What Objects Mean: Chapter Five: Economic Theory, Marxism, and Material Culture

Artifacts: simple objects showing human workmanship (81)
1. result of 'human labor' (81)
Marxist Theory and Alienation
1. Role of Capitalism in the modern world (84)
  1. Unequal distribution of goods leas to class conflict (85)
  3. Exploit the masses (85)
2. alienation: separation or estrangement of man's true nature from his sense of self (84)
  1. advertising inflicts alien needs
    1. we are alienated...our work is 'external' to us, and we only work so we can make money to live" (84)
    2. We purchase things in order to assuage our sense of frustration with our situation (84
    3. advertising: 'the main engine of consumer culture in capitalist societies
      1. Dominates everyday life and social relationships
3. Henri Lefebvre: advertising that gives all objects their valuation (86)
  1. advertising has taken control of everyday life and gives everone attitudes and a sense of style that infom their purchases and their lives 986)
Thorstein Veblen and Conspicuous Consumption (87)
1. the various means by which men attempt to symbolize their high standing in the continuous struggle for competitive advantage (87-8) - Coser quote
2. it is necessary...to look for the hidden or latent functions of objects to fully understand the role they play in our lives. the problem is that we can never feel satisfied with what we have (88)
  1. always comparing ourselves with others who have more than we do (89)
Max Weber and Calvinist-Protestant Thought
1. Calvinist theology is behind the development of capitalism and the attitude people have towards their possessions (89)
  1. Protestant ethic loosened the grip on people's minds of medieval notions about the value of poverty and justified consumption as something that God wants people to do
    1. an unequal distruputon of the goods of this world was a special dispensation of Divine Providence (90)
      1. Wealthy people in with god
Georg Simmel on Fashion
1. not only with new clothing styles but also with the development of the new models of artifact we use (91)
  1. as soon as the exclusivity of a fashion becomes tainted by mass adoption, fashionistas and new adopters have to move on to something new (92)
2. because of their social and political subservience that women pay so much attention to fashion (92)
  1. way to deal... all groups who are socially and economically marginal or weak that fashion plays an important role in their lives...use fashion t call attention to themselves (93)
Walter Benjamin and the Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction
1. impact of mass production on objects (93)
  1. loss of 'aura' (93) authenticity (94)
    1. when people purchase name brand products, they are, in reality, purchasing the aura, the good name (95)
    2. Postmodern though: lack of concern about authenticity (95)
      1. overarching metaphysical systems that we used to believe in are no longer important
        dissolves the boundaries between elite culture and popular culture (95)
        American culture- ripoffs = brand (96)
2. reproduced objects... are separated from the 'auras' of original works and from tradition (94)
John Berger on Advertising and Material Culture
1. British Marxist
  1. it is proposed that each of us transform ourselves, or our lives, by buying something more (97)
  2. Puplicity is about social relations... the objects we purchase play an important role in our social relations and that advertising is the engine that gives the objects we purchase their significance (97)
the objects and artifacts that play such an important role in our everyday lives...can be understood by Marxist to be the means by which ruling classes distract Americans from recognizing their domination and the grossly unfair unequal distribution of wealth and income

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What Objects Mean: Chapter Five: Economic Theory, Marxism, and Material Culture

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	Created by Jennifer Wilhite over 7 years ago