Two Theories of Commodity Consumption; Freudian Psychoanalysis and Marxist Commodity Fetishism.
Introduction
This paper is an inquiry into understanding what motivates people to consume commodities. The paper will attempt this by outlining two theories of consumption. The two theories to be investigated will be Freud’s psychoanalytical hypotheses, and the Marxist view of commodity fetishism. The Freudian psychoanalytical approach does not completely emphasise the lure of the commodity itself, it concentrates purely on the human subject and its innate tendency to latch onto physical objects in order to help provide psychical stability and comfort. The physical objects themselves may not even be commodities, they could take the form of human beings, family heirlooms, or similar sentimental objects. However, commodities are very often used as objects to provide the individual with psychical stability. This is why Freud’s hypotheses of the workings of the psyche can provide a helpful insight as to why commodity consumption is a popular activity. Freud’s theory is based around the idea that the libido-drive perpetually attempts to discharge itself outwardly. But an unfettered libido-drive is unacceptable within society and so therefore it must be sublimated onto an object that is non-sexual in nature. Among the objects of choice that are used as replacements, frequently they are commodities. If the libido is not discharged it dams up inside the self and leads to mental disturbances, therefore a healthy self is one that can constantly sublimated the libido onto non-sexual objects. The Marxist theory revolves around the idea that an elite minority are deceptively manipulating the masses into becoming docile consumers solely to enlarge the profits of their company. For their ideology to succeed capital must be continually created or it collapses. The methods used to achieve their objective is to make out commodities are an object of fetishism through clever marketing techniques. Marketing promotes the idea that the commodity in question will enhance the consumers’ social status, self-esteem, and happiness. Marketing must always make out people’s lives are unfulfilled. Without positing the idea that one’s life is lacking status, self-esteem, and happiness, the system cannot keep ticking over and reproduce itself. This deceptive idea of the pursuit for happiness, self-esteem, and status leads people to perpetually consume in order to seemingly always remain in a state of fulfilment. This paper will firstly outline Freud’s psycho-analytical approach, then the commodity fetishism approach of Marxism.
Psychoanalytical Approach to Consumption.
That the mind is divided into conscious and unconscious elements “is the fundamental premise of psychoanalysis …†(Freud 1960:3). For there to be a psychoanalytical view of commodity consumption, it is presumed that the mind works consciously and unconsciously. Freud separates the mind into three sections, the id, the ego, and the super-ego. Each section has its own purpose and courses of action. The id is almost totally unconscious and is therefore not fully accessible to practical investigation. The id “contains the passions†(Freud 1960:19) and “[w]e must recognise the id as the great reservoir of libido …†(Freud 1960:68). The ego is partially conscious and partially unconscious and is the section of the mind that puts thought into action. It interacts with the external world and “represents what may be called reason and common sense …†(Freud 1960:19). The super-ego or ego-ideal is what is commonly referred to as one’s conscience. It is the voice in one’s mind that tells the ego what is appropriate and what is inappropriate behaviour in the external world. It lays out rules and regulations for how the ego ought to act and has “contain[ed] the germ from which all religions have evolved†(Freud 1960:33).
Freud believes that the human being is a “tiny piece of living matter [that] floats around in an external world charged with energies of the most powerful kind …†(Freud 2006:154). The human subject is the prime mover of desire, within the human subject itself lays the impetus for the human being to act. The external world, on the other hand, is neutral and is not the primary cause of our desire. There are no external absolute facts about the world that exist independent of the human being, all that exists is psychical energy and the reality it creates. Freud believes that the psyche is regulated by a pleasure principle. The pleasure principle belongs to a “primary operation of the psychic apparatus …†(Freud 2006:135), meaning, it is an innate feature of the human being from birth, it is not acquired from without. Under this principle the psyche’s function is “to avoid unpleasure or to generate pleasure†(Freud 2006:132). Pleasure is measured by the quantity of excitation present in the psyche. Increased excitation is unpleasant and moderate to little excitation is pleasurable. A stable mind is the key to pleasure, an anxious or confused mind equates to displeasure.
“[E]very psycho-physical motion that passes the threshold of consciousness involves pleasure to the degree that it moves beyond a certain point towards complete stability, and unpleasure to the degree that it moves beyond a certain point away from that stability …†(Fechner in Freud 2006:133-4).
Keeping excitation closest to calmness is desirable for feeling pleasure.
