Consumption in Contemporary Capitalism: Beyond Marx and Veblen

I. Introduction In this paper, I lay out a theoretical framework for understanding consumption behavior in contemporary capitalism.(1) The argument, in brief, is that the conventional Left critique of "consumer society," derived from Marx and Veblen, undermines neoclassical claims about consumer sovereignty, but assumes that we can objectively separate productive and unproductive activities according to some clear and objective standard. Further, the conventional critique misses important changes in consumption patterns that have occurred over the past several decades. The approach proposed here abandons the "producerism" and alienation focus of the conventional critique, and points to a theory of consumption appropriate to current conditions. II. Consumption in Marxian Theory In some readings of Marx, the individual's "natural" relation to the commodity as use-value is understood to be distorted by capitalism.(2) Because workers are separated from the products of their labor, they approach commodities as objects which are unrelated to their conditions of production. In this reading, commodity exchange produces individuals who are mystified by the massive collection of goods presented for sale in capitalist society. Rather than seeing commodities as embodied labor time, commodities are seen as "things" which can be exchanged equally and consumed to satisfy human needs. Use-value, or utility, is understood to exist largely outside the historical process. There is certainly textual evidence to support such a reading. In Chapter 1 of the first volume of Capital, Marx defined a commodity as "an external object, a thing which through its qualities satisfies human needs of whatever kind" (1977, p. 125). Marx argued that for the initial stage of this argument on the theory of value it makes no difference how these needs arise. Marx was not concerned with developing a theory of consumption per se. His concern was class, which for him meant the appropriation and distribution of surplus labor time. It was in this context that he made remarks on the social construction of needs in the Grundrisse and Volumes 2 and 3 of Capital. For Marx, the quantity of consumption was a potential barrier to the realization of surplus value. Overcoming the barrier required both an increase in demand and a change in the types of goods consumed. Firstly, quantitative expansion of existing consumption; secondly, creation of new needs by propagating existing ones in a wide circle; thirdly, production of new needs and discovery and creation of new use values . . . Hence, exploration of all of nature in order to discover new, useful qualities in things; universal exchange of the products of all alien climates and lands; new (artificial) preparation of natural objects, by which they are given new use and satisfaction of new needs arising from society itself; the cultivation of all the qualities of the social human being, production of the same in a form as rich as possible in needs, being rich in qualities and relations -- production of this being as the most total and universal social product, for in order to take gratification in a many sided way, he must be capable of many pleasures, hence cultured to a high degree -- is likewise a condition of production founded on capital (Marx, 1973, pp. 408-09). In contrast to neoclassical theory, Marx's theory encompasses not only the production of goods, but also the production of people and the social relations among them. It is possible to read Marx as supposing that the conditions of production fully determine the conditions of consumption. In The Poverty of Philosophy he writes, His [the consumer's] judgement depends on his means and his needs. Both of these are determined by his social position, which itself depends on the whole social organization. …