Consumerism as an Ideology, A Critical Theory

Perspective
Londiwe Xaba, Siphiwe Ndlovu
Department of Philosophy and Applied Ethics, University of Zululand,
1 Vulindlela Drive, KwaDlangezwa, 3886, Republic of South Africa
Corresponding Author: [email protected]

Abstract: This paper sets out to understand consumerism as a phenomenon of modern industrial society.
Consumerism is here understood as a constitutive element of industrial capitalist economy. It is characterised
fundamentally by commodification and the excessive preoccupation of society with the purchase of goods and
services, spawned by the creation of unnecessary needs and excessive advertisements. Marketers entice consumers
to increasingly purchase such commodities even though the need for such products may not necessarily exist.
Thus consumerism can be understood ideologically as a practice in which the producers seek to dominate the
consciousness of consumers, to a point where consumers are susceptible to the dominant forces of capital.
Ultimately these forces threaten the autonomy of the individual, leading to the erosion of subjective individuality
and authentic existence. On this basis, the paper argues that consumerism functions as an objectifying ideology
of the capitalist class in bourgeois societies as it threatens and undermines individual autonomy. The paper will
make use of Marcuse’s One-Dimensional Man in order to show the distortion of consciousness caused by
consumer culture. Further to this, Erich Fromm’s Escape from Freedom will be drawn upon in order to provide
the analysis of social conformity and show how politically passive characters are created in capitalist society. The
paper will make use of critical theory as a theoretical framework within which to understand the social
phenomenology of consumerism.
Keywords: consumerism, capitalism, commodification, ideology, dominate

Introduction
With specific extrapolation from the works of Herbert Marcuse and Erich Fromm, the paper
will provide an analysis and critique of consumerism as an idealogy in capitalist society.
Ideology can be regarded as a system of ideas and ideals that espouses a particular set of
beliefs and programme of action. We are here interested in ideology as an instrument of the
dominant class in society. As Marx noted in this regard “The dominant ideology of every
society is the ideology of the dominant class”. This means that the value system of society, its
norms and conventions become a reflection of the value system of the ruling elite in society,
what it deems to be important. As such ideology tends to mask power relations as the
dominant class use ideology in order to establish and maintain social domination. The paper

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discusses consumerism as a capitalist ideology that promotes overconsumption and
materialism.
Karl Marx and George Lukács are probably the first social theorists to discuss the extent to
which even such ‘things’ as ‘ideas’, ‘virtues’, goods, services become objects of
commodification as they are transformed into articles of trade (Tucker 1978). They identified
these occurrences as the pathologies of the industrial society. However, Critical Theory helps
us understand the various ways in which individuals in consumerist societies are led into what
Marcuse calls a ‘one-dimensional’ mode of being through the creation of false needs. For this
reason, the paper begins from the premise that everyone in a capitalist society is a consumer.
This is why such societies are usually regarded as consumerist societies. Within such a society,
the consciousness of the individual is manipulated in order to conform to the functional
requirements (understood as one dimensional mode of thinking) of the capitalist system. As
a result, individuals are typically unaware of the extent to which their thoughts and actions
are already determined within the system. Individuals and groups believe that they are free,
when in fact they are not, as they are merely acting in ways that advance the interests of the
ruling elite, the capitalist class.

From this perspective, we are able to see that the system shows itself to be rigged in favour
of the powerful in society. There is a necessary connection between the need to consume and
the necessity to work; one reinforces the other. Accordingly, the proletariat must out of
necessity and compulsion ‘sell’ its labour power in the open market as wage labour in order
to survive in the market economy. This process disempowers the labourer in the sense that it
alienates him/her from the power and product of his labour whilst at the same time,
empowering the owners of the means of production. In a word it is a system that feeds
vampirically on the labour of the oppressed. People are thus forever preoccupied with the
need for work and consumption. It is an ideology of ‘thingification’ that keeps individual and
group agency in check. For these reasons, Douglas Kellner (1989), considers consumerism
itself as the dominant means of integrating individuals into contemporary capitalism by
imposing a false consciousness. Singh (2018) on the other hand, argues that the commodities
human beings own in the capitalist society seem to possess the power to confine and define
them. Marcuse posits that we are confronted with the fact that advanced industrial society
becomes bigger, richer, and better, while endangering its adherents (Marcuse 1964: ix).

