Shoppers cut back on spending, for now

But if her memories of past hard times give Hederer pause about spending money today, she may be atypical. Tim Kasser, an authority on issues related to consumption and values who teaches at Knox College in Galesburg, Ill., said that people raised in uncertain or harsh economic times tend to be more focused, not less, on acquiring material comforts than the offspring of affluent societies.

"If you look at how the 'Greatest Generation' ended up acting once they got money, they certainly built a lot of big houses and got gas-guzzling cars and all the rest," he said.

Kasser pointed to research that supports the idea that money truly can't buy happiness. Those who focus on material possessions have a higher incidence of smoking, alcohol and drug abuse and depression, while people who are oriented toward intrinsic values tend to be more content. Happiness in Western industrial society has remained relatively stagnant for the last 50 years, he noted, even as prosperity has grown.

Though Kasser believes that the current economic crisis could spur new ways of living, he doubts that long-lasting change will result "unless a new narrative is provided and new economic structures are put into place that make it easy and compelling and desirable for people" to pursue lives in which primary delights don't come from stuff.

"To be honest, most of the people in my area and who talk about this feel it's probably not going to happen this time," he said.

Still, the possibilities are there, said Carol Holst, founder of L.A.-based Simple Living America, a program of the Center for Transformative Action at Cornell University. Americans "are can-do people" and may use the current crisis as an incentive for adopting more voluntary simplicity, she said. But she too acknowledged that will be challenging.

"People, many of them, seem to be oriented toward getting through this period just so they can get back to things the way they were, and the way they were was so unhealthy."

The alternative? "It's not about giving up," Holst said. "It's about bringing into our lives that which is truly satisfying."

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reed.johnson@latimes.com