Everyday interactions with the external world constantly disrupt the attempt to maintain a stable mind. The id desires to unleash its passions, but the external world forbids an unfettered sexual release. The reality principle, meaning the mores of the external world, forces the libido to be repressed on many occasions. The ego has this task of suppressing undesirable passions rising from the id that may be detrimental to societal mores and other human beings. “Thus in relation to the id it is like a man on horseback, who has to hold in check the superior strength of the horse …†(Freud 1960:19). This results in a repression of the libido within the id, and this repression then results in internal conflicts. Repression begets an unpleasant feeling within the psyche due to “the turbid pressure of ungratified inner drives …†(Freud 2006:136). This is because the repressed drives or ungratified desires eventually have “ a single aim itself, and that is to escape the oppressive forces bearing down on it, and either break through to consciousness, or else find release in some form of real action†(Freud 2006:146). To deal with ungratified desires, “displaced libido is employed in the service of the pleasure principle to obviate blockages and to facilitate discharge†(Freud 1960:43). If the sex drive is rejected by an external other, the instinct must find release in some other form. Therefore, it is the sublimation of the sex-drive that is of key interest to us in satiating desexualised libido. And, as will be explained further on, sublimated libido often finds satisfaction in commodity consumption.
Sublimation “is a process involving object-libido, and consists in a drive latching onto a goal far removed from sexual gratification, the main aim here being to divert attention away from the sexual†(Freud 2006a:381). The sexual instinct no longer has to be repressed for the duration of sublimation, it can find its outlet in the object or goal it pursues, and very often commodity consumption can be the outlet where desexualised libido can be satiated. “[W]here no such ideal has been developed, the relevant sexual urge enters the individual’s personality in an unmodified form as a perversion†(Freud 2006a:387). Continual repression of the libido or sublimated libido eventually leads to mental disorders such as neurosis, melancholia, and narcissism.
The pleasure principle we recall is to reduce excitation of the mind and maintain stability. Sublimated libido helps this process by discharging itself onto an object that it believes will maintain stability. During the process of sublimation the ego uses the energy of the id to redirect it onto a non-sexual love-object, although the super-ego also has a part in this process. The super-ego knows the id better than the ego, it knows its sexual and passionate tendencies better, hence, “the super-ego … can act as its representative vis-à -vis the ego†(Freud 1960:49). But the super-ego only commands, it does not act. Hence, the ego “has to acquiesce in some other object-cathexes of the id, it has, so to speak, participate in them†(Freud 1960:45). The ego possesses an intelligence that allows it to largely manipulate the energy of the id for its own ends. “The ego tries to mediate between the world and the id, to make the id pliable to the world and, by means of its muscular activity, to make the world fall within the wishes of the id†(Freud 1960:58). It does this by “perceiving instincts to controlling them …†(Freud 1960:58). If the ego is rejected or unable to discharge desexualised-libido onto its chosen love-object, then another object must be chosen, and so on until the displaced libido is satisfactorily discharged. It is here under this process of sublimation as to where commodity consumption may take place. A commodity may be used as a sublimated love-object.
If a constant rejection of an object-cathexes persists, neurosis, melancholia or narcissism can result. The ego attempts to please the id whenever possible because it always desires “being loved by the super-ego …†(Freud 1960:61). If the ego is successful it is approved of by the super-ego, if it is unsuccessful it is scorned by the super-ego. “[T]he ego gives itself up because it feels itself hated and persecuted by the super-ego, instead of being loved …†(Freud 1960:61). The more one represses their desires, the harsher the rage towards one’s ego. This is the condition of melancholia. The ego comes to the conclusion it is being is attacked by the id, the external world, as well as the super-ego. The id seemingly attacks the ego because it does not release its energy, thus a damming effect occurs and a feeling of simmering pressure builds up inside. The external world seemingly hates it because it has repeatedly rejected its projections. Neurosis can arise under the same conditions, it is when one cannot achieve appropriate ego-ideals or a sublimated object-libido. What occurs, as a form of compensation, is a psychical disposition that rages against the external world. As Freud states, “[i]n obsessional neurosis … the love-impulses … transform themselves into impulses of aggression against the object†(Freud 1960:55). It is almost the direct opposite to melancholia. Instead of the super-ego, the id, and the external world raging against the ego, the ego, super-ego and id rage against objects in the external world. However, both are forms of compensation or revenge due to unsatisfied desires. It becomes manifest at this point to emphasize the importance of a successful sublimation process, and that commodities as love-objects can help to maintain a healthy human being.