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With the creation of false needs, Marcuse observes that capitalist society integrates
individuals into the existing system of production and consumption through the use of mass
media, advertising, industrial management, and contemporary modes of thought. He is of the
view that the needs, so created, prevent people from achieving true satisfaction, and that
they ultimately lead to unhappiness and dissatisfaction. So, fundamentally, his argument is
based on the premise that industrial society functions on the basis of false a consciousness,
which leads people to believe that they need things that are not exactly necessary. A paradox
is therefore created in modern society whereby while most material goods get ‘bigger and
better’ on the one hand, authentic individuality on the other hand, is ever more shrinking and
threatened. According to Marcuse (1994: 11) “this absorption of ideology into reality does
not, however, signify the ‘end of ideology,’ on the contrary, in a specific sense advance
industrial culture is more ideological than its predecessor, inasmuch as today the ideology is
in the process of production itself.”

An important concomitant of overconsumption is the role played by the advertising-industry.

The advertising industry has intrusively reshaped human desires around material possessions.
Such reshaping makes excessive consumption appear as natural, normal, and necessary. The
advertising industry does very well in making people want things that they have no need for.
It does this by creating a sense of insecurity or inadequacy in people, and then offering their
product as the solution. This is extremely effective, and is one of the reasons that society
consumes so much. In consequence, people desire bigger, faster, trendier, and fancier items.
We can consider these as ‘learned necessities’. The market economy thus creates a wide
selection of items from which to choose. Such carefully created selections create a false sense
of freedom, an illusionary form of liberty as it renders consumers uncritically gratified. “Under
the rule of a repressive whole, ‘liberty’ can be made into a powerful instrument of
domination. Free election of masters does not abolish the masters or the slaves. One’s
freedom of choice among a wide variety of goods and services does not signify freedom”
Marcuse (1964:7), but the opposite.

When the consciousness of the consumer is distorted, he/she then takes the form of objects
and the consumer become a subject that is divorced from their true nature and
characteristics. Hence, consumers are made to appear as entities of the same nature and as

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‘things’. Distortion then becomes the consumers’ mental state in a consumer society. In a
consumer society, people are often bombarded with messages telling them what they should
buy and why. This leads to a distortion of their true needs, where they begin to see and
identify themselves with the objects. This can have a number of negative consequences, such
as making them more likely to engage in compulsive buying, or to become disconnected from
their true nature and values. Marcuse (1964:11–12) argues that “the capitalist system binds
the consumers more or less agreeably to the producers [and] the producers indoctrinate,
manipulate, and promote a false consciousness which is immune against its falsehood”. When
consumers are dominated by market ideologies, this as Marcuse observes, gives a semblance
of a ‘pleasant’ form of social control:

The extent to which this civilization transforms the object world into an extension of
man’s mind and body makes the very notion of alienation questionable. The people
recognize themselves in their commodities; they find their soul in their automobile,
hi-fi set, split-level home, kitchen equipment etc. (1964:9).

In light of the above, Marcuse then goes on to argue that “domination, in the guise of
affluence and liberty—extends to all spheres of private and public existence, integrates all
authentic opposition, absorbs all alternatives creating a truly totalitarian universe” (1964:18).
‘Totalitarianism’ can be understood not only as a terroristic political coordination of society,
but also a non-terroristic economic-technical coordination which operates through the
manipulation of needs by vested interests.

With the above in mind, the following discussion will engage with four conceptual points
from Marcuse’s analysis of consumerist society, namely, false needs, loss of individuality,
radical subjectivity, and negation. Fromm’s insights on the constructions of society, will be
drawn upon as well, in order to aide our analysis. Marcuse’s One-Dimensional Man
remains acutely relevant to the analysis of twenty-first century socio-economic issues.
In this work, Marcuse explicitly critiques the hidden social domination of industrial
societies. He explores, in detail how, manipulation is concealed in industrial societies,
as the masses’ ability to form opposing thoughts against social domination is made

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impossible by the nature of capitalism and technological rationality. It is with his
insights in this works that we shall be begin.

