At 01:29 17/12/03 +0100, you wrote:
Maybe if we'd get over the obsession with "productivity growth" and the consumerism mania, and if we'd address _causes_ instead of tinkering with symptoms, then there would be less "shit work" to do in the first place?
Indeed -- let's look for causes. That is what I am attempting to do. What happens if we discover the cause to be inbuilt -- that is, a strong predisposition to buy consumer products (preferably the latest and preferably one with visibility) in order to show status?
Once we have food and sufficient clothing to keep us warm then everything else we possess is, fundamentally, an appendage. In any particular culture, we acquire (or are expected to acquire) a whole repertoire of goods very quickly or in one blow *as though* they are basic. (Ask any newly married couple in a developed country these days what they intend to start their married life with.) But they are only basic in a social sense. Historically, however, they have been acquired one by one. And what is the reason (apart from necessities of work perhaps) why someone with a standard repertoire of goods in a given culture should want to buy another? Critically examine your reason for acquiring a *new* consumer good, or that of someone you know very well. The odds are very high that it will be for "keeping up with the Jones' " reason -- acquiring status or consolidating status. (Forget about replacment goods, and forget about etchnical embellishments to existing goods.) Pause before you reply. Think carefully.
It isn't "greed" -- that's much too indefinable a term in this context. In my opinion it is the acquisition or the consolidation of status -- not necessarily the highest status (as some want) but just a place in a particular social group.
Therefore, in any criticism of consumerism (and I agree that it's now a damaging symptom of modern society) unless you can find a universal cause then it is pointless to argue against it morally because it is unstoppable. If we find a cause, then we might be able to suggest alternatives.
Keith ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Keith Hudson, General Editor, Handlo Music, http://www.handlo.com 6 Upper Camden Place, Bath BA1 5HX, England Tel: +44 1225 311636; Fax: +44 1225 447727; mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] ________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________ Futurework mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://scribe.uwaterloo.ca/mailman/listinfo/futurework
