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Jonathan Heim

Professor Malcolm Campbell

UWRT 1104

2/14/17

Effects money has on individuals

Introduction/Overview

Money is defined as a current medium of exchange in the form of coins and banknotes.

These banknotes are made out of paper and the coins out of various metals. Yet this paper and

metal rules our lives and is in the thoughts of almost every person on earth at some point in the

day. Why does this thing we call money rule our lives? Simple, without it a person simply cannot

live. Money is used to buy food, clothes, shelter, and everything in-between. Money becomes

very interesting when it is analyzed from a capitalistic viewpoint where any man or women can

gain as much money as they can. This ideal is what brought many people over to this country

seeking something commonly referred to as the American Dream. The American Dream is the

idea that anyone can come to America and start a life and build a fortune on their own doing.

Over the years however this dream became tainted and soon took over our lives. This led to me

to ask the question what effects socially, emotionally, and physically does money have on an

individuals life. Many people say money can buy happiness, and while there are studies done by

Forbes magazine in 2007 that says wealthy people generally have healthier relationships due to

the fact they never argue about money. While this is true, other studies done by Kansas State

University in 2004 showed that having high financial aspirations led to higher rates of depression

twenty years down the road. This study shows that while having money can help with happiness,

chasing money can lead to depression. Another study done by Liu and Vikat out of Purdue
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University showed that as women came closer too and even surpassed their partners income

level, divorce rates grew as well. This study helps show that not only does money effect

individuals, it also holds sexual stereotypes that males are expected to earn more which can

cause divorce and depression. Whether people are willing to admit it or not in a capitalistic

world, money controls everything and I wish to analyze how great of an effect can money have

on peoples wellbeing socially, emotionally, and physically. Most of my research came from the

online databases from the Atkins Library. I used articles such as Money Giveth, Money Taketh

Away: The Dual Effect of Wealth on Happiness by Quoidbach and others, The perils of the

single criterion of success by Norman Sartorius, For Whom Money Matters Less:

Social Connectedness as a Resilience Resource in the UK by Lindsay Richards, and few

other articles. I also checked out a book from the library that talks about Las Vegas and

the money and power that city has and the corruption it can cause in people. Another very

valuable source I used was my older brother. He works with many powerful people in

Uptown Charlotte and I talked to him for a while on how individuals with obscene

amounts of money act towards others and different things like that. I feel my topic is not

only extremely relevant due to the fact money literally effects every single person in a

capitalistic world, but it is also pretty complex with the many different ways money

effects people.

Initial Inquiry Question(s)

When beginning the process of inquiry, I first analyzed my own life and thought about

how money affects me. I thought about all the times when I was little I got in fights with my

parents over not being able to get a candy bar or what not which made me realize that even at a
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young age money affects people. I then started to look at my teenage years where money was

scarce and how I had to work sixty hours a week to buy my first car, this made me realize that

the aspiration to acquire money can change how an individuals live and act. The I analyzed

money from a college perspective where every day I am thinking about whether I got enough

money to get gas, or a haircut, or some candy and everything in-between. This led me to

understand the everyday details money effects in your life. All of this inner inquiry led me to my

initial question, to what extent does money effect an individuals life?

My Interest in this Topic

As addressed a little in the previous section my entire life has been controlled by money.

As a kid, I could not play on certain travel ball teams because my family just could not afford the

cost. Who knows how good I could have been if I was able to get the exposure I needed, which I

could not due to money. I remember early on in middle school and freshmen year only being able

to eat certain foods at lunch because we just did not have the money for me to get the good

boneless wings at lunch with ice cream. Once Junior and Senior year hit that was when the true

payload money can have on an individuals life hit me. Money was the reason my father and I

got into some of the nastiest fights ever and it was the reason that to this day I do not have the

healthiest relationship with my father I would have liked to have. I was forced out of my house

to live on my own when I was seventeen. At seventeen I was working forty hours a week making

eight dollars an hour and literally everything I did was based on money. This amount of stress

money put on my life gave me the motivation to go to college and to one day be successful

enough that my family and children never have to worry about money. This led me to question

that if one day I reach my goals will it truly make me happy? Or am I just trying to fill a void

somewhere? So I ask what are the effects money has on individuals from all aspects of life?
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Next Steps

One of the biggest aspects for my future research is that I am going to be conducting

personal interviews with a variety of people talking about how money has affected their lives. I

wish to conduct an interview with my mother who is of lower-middle class wealth, the senior

risk manager for Wells Fargo which I know personally and who is very wealthy. I would also like

to conduct interviews with the homeless and a few other people from different backgrounds. I am

going to be finishing my reading of the Las Vegas Power book and I am also going to be

checking out a book from the library that talks about the American Dream and how it has been

corrupted in todays society. I will be looking into many more academic journals from the vast

Atkins Library databases. Through all of the interviews, scholarly articles, and books I will be

able to truly analyze the effects of money on life.