False needs

We have already seen above how the capitalist society imposes upon the individual alien or
what Marcuse refers to as ‘false’ needs and alien possibilities. It is by way of instituting false
needs that capitalism engenders servitude upon the individual. Accordingly, individually must
evermore work in order to satisfy endless needs and wants. Marcuse wants to be able to
distinguish vital needs from false needs, i.e. the destructive needs, generated by the forces of
materialism (Kellner 1989:48). For Marcuse (1964:5) “‘false’ needs are needs superimposed
upon the individuals by others with a particular social interest in keeping the masses
repressed. Moreover, false needs perpetuate toil, aggression, misery, and injustice’’ The
question of what true needs are, must be answered by the individuals themselves, but only
when they are free to give their own answer. If they are incapable of being autonomous, if
they are indoctrinated and manipulated at an instinctual level, then any answer to the
question of what their true needs are, cannot be taken as their own (Marcuse 1964:6).
According to Marcuse (1964) false needs are easily made to appear as necessities which, in
turn, breed and maintain social control and dependence.

Marcuse views technology and science (in their current formation) as instruments of
industrial domination. Science and technology, while they may be a source of good to society,
are nevertheless instruments that deliver ever more wasteful and destructive products. Yet,
this waste and destruction is concealed by an overwhelming glamour, fineness, and false hope
to improve the standard of living (Marcuse 1964). To be sure, not all commodities are
seductive instruments of capitalist manipulation and domination. It is important to note that
not all consumers’ needs are false needs. Some commodities are real, useful, and life-
enhancing. Marcuse’s concern, here, is to expose the artificial, useless items and activities
which are made to appear as natural and real while they are not. Considering the above he
articulates that

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 Most of the prevailing needs to relax, to have fun, to behave and consume in
accordance with the advertisements, to love and hate, belong to this category of false
needs. No matter how much needs have says become the individual’s own (…) they
continue to be what they were from the beginning (…) products of a society whose
dominant interest demands repression” Marcuse (1964:5).

Loss of individuality

One of the deleterious impacts of consumer culture is the loss of individuality. Objectively, an
individual is supposed to be independent and self-actional in terms of the manner in which
he comports herself towards the world. She ought to proceed from the disposition of the self
as the subjective centre within which to interpret the world. But capitalism and the material
culture usurps these powers of the individual for itself, as such power is brought within the
scope and grasp of consumerist ideology. The individual has lost, or is losing, individuality,
freedom, and the ability to dissent and to control one's own destiny. For, society has become
increasingly ‘one-dimensional’. That is, it has become increasingly focused on material
concerns and the satisfaction of capitalistic needs, and has become less concerned with
spiritual or intellectual matters. As a result, people have become more conformist and less
able to think for themselves.

When consumerism reifies the consciousness of the consumers and threatens their
autonomy, genuine individuality comes to an end, because the masses conform to the
demands of the system. Kaza (2000:29) argues that consumers cannot be assumed to be
conscious consumers in the sense of being of being empowered with the right knowledge,
since they know little about the manufacturing processes behind the products they buy. Not
even ‘socially conscious consumers’ can be expected to understand these socially and
politically reifying experiences. For, it follows from all that has been argued hitherto, that it is
somehow difficult, in a totally administered society, to possess a clear, undistorted
consciousness. In this regard, Erich Fromm (1955:131) observes that “the process of
consumption is as alienating as the process of production (…) we are satisfied with useless
possession”. Hence, when ordinary materials are made to appear as more valuable and
essential, consumption becomes a form of alienation, as the mass media create false and

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unnecessary needs, wants, goals, and standards for consumers. For Marcuse (1964:5), true
needs ought to be those needs that maximize individual autonomy and enhance life and well-
being. These needs can be evaluated by the objective standards of priority.

So, under pressure from the administered society, the individual is rapidly disappearing
(Fromm 1941). The production of cultural industries stands at the centre of this process. The
culture industry- production and consumption of the standardized cultural goods, films, radio,
TV and magazines (Horkheimer and Adorno 1982) uses images and spectacles to manipulate
subjects into conforming to behaviours that facilitate the reproduction of capitalism as a
system. Accordingly, the result of such processes as Marcuse (1964:10) observes, is that mass
production and distribution overwhelms the entire individual.

