What’s the Diderot?
The greatness of a man is not in how much wealth he acquires, but in his integrity and his ability to affect those around him positively.
- Bob Marley
Are you familiar with the famous French philosopher Denis Diderot? If you’re not, no shame here - so was I until I did a bit of research. For those unfamiliar, Diderot is well-know for being the co-founder and writer of Encyclopédie, one of the most comprehensive encyclopedias of his time. For most of his life Diderot lived in poverty. This became especially problematic when Diderot's daughter sought to be married but Diderot couldn't provide a dowry.
Quick pause on Diderot for a second to explore the world of dowries. As many of you are likely familiar, a dowry is an ancient custom that involves a gift given from a bride's family to a groom's family. Historically, the dowry was intended as a means to offset the price of the bride's living expenses and support a wife if a husband died. The amount of a dowry depends on a variety of factors including region, religion, caste, bride's skin tone, and the groom's education. Despite its seemingly well intentions, the dowry system quickly became exploited when families began using dowries as a means to demand outrageous gifts or sums. Although some parts of the world still use dowries, the exploitation of the dowry system has lead several countries like India, Pakistan, Nepal, Greece, and Kenya to make dowries illegal. Despite this, in India for example, the outlawing of dowries has unfortunately not solved the dowry problem. Today, India's dowry problem is still alive and well and has some seriously devastating results including deaths and domestic abuse. A recent report from the BBC notes that in 2015, government data from India revealed that 7,634 women were killed in India in connection with dowry-related incidents. While I could really do a further deep dive into dowries, I am going to get back to Diderot. Yet, for those curious to learn more about how dowries are illegal but still expected, I recommend reading this article from Vox.
And now, back to Diderot (which, for anyone who has watched Arthur I sincerely hope you heard that in the same and now back to Arthur! voice). So, when we last left Diderot he was in a pickle because he was unable to afford his daughter's dowry. Fortunately for Diderot, he had an unlikely friendship with Catherine the Great, the Empress of Russia. When Catherine (surely she's fine being on a first-name basis with me) learned of Diderot's financial troubles, she offered to buy his library from him for approximately £1000 GBP, which today, is more than $180,000. Lucky guy eh?
So Diderot has paid off his daughter and he has some change to spare. He thinks to himself, "I deserve to treat myself" and goes out and buys himself a beautiful scarlet robe. The only problem is that once Diderot gets home, he quickly realizes that none of his current possessions match the grandeur of his new robe. Well, what's a philosopher to do? Buy new things of course! So soon, Diderot buys himself a new rug, sculptures, tables, mirrors, chairs, etc. Little did he know then that his reactive purchases would eventually become a phenomenon forevermore known as the Diderot Effect. The Diderot Effect states that introducing and obtaining a new possession often creates a spiral of consumption that leads people to acquire more and more new things.
I will be the first to admit that I have fallen prey to the Diderot Effect many times. There have been more times than I care to admit that I'll go out for one thing and suddenly I have several other things I wasn't expecting or planning to get. From what I have witnessed, social media thrives off of the Diderot Effect. I often wonder sometimes today if some people would know what to buy if an influencer didn't suggest it first. Have you ever seen an influencer share a product, you get it, and then suddenly you find yourself scrolling through their pages or other influencer pages for things to go with it? Can you even remember the last time you bought something out at a store that you didn't see or hear about online, on social media, or on tv? Or, how many holidays go by where a retailer reminds you that 'tis the season for showering your loved one with a present, and a present to go with that present, and a present that goes with that present. Or how could you possibly let your valentine suffer without giving them chocolates, flowers, a gift, and a teddy bear?
I was also recently thinking about how things like diet culture thrive off of the Diderot Effect. In fact, January is prime Diderot season for diet culture. Here come all the resolutions and the consumers need all the "secrets" to success because, surely, it's not just one secret! Each company that's pushing their product has the key that everyone needs to meet weight loss goals and did you know they have all kinds of other products that go with that product that you will literally combust into a million pieces if you don't get it? Hold up Diderot, suddenly you're Debtero sitting in a pile of things you don't need and you're wondering how you got there.
I came to learn about Diderot from one of my favorite authors James Clear. I hesitate to tell you that I learned about this while reading Clear's book Atomic Habits for fear that it may trigger you on a book buying spree. If you do decide to shop (and hey, no judgments here!) Atomic Habits really is terrific. However, fear not, what I love about Clear is that he has also published a free article on how to free yourself from the triggering cycle that is the Diderot Effect. It includes a lot of helpful suggestions like unsubscribing from marketing emails, set a limit on how much you'll spend, go a month without any new purchases (no groceries and essentials don't count), or trying a practice of buy one thing, donate another.
Have you noticed the Diderot Effect in your life? If so, I'd love to hear what you're noticing as you think about it!
