CASRMDv 1
CASRMDv 1
Gerlie Caspe-Ogatis
Polytechnic University of the Philippines
Manila, Philippines
[email protected]
abstract
MABINI REVIEW | VOLUME 5 (2016): 44-65
© 2016 Gerlie Caspe-Ogatis | ISSN 2012-2144
G.C.OGATIS
manner commodity is taken as seemingly possessing a
magical power navigating all possible desires created by
man in his interest for consumption. In effect, the society
enters a mystical state as consumption is controlled by
the capitalist system. This mystification of consumerism
is subtle yet a potent technique used by the capitalist to
exploit the consuming minds of the public. Thus, the real
challenge faced by the Filipinos today is to move away
from the manipulative power of the ruling economic
elites and break the spell by forming a demystified state
in one’s consciousness.
keywords:
Capitalism, False Needs, Consumerism, Economic Elites,
Mystification
Introduction
for one has the tendency to consume more than mere survival would
demand. Being alive in the human way requires an additional demand
which may go beyond mere biological existence and that is to be in
conformity with elaborate social standards of decency and propriety
in one’s intention to design a good life.4 Such social standards might
have been rising over time, though in the past, life’s simplicity
empowered man to have a good control in defining what is needed
from what is not. For instance, the sum total of ‘consumables’
needed to gratify man was at each moment fixed: it had its lower as
much as its upper limits. The limits were drawn by the tasks expected
to be performed: before humans could perform them, they had to
be fed, clothed and sheltered first, and all that in the ‘proper manner’.
They had a fixed number of ‘which they had to ‘satisfy’ in order to
survive. But consumption, being servant of needs, had to justify itself
in terms of something other than itself. “Survival (biological and
social) was the purpose of consumption, and once that purpose was
met (the ‘needs’ had been satisfied) there was no point in consuming
more.”5 This scenario led to the creation of needs beyond the
biological and social aspects of one’s life. In this respect,
consumption was set to be directed to a different angle. Thus, giving
birth to the introduction of commodities intended to redefine the
wants of every man.
It is not to be understood however that this demand for
consumption was easily followed in a passive way. A resistance was
built by the consuming public in the manner they also want to take
control of the direction of their needs. In addition, part of the
resistance is practicing temperance and moderation in one’s
consuming life. According to Bauman, “falling below the standard
of consumption was an ethical reproach to all the rest of society, but
climbing above them was equally an ethical reproach to all the rest of
society, though this time personal fault.”6 Indulging in the pleasures
of the flesh, gluttony and intemperance were long frowned upon if
not condemned as mortal sins in the past. It is also the line of
argument taken by Thorstein Veblen who wrote at the threshold of
the consumer age and made a massive attack on the leisure being
of socially created needs. They intensify the satisfaction and even the
character of human needs beyond the biological level. As such,
human needs are now preconditioned and seized by the prevailing
societal institutions and interests, the satisfaction of which is subject
to overriding critical standard.13
According to Marcuse, “false needs are those which are
superimposed upon the individual by particular social interests in his
repression: the needs which propagate negative values and experience
i.e. hardship, hostility and discrimination among others”.14 Most of
the prevailing needs to relax, to have fun, to behave and to consume
in accordance with the advertisements, to love and hate what others
love and hate, belong to this category. Most importantly for Marcuse,
“the rewards of the system are handed out very unfairly.”15
12 Ibid., 5.
13 Ibid.
14 Ibid.
15 Ibid.
16 Ibid.
our behavior for we learn to work within the system, although most
of the time the work it provides is repetitive, boring, and useless. The
same sentiment was being highlighted by Marcuse when he
mentioned that “the social controls exact the overwhelming need for
the production and consumption of waste; the need for stupefying
work where it is no longer a real necessity; the need to modes of
relaxation which soothe and prolong this stupefication”.17
The sad truth is we do not really pay attention to the shackles
that consumption has created for us. Goods and services that meet
“false needs” are valued simply because they have a high price tag,
which usually, has nothing to do with their use-value. We are willing
to pay a lot for them only because everyone else is willing to pay a lot
as well. This reality captures the present state of the Filipino
consumerist behavior. It is indeed a movement from subsistence to
subservient economy. It is likewise a shift in orientation where the
rationality of man is no longer needed in the manner he responds to
social pressures imposed upon him by the consumerist society. What
makes it worst is the institutionalization of socially created needs as
further legitimized by mass media, social media, and other sources
determining the entire course of consumption of the Filipinos at
present.
17 Ibid., 7.
65, No. 3/4”, (Published by Classical Association of Canada Stable, 2011), 275.
Samuel Moore and Edward Aveling (Progress Publishers, Moscow, USSR, 1887),
26.
24Ibid.
25Ibid.
26 Gill Hands, Marx: The Key Ideas, (Published by McGraw-Hill
29 Ibid.
30 Frederick Engels, Capital: A Critique of Political Economy Vol. 1, Trans.
Samuel Moore and Edward Aveling (Progress Publishers, Moscow, USSR, 1887),
46.
31 Ibid.
33 Hans G. Erhbar, Annotations to Karl Marx Capital, 469.
34 Guido Schulz, Marx Distinction Between the Fetish Character of Commodity
38 Ibid., 3.
39 Immanuel Kant, Grounding for the Metaphysics of Morals on a Supposed Right
to Lie Because of Philanthrophic Concerns, (Hacket Publishing Company, Inc., USA), 8.
suggests that once misology sets in, thinkers begin to envy those
whom (the philosopher classifies as being “of inferior condition”) do
not allow reason to influence their actions. It is suggesting that once
humans purge reason and give in to their sensation, they accept the
reality of the outside world with joy, thus it means being one with
life. This attitude of giving in to sensational demands and embracing
misology is a resemblance of consumerism in a mystified state as
Marx suggested that it is a condition where happiness is bestowed on
the reality of an outside entity like that of commodity.
The first characterization of misology is seen on the creation
of the vicious cycle of work and consumption. It is a reality at present
faced by the Filipino society and it is best captured on how Marcuse
characterized the 21st century as dominantly controlled by
consumerism. Our positive self-image depends in an endless round
of buying; our shallow hedonism defines our very essence at its core.
The consumerist behavior represents a “vicious cycle of work-and-
spend- just like a fast-spinning wheel in which consumption must be
paid for by long hours of work – which need to be rewarded by more
consumption, and so on.”40 Fueled by advertising and social
pressures, expectations tend to rise with income, but satisfaction does
not. Thus, they say that “there is always an element of dissatisfaction
which increased income cannot cure”.41 This dissatisfaction is
something that reason cannot totally comprehend. For instance, a
study conducted by Carley and Spapens conclude that:
40 Carley, M. and Spapens, P., Sharing the World: Sustainable Living and Global
Globalization and Postmodernity, (Published by: University of San Carlos, 2003), 242.
Literature Review, (Miriam College – Women and Gender Institute, for the United
Nations Children’s Fund -UNICEF, 2007), 11.
45Ira Chernus, Herbert Marcuse: A Critique of Consumerist Society, Retrieved
media in our present state. This is how we can best characterize the
Filipino society, and it was also being captured in one of the
researches done by E. San Juan Jr. when he mentioned that:
46 E. San Juan Jr., Sneaking Into the Philippines, Along the Rivers of Babylon:
An Intervention Into the Language Question, (Published by Ateneo de Manila, 2008),
69.
47Ibid.
48 Ibid.
Bibliography