Continual rejected projections of object-love can also produce a condition called narcissism. “The libido, having been withdrawn from the external world, is channelled into the ego, giving rise to a form of behaviour that we can call narcissism†(Freud 2006a:359). It is a withdrawing into the self and an abandonment of the external world as a place of finding object-love. The libido withdraws into the self because its projected object-cathexes was rejected. The libidinal energy still exists because it has not been purged onto an object, therefore it has no choice but to recede into back the self. The process of narcissism is when “[t]he id sends part of this libido out into erotic object-cathexes, whereupon the ego, now grown stronger tries to get hold of this object-libido and to force itself on the id as a love-object†(Freud 1960:68). The ego now becomes the love-object and not an object external from the self. Instead of finding happiness and stability in the external object, happiness is being attempted to be found in the self only. But this leads to sense of the external world as real being lost. “[I]ntroversion of the libido sexualis leads to a cathexis of the ‘ego’ which is conceivably what causes this reality-loss effect to appear†(Freud 2006a:365). It is a peculiar state of mind that begets a feeling of unreality. One is overcome with a feeling of detachment from the real world where only one’s own ego appears to them to have any substance. The external world appears as an illusion even though this is physically impossible. Narcissism is another manifestation of an illness that occurs when one cannot achieve object-love. It becomes clear again that commodities as sublimated love-objects can help maintain a healthy, happy existence.
Marx and Commodity Fetishism.
According to the Marxist paradigm, the modern West bases almost every political decision on economic growth. Whatever endeavour produces capital, or the most capital, is deemed to be superior to endeavours that do not. One of the driving forces of this economic growth is consumerism, or as Marx called it, commodity fetishism. In fact, according to Marxists, the underlying motive of commodity fetishism is economic growth for the companies that produce these commodities. “They call themselves industries; when their directors’ incomes are published, any doubt about the social utility of the finished product is removed†(Adorno & Horkheimer 1997:121).
The critique of commodity fetishism goes back to at least Marx. Commodities supposedly possess ‘metaphysical subtleties and theological niceties’ that pull people in to consume them.
“A commodity appears, at first sight, a very trivial thing, and easily understood. Its analysis shows that it is, in reality, a very queer thing, abounding in metaphysical subtleties and theological niceties. So far as it is a value in use, there is nothing mysterious about it …†(Marx 1974:76).
The utility of a commodity holds no mysterious aspects, its use-value is self-explanatory. It is the metaphysical aspect of the commodity that holds the key to fetishism. The mysterious character arises out of the fact that the labour put into to producing the commodity is a social relationship connecting the manufacturer to society as a whole, and not as a relationship between the manufacturer himself and the product in question. As Marx states, the “social character of men’s labour appears to them as an objective character stamped upon the product of that labour; … their own labour is presented to them as a social relation, existing not between themselves, but between the products of their labour†(Marx 1974:77). This is the origin of the fetishism of commodities, the peculiar social relation between one’s labour and the social world. But a further transcendent and mysterious aspect appears on the scene when the product is bought and sold on the market. The product once for sale acquires value, this value takes the form of money. A commodity’s character is expressed by how much it costs in monetary terms. Therefore, the value of a commodity is expressed solely how much or little one will pay for it.
It is the “analysis of the prices of commodities that … led to the determination of the magnitude of value, and it was the common expression of all commodities in money that … led to the establishment of their character as values†(Marx 1974:80).
The positing of value turns “every product into a social hieroglyphic†(Marx 1974:79). Today, commodities have taken on an even more of a mystical aura due to marketing tricks. Previous generations were subjected to production for companies to achieve economic growth, but today we are subjected to consumption for this goal (Baudrillard 1998:75). Formerly, the cost of the commodity was the determinate that induced rank within society, but this emphasis has shifted to what sign the commodity itself gives off. Either way “the consumer is wholly divorced from any of its physical properties†(Hamilton 2003:84). Under this type of thinking the commodity is no longer purchased for its utility, as was once the case, but to convince others that your persona equates to the sign the commodity gives off. As Baudrillard states, “[t]he definition of an object of consumption is entirely independent of objects themselves and exclusively a function of the logic of significations†(Baudrillard 1969:61). Commodities are now signs that identify meanings in regards to social rank or identification.
The means to achieve this end are achieved through cunning and deceptive marketing. Marketers posit dubious meanings onto their products. They are not consumed for their utility, as was once the norm, they are consumed for an identity. To achieve this objective it is vital for advertising make out that people be discontent and uncomfortable with their lives and that it can be remedied with a commodity of some description. This is the “indispensable role of the advertising industry†(Hamilton 2003:80). Corporations manufacture a product and then allow the marketers to do the job of selling it. It can also be done the other way around, marketers think up an item that is guaranteed to enlarge profits, and then the product is manufactured. Their major selling point is to sell a ‘lifestyle’ or an ‘image’ or an ‘identity’. “[I]n a consumer society people attempt to create an identity … from what they consume†(Hamilton 2003:70).They make out that the people’s life is lacking a life-enhancing product, and by purchasing the product in question it will make the purchaser “feel more potent, laid back, liberated or worldly†(Hamilton 2003:80), and can produce “excitation … [and] the promise of bliss …†(Hamilton 2003:4).
