Materialism to me is more than just wasting resources, it implies an unnatural fixation with superficial and unnecessary material goods. A woman obsessed with collecting jewelry and fur, for instance. I wouldn't see aspects of American life such as living in the suburbs or buying a minivan as examples of materialism, just a desire to provide and make your family happy, obviously American society has a somewhat warped view of what is necessary to be happy, but the impulses driving each behaviour strike me as being very different.
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