http://jezebel.com/5862742/california-woman-who-pepper-sprayed-fifteen-people-on-black-friday-turned-herself-in-refuses-to-talk-about-it?autoplay
Black Friday represents consumerism at its peak. This woman is going to "bargain shop" for 11 hours. She's donating what she buys; the stockpile in her own house is to capacity.
http://jezebel.com/5862488/extreme-couponer-will-compulsively-bargain+shop-for-11-hours-tonight
Do you think our attitude toward each other and toward goods on Black Friday (and around this time of year in general) helps Marx's point about alienation or am I reading too much into it as a result of my own fear of massive shopping crowds? What does Black Friday say about us?
Usually, when I think of Marx's alienation I think of the labor process associated with producing the goods, not the act of obtaining the goods. However, I think that a case could be made demonstrating Black Friday as an example of Marx's "man being alienated from one another." Man is not competing for work - they are competing for a limited amount of resources/"private property." To obtain these goods has shown to create violence - not to the extent to cause a rebellion, but it does show an "animal" side to human behavior. In addition, the very idea of possessing "private property" causes many individuals to not think of each other as human beings with the "common goal" of helping one another, but rather, competition for possession goods.
ReplyDeleteLike Anna said before, the first thing that came to my mind while I read the incredible stories in your post, was to think of these men and women as animals fighting for survival. So, what if capitalism just works so well because it uses the basic instincts of humans namely, the will to survive and to fight for the survival. What companies do is just to connect their products and goods with our thinking that we need them in order to survive. Indeed, a lot of people (including me) cannot imagine how to survive without their (i)phones anymore. So, what would that mean for Marx' theory of private property? It totally supports the thought that private property might be human but needs to be overcome anyway, to provide greater happiness.
ReplyDeleteI think that black friday is a good example of how people see each other as competition when it comes to private property. It clearly shows the alienation that Marx describes because people stop seeing others as fellow humans who deserve respect and kindness and instead view them as competition standing between them and the property they want to acquire. In the case of black friday there is extreme competition that leads to violence. This shows that people are overcome by the competition for goods and see others as an obstacle to overcome by any means rather than as people with rights.
ReplyDeleteBlack Friday represents the genius of corporate America. Companies literally created an entire day dedicated to shopping. Consumers race to Wal-Mart, Target, Best Buy, etc. for limited offers and doorbusters, creating a literal competition over a few items per store. Workers at the stores themselves are forced to leave their families and go to work at 4 pm on Thanksgiving to prepare for the midnight rush; if that's not alienation, I don't know what is. Meanwhile, the corporations themselves (and their leadership) are making bank off of middle/lower class consumers whose lower incomes lead them to salivate over $2 waffle makers and $1 DVDs just in time for the holidays. The entire system is structured to make the rich richer and the poor poorer, and Black Friday is the perfect example of the powerful corporation using its media resources to attract consumers, create competition, and encourage alienation.
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