Marxist account of consumption and ideas of consumer society

Transcript

00:01

What were Marx's ideas about consumption and a consumer society?

00:06

Before capitalism, societies tended to exchange goods or produce them for immediate consumption.

00:11

Consumption grew to become a quintessential part of the human experience when feudalism ended and capitalism was introduced

00:16

Marx and Engels (a german philosopher) viewed the introduction of capitalism as the end to production for need and the beginning of production for profit

00:22

So, how do workers become consumers in a capitalist society?

00:28

First, workers produce goods in exchange for wages.

00:32

Next, these goods are sold for a profit.

00:37

Finally, workers pay for goods with the wages they have earned.

00:43

Consumerism is a cycle.

00:46

2. These goods are sold for a profit

00:46

1. Workers produce goods to earn wages

00:46

3. Workers use the wages they have earned to buy and consume goods.

00:51

How does a capitalist and consumer society remove one's identity?

00:56

Labor is external to workers.

01:02

Workers don't feel like themselves when they are working. 

01:05

The labor is not the satisfaction of a need, but satisfies needs outside itself.

01:10

In order to live, people must consume things.

01:15

So, people are denied identity through working because it is uncreative production

01:19

To establish their identity, people need to creatively consume

01:24

An example of creatively consuming would be entertainment like reading books and watching movies.

01:29

Creatively consuming helps one to establish their identity  through interests. The things you enjoy engaging in help shape who you are

01:36

The overall process ENCOURAGES people to consume.

01:41

If people don’t feel creative when they are working and only feel like themselves when they are consuming, then they are feeding into the system of capitalism and consumerism

01:49

Ultimately, the entire ideology of a consumer society encourages the worker to feel alienated and uncreative doing labor so that they can feel creative and more like themselves when they put their wages towards consuming goods.