We are attached to things. Our dwellings are packed with items we rarely throw out. Things have traditionally given us comfort but they also give us status. The wealthy often collect things for no other purpose than to own them. There are collectors of everything. Collectors of art, of old furniture, magazines. But in an age when the great majority of us have too much, when cupboards are full of clothes we do not wear, shelves with books we do not read, is it not time to end this obsession? Should we all engage in a radical cull? Might the status of the future come from being free of objects and clutter? Focussing instead on experience and the natural world. Or are things our only link with the past and a necessary part of who we are?
Behavioural scientist Paul Dolan, senior lecturer in psychology at Leeds Beckett University Steve Taylor and British broadcaster and anthropologist Mary-Ann Ochota debate the status of things. Eliane Glaser hosts.
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