Within this context, myths appear as reality and this reality presents itself as permanent. This
influence creates a vicious circle whereby everything takes on a character which is not truly
its own. Ideologies can have a powerful influence on the way people see the world. They can
distort their view of reality, leading them to believe in things that are not actually true. Myths
are often born from these distorted views of reality. Ideologies can be incredibly destructive,
especially when they lead people to believe in myths as reality. This can create a vicious circle,
where the myth becomes reality and the reality becomes unalterable. A vicious circle such as
this, invokes as it brings to the fore the concept of ‘reification’ so eloquently adumbrated by
Lukács. For Lukács, reification is understood as a process whereby social constructs are made
to appear as natural and inevitable. Reification imperils the exercise of subjectivity. For, when
humans beings are objectified, it robs them of any self-created meaning of social existence
(Bronner 2011).
In a similar vein, George Hull (2013), notes that reification occurs when objects of experience
are perceived as having characteristics which they do not truly have, and not having
characteristics that they do have. Hence, reification consists in a distortion of the subject’s
immediate experience of the world. This can happen in a number of ways. For instance,
people might see a person as being nothing more than their job title or social role. Or they
might think of an object as being nothing more than its function. In either case, people are
not seeing the person or object as a whole, complex being, but rather as a simplified, one-
dimensional entity. Reification can have detrimental consequences. If people see each other

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as nothing more than their job titles or social roles, they may treat them as if they are nothing
more than that. They may fail to see them as complex, individual human beings with their
own hopes, fears, and dreams. According to Marx (1983), human consciousness is determined
by societal relations and the economic basis that underpins such relations.
According to Lukács (1971), the structural features of a given society transform its members’
experiences of the world; and the structure of capitalist society causes reifying misperception
on the part of its members. Thus, in a capitalist society, individuals cannot be held responsible
for their reifying experiences. Furthermore, since the human body is the site of interactions
and experiences of being in the world, the human body such as the female body exists to
bear, resist, or conform to heteronormative cultural impositions. Marcuse (1964: 11) speaking
of the individual that is reified and swallowed up by her alienation, remarks in the following
manner:

The more progressive stage of alienation has become entirely objective; the subject
which is alienated is swallowed up by its alienated existence. There is only one-
dimension, and it is everywhere and in all forms. The achievements of progress defy
ideological indictment as well as justification; before their tribunal, the ‘false
consciousness’ of their rationality becomes the true consciousness.

In this stage, alienation is no longer something that can be overcome by the individual; it is a
structural feature of society as a whole. The only way to escape it is to abandon the
achievements of civilization altogether and return to a state of nature. This, of course, is not
a realistic option. Eric Fromm is another critical theorist whose work sheds further light on
how capitalism as a system perpetuates reification. However, he provides a psycho-existential
analysis of the vagaries of capitalism. His analysis becomes useful firstly, in order to
understand socially constructed myths, following his line of inquiry that social phenomena
must be grounded in a concrete analysis of the history, politics, and social structures of any
given society. Based upon such a nuanced and interdisciplinary approach, this paper posits
that his analysis can help understand contemporary oppression in a consumerist society.
Secondly, his analysis shows the difficult with which social transformation and emancipatory
politics are like a mirage, difficult to be achieved.

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Accordingly, Fromm’s work Escape from Freedom (1941) emphasizes how one’s social
character is shaped by the economic development of that society and how the modern world
has created both new freedoms and increased anxieties. According to Fromm (1941: 34), the
very conditions of human existence bring about "the need to be related outside oneself, the
need to avoid aloneness". In his analysis of some the conditions that lead human beings to
submission—even to irrational authorities—Fromm (1941: 173) states that an individual must
do "no more than the one to find someone to whom he can surrender, as quickly as possible,
of freedom which, he, the unfortunate creature was born with”. The need to relate to the
world is an even more powerful driving force than the forces of instinct. Humans beings will
even turn to religion or nationalism for refuge from "what man most dreads: isolation"
(Fromm 1941:34). He also argues for a sociological account of human motivation based on
"the relationship of man to others, to nature and to himself'. In order to effectively achieve
such an account, both Marcuse and Fromm moved slightly away from a socio-cultural analysis
(in the Marxist sense), leaning more towards a Freudian psychoanalysis. In this regard, Fromm
(1941:23) argues that Freud’s ideas were essential for a social theory that could come to grips
with the human potential for destructiveness inherent in fascism. This move takes them
closer to Freud’s assertions which emphases the biological and psychological factors that
determine human behaviour (Kellner 1991:7).

