:43:44","date_gmt":"2018-02-09T02:43:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dminlgp\/?p=16388"},"modified":"2018-02-08T18:43:44","modified_gmt":"2018-02-09T02:43:44","slug":"tiny-house-phenomenon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/tiny-house-phenomenon\/","title":{"rendered":"Tiny House Phenomenon"},"content":{"rendered":"

Have you seen the HGTV show Tiny House Hunters<\/em>?\u00a0 Individuals\/couples\/families seek to purchase or build small homes, typically 400 square feet or less (and preferably on wheels).\u00a0 The Tiny House phenomenon is sweeping the nation and I\u2019m feeling the tiny house fever myself.\u00a0 I\u2019ve convinced myself that I could live comfortably in a compact space \u2013 less space to clean, smaller mortgage (or no mortgage), and an excellent excuse to embrace the outdoors more.\u00a0 Oh yes, and there\u2019s the added benefit of living more efficiently and \u201cgreen\u201d (less space to fill with \u201cstuff\u201d, built with sustainable building materials, can be used for off the grid living, consume less energy).<\/p>\n

I\u2019m somewhat embarrassed to admit, though, that in all these years I\u2019ve never caught mobile home fever.\u00a0 Mobile homes come in a variety of sizes (typically starting at 400 square feet) and offer the same option of downsizing at an even cheaper cost than tiny homes.\u00a0 Why aren\u2019t mobile homes on my list?\u00a0 It\u2019s simple \u2013 culture and consumerism.<\/p>\n

One of the well-known cultural challenges that the mobile home industry faces is a \u201cmobile home\u201d image.\u00a0 Mobile homes and trailer parks are a legitimate form of housing, but many Americans have uncritically embraced the negative cultural image of trailer parks\u2014except, perhaps, those who live in them. Americans can use the trailer park as a way to distance themselves from the economic failures of society. \u201cThe stigma of trailer trash privileges \u201cus\u201d over \u201cthem\u201d and allows Americans to self-identify as \u201cmiddle class\u201d even when objective measures make that class status dubious. But these sorts of cultural stigmas also prevent people from identifying shared economic interests.\u201d[1]<\/a>\u00a0 Historically, trailers came in to existence in the 1920\u2019s \u2013 when urban, middle-class families in America escaped to nature pulling trailers with their cars.\u00a0 Just ten short years after the trailer\u2019s development, the Great Depression era began and trailers became homes for displaced families who experienced financial ruin.\u00a0 \u201cAmericans and their tawdry trailers represented the threat that loomed in every citizen\u2019s life\u2014the loss of job, social status, and a permanent home.\u201d[2]<\/a><\/p>\n

The tiny house vs. trailer analogy is symbolic of our consumer culture \u2013 manipulation of psychological perceptual processes involved in buying and consuming products and services.\u00a0Perception influences how we make sense of the external world in which we conduct our daily life.[3]<\/a>\u00a0 Vincent Miller\u2019s writings in Consuming Religion; Christian Faith and Practice in a Consumer Culture <\/em>emerge out of what he perceives as a \u201cdisconnect\u201d between religious and consumer practices in US society. He questions how believers can enthusiastically embrace religious beliefs, symbols, and practices that advocate simplicity of life, and, at the same time, engage in excessive conspicuous consumption[4]<\/strong><\/sup><\/em><\/a> \u00a0Miller successfully incorporates social theories into his writings and connects consumerism to capitalism \u2013 even noting capitalism, in and of itself, is not a bad thing.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat needs to be eradicated, or at least greatly tempered, is consumerism: the obsession with acquisition that has become the organizing principle of American life. This is not the same thing as capitalism, nor is it the same thing as consumption. To explain the difference, it is useful to draw on Abraham Maslow\u2019s hierarchy of human needs. At the bottom of this hierarchy are basic creature comforts; once these are sated, more satisfaction is drawn from affection, self-esteem and, finally, self-actualization. As long as consumption is focused on satisfying basic human needs \u2014 safety, shelter, food, clothing, health care, education \u2014 it is not consumerism. But when, on attempts to satisfy these higher needs through the simple acquisition of goods and services, consumption turns into consumerism \u2014 and consumerism becomes a social disease.\u201d[5]<\/strong><\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

Elizabeth Dreyer provides a brilliant review of Miller\u2019s work citing \u201cI agree with Miller that setting up an ideological war between religion and consumer culture is, for the most part, a dead end.\u201d[6]<\/sup><\/a>\u00a0 She acknowledges that Miller\u2019s use of so many disciplines – use of theoretical constructs and methods: history, postmodern philosophy, theology, and cultural anthropology are both his greatest strength and weakness.[7]<\/a>\u00a0 In light of Dreyer and Miller\u2019s assertion that an ideological war is useless, how do we, as Christian leaders, engage our tribe into recognizing and understanding the effects of consumer culture?\u00a0 Maybe we need to look only as far as millennials.\u00a0 Let\u2019s be honest, millennials get a bad rap – in particular for not filling our church pews.\u00a0 I\u2019m challenging you to seek to understand the culture of this generation.\u00a0 According to the power of positivity, the following six signs \u201cprove that the world is experiencing a spiritual awakening\u201d:\u00a0 Organic food sales are\u00a0on the rise, while non-organic and GMO foods are being rejected; meditation and mindfulness practices have skyrocketed in western nations; off-grid living and minimalism are the new trends, leaving rampant consumerism and overconsumption in the dust; people have grown exhausted with the slavery of employment, and seek a better life; we have an ever-growing\u00a0need to protect this planet and connect with each other; we have grown absolutely sick of hatred, violence, oppression, and war.[8]<\/a><\/p>\n

