Things I've Said About Virginia Postrel

Man, Virginia Postrel really tore through Barry Schwartz’ argument about how freedom of choice overwhelms society. She, nor I, had any qualms with Schwartz’ observations on how so much variety can intimidate consumers from wanting to make decisions, but she made such a thorough case against his notion that variety was a bad thing that she made Schwartz sound arrogant by the end of the article.

Schwartz’ initial observations, however, I can sympathize with plenty. When given so many options, I don’t know what to do with myself. I’ve excruciated, just as Schwartz has, over which article of clothing to buy at a store. To choose between several products that are essentially the same, I’ve had to visit every outlet in the mall twice before finalizing a decision.

And if it’s not with scrutiny, then I may approach a decision with intimidation. Homework is a good example. A multi-page research paper, for instance, would offer so many options on where to begin that I’d rather choose not to.

Worse still is the option between several challenging homework assignments in several different subjects. Which one should I decide is more “important”? I may single out the one with the closest forthcoming due date or highest grade percentage and justify that none of the other options would have been viable.

This is where Schwartz’ comes in with his notion that society would be happier if their choices were limited. I would, in fact, take comfort in more of my decisions if I knew I didn’t have a choice. And by contrast, pondering the possibilities of the options I’ve left behind is one of the greater anxieties of decision making.

But then Postrel enters the spectrum to argue that I can handle that anxiety. She says we need only satisfy rather than scrutinize over options, and in the end the opportunity we have is beneficial. And she says that we can come to those decisions when have the help of familiarity, or if we have the expertise of a friend to guide us. Deciding on a college, for instance, was a decision that would have taken a lot more scrutiny than choosing a pair jeans, and I likely could have never made the decision by myself. With the help of my parents who helped research some campuses, I was able to decide on a school that was reasonably affluent and convenient.

With the knowledge that I’m at a good college, I don’t have to worry about the possibility of a better one. That’s a comfort that greatly outweighs not having a choice. It’s the comfort of having a satisfying choice, even if I’ll never know if it was the best one.