The central theme of Fromm’s Escape from Freedom is that while freedom appears to be an
obvious desire for everyone, it is actually a double edged sword. A freedom so strongly
desired can seem to be a burden, too heavy for an individual to bear. Hence an individual may
feel a need to escape from her freedom. An escape from freedom can only mean conformity.
Fromm is analysing a situation where the masses give up their freedom and wilfully give
themselves up to fascism. According to Fromm (1942: 222) there are two types of freedom,
namely freedom from and freedom to. “

Freedom ‘from’ is a negative type of freedom, where individuals are free from some sort of
restriction, authority or bondage. Freedom ‘to’ is a positive form of freedom where
individuals can flourish independently. These concepts correspond with Isaiah Berlin’s notion
of freedom namely, negative freedom and positive freedom respectively. So, while freedom
allows an individual the privilege of choice, it also comes with a significant degree of

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responsibility. Fromm explores the negative aspects of freedom to understand why people
might be turning away from their freedom. While for instance, the destruction of feudal
society in Europe, achieved negative freedom, ‘positive freedom’ was still not fostered nearly
as much, even to this day, according to Fromm. As he puts it, “the lag between freedom from
and freedom to had led, in Europe, to a panicky flight from freedom and into new ties or at
least into complete indifference” (1942: 30). Although people may have more individual
freedom than their ancestors could possibly have imagine, if they do not know what to do
with it, then there is not much good.
During the Renaissance period however, a small portion of the population found a way to
thrive in the newly found freedom, although a lot still did not as they were left to feel insecure
and anxious. They needed to find a way to escape the burden of freedom. This need for
escape led to the rise of Protestant Reformation during the Renaissance, led by two figures:
Martin Luther and John Calvin. While their philosophies differ slightly, the basic idea behind
both of their teachings are the same. Luther and Calvin both offered comfort to the masses
by encouraging them to submit themselves to God. They were to become part of something
bigger than themselves. By handing themselves to God they do not have to be responsible for
their newly found freedom. In exchange for submission, they were promised emotional
security. No more feelings of doubt and anxiety as long as they were to live their lives for God.
The rise of Protestant Reformation laid down the groundwork for a mind-set that was
susceptible to psychological submission to authority, as well as the operations of the capitalist
era. Submission to God was essentially a temporary fix to combat the burden of freedom that
eventually became a permanent lifestyle for many individuals in the West. As the above has
shown, the enormous responsibility and burned that freedom engenders leads members of
society to abdication and submission. For thinkers such as Marcuse (and other critical
theorists) however, there is need ultimately for humanity to overcome and transcend the
vagaries of oppression and reification that is so characteristic of bourgeois society. We will
confine our musings in this regard on the notion of negation and radical subjectivity as they
emanate in Marcuse’s thoughts.

Negation and Radical subjectivity

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To be sure, Marcuse advocates for the abolition or the ‘negation’ of the present system of
domination (Marcuse 1964: 6, 62, 66). For him, ‘one-dimensionality’ which is a mode of
existence that capitalism brings about, leads to an inauthentic mode of being. Inauthentic
existence is the condition of “dejection” and being lost in the factual limitations of present
circumstances. As such there is duty ultimately, upon the oppressed to overcome and
supersede such a system.
Marcuse, nevertheless, acknowledges that revolt against social control is not easy.
Accordingly, the oppressed may opt, rather for ‘escape’ instead of negation. As we have
noted, consumerism functions as a mechanism to escape reality (the reality of being socially
repressed) by undermining alternative ideas. As Marcuse (1964:9) put it, “The intellectual and
emotional refusal to conform appears neurotic and impotent”. More fully, thoughtless
submission to systems of production appears sensible when technology, culture, politics, and
economy merge into an omnipresent system that swallows or repulses all alternatives
(Marcuse 1964: xvi). Under a capitalist system, opportunities for liberation are missed
because people and governments are, in effect, sleepwalking through life. Marcuse (1964:33)
calls this a “pure form of servitude: to exist as an instrument, as a thing”. Although a one-
dimensional human being conceives itself as free, Marcuse (1964:20) argues that this
freedom of choice is illusory. It is illusory because subjects are preconditioned to make their
choices from within predetermined settings.