“Modern marketing builds symbolic associations between the product and the psychological states of potential consumers, sometimes targeting known feelings of inadequacy, aspiration or expectation and sometimes setting out to create a sense of inadequacy in order to remedy it with a product†(Hamilton 2003:81).
Items such as shirts, shorts, cars, caps, shoes, dresses, skirts, and hair-styles, are just some of the examples of commodities that are very rarely bought for utility, but to give the consumer the idea that they possess the image that the commodity gives off. The image projected is to say, ‘this is the type of person I am’. A further technique used to sell products is to claim that your chances of attracting the opposite sex will be amplified. This line of thinking states commodities “can be sexy, sensible, muscular, vibrant, suave or whimsical and can communicate a variety of sexual connotations – demure but willing, titillating, brazen, romantic or naughty†(Hamilton 2003:67).
Consumerism has become almost religion-like in the way it provides meaning for existence to the masses. In short, “human beings have become ‘consumers’ and human desires have been defined in terms of goods; it follows that the only way to make people happier is to provide more goods†(Hamilton 2003:8). “The individual is not the citizen but the consumer, and for the consumer to be powerful everything must be brought into the realm of the market†(Hamilton 2003:17). The consumer can feel empowered because he can possibly take on any identity he or she wants, the only requirement is that one have the appropriate money to purchase the good in question.
The constant emphasis of economic ends and manipulation of the masses makes “contemporary society … to be totalitarian†(Marcuse 1964:17). The cunning manipulative methods used by marketers have shaped the majority into the required image for the capitalists. It is often argued by the capitalists that it is patronising to claim the people are duped into becoming consumers, and that the people make their choices based on rational thought. But, Adorno and Horkheimer claim that people’s consciousness has been altered to the extent that they do not realise they have been brainwashed. “[T]he need which might resist central control has already been suppressed by the control of the individual consciousness†(Adorno & Horkheimer 1997:121). The people have been brainwashed to the extent to believe they require needs which are in reality are false. These false needs are created to serve the interest of the capitalist ruling class. “Most of the prevailing needs to relax, to have fun, to behave and consume in accordance with the advertisements, to love and hate what others love and hate, belong to this category of false needs†(Marcuse 1964:19). The mind of the masses has been fashioned purely through external means, their own “private space has been invaded and whittled down …†(Marcuse 1964:22). “Mass production and mass distribution claim the entire individual …†(Marcuse 1964:23). “Consumers preferences do not develop ‘outside the system’; they are created and reinforced by the system …†(Hamilton 2003:65). Human beings are not born with the idea that consuming leads to happiness, the idea must be inducted into one’s mind. This type of social engineering occurs by telling potential consumers “not only what will satisfy their wants but also about what their wants actually are†(Hamilton 2003:66). For the masses, a marketer and an economist have already posited the means to happiness. Critical thought is not required for happiness and is in actual fact the enemy of the marketer and economist. For the marketers and capitalists, human beings are only like clay to them, standing ready to be molded into their perceived image. They do not intend to enlighten people, but to produce mindless entertainment, all for the sole purpose of higher incomes for the owners of the business in question. “Movies and radio need no longer pretend to be art. The truth that they are just a business is made into an ideology in order to justify the rubbish they deliberately produce†(Adorno & Horkheimer 1997:121).
Conclusion.
This paper endeavoured to bring forth two theories of consumption. Freud’s theory of potential object-love of commodities stands in stark contrast to the Marxist theory. The Freudian theory explicated that the human being has a natural drive to latch onto objects such as commodities to maintain a healthy, happy existence. Grasping onto objects external from the self is paramount for the human subject to maintain a healthy existence. If the sublimated libido is not discharged correctly mental illness may result. The Marxist theory maintains that the masses are puppets in a society constructed by businesses under economic principles. The people are not acting according to their own devices, but according to the will of a minority of elites. The great mass of people have been conned into consuming in order to be happy or to gain an identity of some description. The two theories explicate the fact that no one theory can explain the motivations behind consumerism. Freudian theory maintains that commodity consumption can be an inborn occurrence, whereas the Marxist theory claims people have to be tricked into consuming them. What is need is a synthesis between the two theories, amongst others if need be, to get a clearer insight into why people consume commodities.
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