Does the Spiritual Unconscious Affect Consumption?

STEVEN MAXWELL KATES*

In this article, I investigate whether the spiritual unconscious affected a consumption decision to the exclusion of all significant sociocultural, economic, and contextual factors. By exploring the context of addiction to methamphetamine through a case study, this article demonstrates that the unconscious is still critical in explaining consumption outcomes. After presenting the findings – meeting one’s needs more effectively, setting and striving toward life-affirming goals and consumption, finding meaning and consumption, cooperation through consumption, and obtaining help to achieve a goal (as manifested through consumption) – I discuss implications for consumer research, expound on a spirituality for everyone, outline a spiritually-oriented agenda for future research, and present a scientifically testable, empirical theory of God.