Consumerism: a Marxist’s Perspective
I don't want to suggest that anti-consumerism, in all its various forms, is the proper Christian response to contemporary American culture, but I find very interesting this defense of consumerism offered by Marxist Brendan O’Neill. He praises consumerism as a useful vehicle for civilizing the world, while condemning it for not going "far enough in remaking the world in man's image."
What today’s anti-capitalists loathe most is the consumer society, with its incessant advertising and wicked temptation to buy, buy, buy. On Buy Nothing Day, at the end of November, anti-capitalist protesters on London’s Oxford Street and elsewhere advised shoppers to detox from consumerism because everything we buy has an impact on our planet. Meanwhile, serious psychologists claim that consumerism makes us ill: it gives us affluenza, apparently. Geddit?
Marx loved the consumer society. Indeed, he described it as a civilising moment of capital. In the Grundrisse, he wrote: “In spite of all his pious speeches, (the capitalist) searches for means to spur (the workers) on to consumption, to give his wares new charms, to inspire them with new needs by constant chatter, etc. It is precisely this side of the relation of capital and labour which is an essential civilising moment.” It is striking that what a bearded communist described as civilising 150 years ago - the chatter and charms of consumerism - is now written off by anti-capitalists as dangerous and corrupting.
Of course Marx wanted to destroy capitalism because he thought it didn’t go far enough in remaking the world in man’s image and organising society according to human needs and desire. Today’s sorry excuses for Marxists and anti-capitalists think capitalism has gone too far in its development of the forces of production and encouragement of consumerism. I’m with Marx. Let’s replace capitalism with something even more dazzlingly cocky and human-centric. But let’s first deal with the Luddites, locavores and eco-feudalists who have given anti-capitalism a bad name.
Comments
Writing in the socialist magazine the New Statesman, Brendan O'Neill similarly reminds us that Karl Marx himself praised capitalism's culture of consumption. ("When Ignorance Is Bliss," http://www.newstatesman.com/200801240047)
This helps to remind us that conspicuous consumption isn't the real problem with the human condition -- alienation from God is. Thus, we ought not expect that moderating our consumption will heal the human condition -- only reconciliation with God can achieve that.
Posted by: Ramsey | January 24, 2008 06:56 PM