You may read this list and think \u2013 those are \u201cnew age\u201d ways of looking at spirituality \u2013 but isn\u2019t that the myth of consumerism? [9]<\/a> \u201cSociologists Heelas et al. take an empiricist approach, gathering qualitative and quantitative data from a single town in England (with the addition of broader studies and comparisons to the US) to test the hypothesis that we are in the midst of a spiritual revolution. Tracing a distinguished American pedigree from Emerson and Thoreau to William James and Aldous Huxley, Schmidt and Fuller expose the deep roots of nontraditional spiritual movements in American religious history\u2014challenging the \u201cnew\u201d in New Age.\u201d[10]<\/a><\/p>\n

Miller claims that the Christian desires for justice, for hope, for the coming of the Kingdom of God, are also threatened. Indeed, many act as if whatever issue cannot be solved by living in the here and now and doing some therapeutic shopping some can be solved by some financial\u00a0gesture\u00a0which symbolically shows one\u2019s support for an ethnic group, an environmental cause or other political issue. How much more commitment, sacrifice or effort actually goes into\u00a0doing\u00a0something! Yet, consumerism is on a campaign to remove such responses from people\u2019s minds.[11]<\/strong><\/sup><\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

Miller has shown that there are tangible ways in which we can work within the culture, to create a church which offers meaning and life \u2013 in a spiritual, political, economic and generally holistic sense.[12]<\/sup><\/a>\u00a0 If the “church” is going to survive, they are going to have to offer a better way of “being”.\u00a0 Because Miller\u2019s book hasn\u2019t been published since 2005, I looked for his biography to see where he is now.\u00a0 He is in my own state of Ohio at the University of Dayton.\u00a0 I wonder if he is excited by the pendulum swing of millennial values like I am?<\/p>\n

[1]<\/a> https:\/\/mobilehomeliving.org\/amp\/immobile-dreams-how-did-the-trailer-come-to-be-a-symbol-of-failure\/<\/p>\n

[2]<\/a> https:\/\/mobilehomeliving.org\/amp\/immobile-dreams-how-did-the-trailer-come-to-be-a-symbol-of-failure\/<\/p>\n

[3]<\/a>http:\/\/www.academia.edu\/6479218\/Consumerism_consumer_behaviour_and_the_manipulation_of_the_human_mind<\/p>\n

[4]<\/a> Dreyer, Elizabeth A. “How to Remain Faithful in a Consuming Culture and Is New Age Spirituality All That New?.”\u00a0Religious Studies Review<\/em>\u00a034, no. 1 (January 2008): 1-8.<\/p>\n

[5]<\/a> https:\/\/www.huffingtonpost.com\/amitai-etzioni\/the-crisis-of-american-co_b_1855390.html<\/p>\n

[6]<\/a> Dreyer, Elizabeth A. “How to Remain Faithful in a Consuming Culture and Is New Age Spirituality All That New?.”\u00a0Religious Studies Review<\/em>\u00a034, no. 1 (January 2008): 1-8.<\/p>\n

[7]<\/a> Dreyer, Elizabeth A. “How to Remain Faithful in a Consuming Culture and Is New Age Spirituality All That New?.”\u00a0Religious Studies Review<\/em>\u00a034, no. 1 (January 2008): 1-8.<\/p>\n

[8]<\/a> https:\/\/www.powerofpositivity.com\/6-signs-prove-world-experiencing-spiritual-awakening\/<\/p>\n

[9]<\/a> Beaudoin, Tom. “CONSUMING RELIGION: CHRISTIAN FAITH AND PRACTICE IN A CONSUMER CULTURE.”\u00a0Theological Studies<\/em>\u00a066, no. 1 (March 2005): 236-237.<\/p>\n

[10]<\/a> Dreyer, Elizabeth A. “How to Remain Faithful in a Consuming Culture and Is New Age Spirituality All That New?.”\u00a0Religious Studies Review<\/em>\u00a034, no. 1 (January 2008): 1-8.<\/p>\n

[11]<\/a> https:\/\/cra.org.au\/consuming-religion\/<\/p>\n

[12]<\/a> https:\/\/cra.org.au\/consuming-religion\/<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Have you seen the HGTV show Tiny House Hunters?\u00a0 Individuals\/couples\/families seek to purchase or build small homes, typically 400 square feet or less (and preferably on wheels).\u00a0 The Tiny House phenomenon is sweeping the nation and I\u2019m feeling the tiny house fever myself.\u00a0 I\u2019ve convinced myself that I could live comfortably in a compact space […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":99,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[255],"class_list":["post-16388","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-miller","cohort-lgp8"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16388","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/99"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16388"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16388\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16389,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16388\/revisions\/16389"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16388"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16388"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16388"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}