The Politics of Economic Life by Martin Beckstein

Author:Martin Beckstein [Beckstein, Martin]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Political Science, Political Economy, General, History & Theory
ISBN: 9781317426264
Google: bDeDCgAAQBAJ
Goodreads: 26537277
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2015-09-07T12:35:18+00:00

The shared mistake is twofold: on the one hand, both camps overlook the economic diversity of practices of consumption that offers consumers the possibility of discriminating not only between different products on supermarket shelves, but also between different kinds of providers and even economies. On the other hand, they neglect to confront the fact that acts may achieve the opposite effect, despite being complicit with the very practice they seek to challenge.

Acknowledging Economic Diversity

Both pessimists and optimists consider practices of consumption incapable of renouncing capitalism and (hyper-)consumerist culture. For the pessimists, the political utility of consumption practices is therefore largely undermined. Barber (2007: 286) writes in this sense: ‘Taking over capitalism with “good commodities” is not the same thing as subverting commodification’. Optimists hang on to the idea of political consumption because commodification, capitalism and (hyper-)consumerist culture does not occur to many people as major problem.

The example of The Body Shop illustrates that the view of optimists is reasonable. The Body Shop stands out for its firm stance on animal rights, as well as being known for being unwilling to abjure the privatization of profits. The persistent demand for Body Shop products since 1976 has done nothing to challenge the world of multinational capitalism, yet it has significantly contributed to the delegitimization of animal testing. If, as it seems, protecting animal rights is of greater concern to people than challenging capitalism and commodification, it would be problematic to paint the effects of this demand for Body Shop products as politically meaningless. A justification of this picture might be possible, though not particularly attractive, by reviving paternalistic distinctions such as those between true and false consciousness or needs.13 If we agree, in contrast, to what Richard Rorty, echoing John Dewey, calls the priority of democracy to philosophy, we must refrain from theoretically delimiting the possible range of politically meaningful issues, because scholars are not granted a privileged position in identifying the most pressing political causes (Rorty 1988; see also Walzer 1981: 397).

There are two additional reasons to question whether practices of consumption could allow a modification of capitalism and (hyper-)consumerist culture. Firstly, downshifting and anti-consumerist iconoclasm (for instance, Adbusters’s TV anti-commercials) are arguably modest ‘means to achieve a more moderate and equitable level of consumption’ and ‘hasten the demise of consumerism itself’ (Humphery 2010: xiii, 53). Second, practising abstinence from purchasing capitalist commodities might present considerable difficulties, but it does not require a categorical ‘ascetic withdrawal’, as Barber (2007: 257) claims.

Barber’s claim that self-denial to the point of self-sacrifice is inevitable if we want to escape consumerist and capitalist practices leads back to our discussion of the nature of the economy (see Chapter 2); as such, I will refrain from repeating the arguments made there. Suffice it to say that if the economy were understood as a social institution that is maintained by the conduct of its members, instead of a capitalist systemic singularity, we would be less likely to assume that all of today’s practices of consumption reinforce (hyper-)consumerism and capitalism.

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