In his work, Eros and Civilization, Marcuse speaks of the paradox of creation and destruction
as constitutive forces of capitalism that are inextricably linked. This means that, the means of
production, which are designed to improve the standard of living, also have the potential to
be used for destructive purposes. This ambiguity creates tension that is inherent in capitalism.
Marcuse believes that this tension is what drives history forward. The creative forces are
constantly striving to improve the human condition, while the destructive forces are always
present, threatening to undo all the progress that has been made. This dialectical tension is
what makes change possible. Without it, we would be stuck in a state of inertia. Marcuse's
analysis provides a helpful way of understanding the complex and often contradictory nature
of capitalism. It is clear that the system is not perfect, but it is also clear that it contains the
potential for good. For Marcuse, the mechanism which ties an individual to his or her society
has changed from overtly repressive political systems (for example, slavery or racial

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segregation) to a form of social control based on the materials consumers are enticed to
desire. All products are thus cunningly presented as desirable, so that consumers are trapped
by advertising and thereby lulled into such a state that they can no longer conceive of any
need for revolt (Marcuse 1964). As a result, the subject is enslaved by subtle mental chains.
The product itself does not keep factories busy. The product must be supported by ever more
advertising.

Consumerism reifies and incapacitates consumers from making autonomous decisions. “The
tangible source of exploitation disappears behind the façade of objective rationality. Hatred
and frustration are deprived of their specific target, and the technological veil conceals the
reproduction of inequality and enslavement” says Marcuse (1964:32). The activities of the
consumer society (production, marketing, and consumption) are thus clearly based upon
prejudices and preconceived antagonistic ideologies. If social construction requires the
complete deconstruction of existing prejudices and preconceived antagonistic ideologies,
then it is important to know whether a subject with a distorted consciousness can be
potentially revolutionary or engage in radical socially transformative activities. According to
Marcuse (1964: 6-7), “[t]he more rational, productive, technical, and total the repressive
administration of society becomes, the more unimaginable the means by which the
administered individuals might break their servitude and seize their own liberation”. In an
advanced industrial society, scientific and technical progress is thus made an instrument of
domination. ‘Progress’ in this regard is therefore not to be understood as a neutral term. It
moves towards specific ends, and these ends are defined by the possibilities of ameliorating
the human condition (Marcuse 1964:16).
However, as a true critical theorist, Marcuse is in a search of radical subjectivity. He argues
that, without a strong and clear notion of subjectivity, there is no hope for individual freedom
and no agency for progressive political transformation. He anticipates subjects who will
overcome limited and oppressive forms of being, challenge essentialism, reconstruct their
world view, and emancipate themselves. According to Kellner in (Marcuse 1964: xvii),
Marcuse's theory presupposes the existence of a human subject with freedom, creativity, and
self-determination who stands in opposition to an object-world, perceived as substance,
which contains possibilities to be realized and secondary qualities like values, aesthetic traits,
and aspirations, which can be cultivated to enhance human life. Marcuse (1964: 220) posits

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that “the transcendent project must be in accordance with the real possibilities open at the
attained level of material and intellectual culture.”
What can be gleaned from the above is that human life in a consumerist society is a continual,
but futile, search for meaning and happiness. People, thus, give in to whatever seems to
promise pleasure. Paradoxically, however, most if not all, pleasurable activities enslave
humanity. And for Marcuse (1964: xvlii) “in the medium of technology, culture, politics, and
the economy merge into an omnipresent system which swallows up or repulses all
alternatives.”

In so far as Fromm is concerned, fear of freedom becomes the main cause of conformity. He
observes that “[a] great number of our decisions are not really our own but are suggested to
us from the outside; we have succeeded in persuading ourselves that it is we who have made
the decision, whereas we have actually conformed with expectations of others, driven by the
fear of isolation and by more direct threats to our life, freedom, and comfort” (Fromm
1941:169). Alex Honneth (2008:34) argues that every subject involved in the capitalist form
of life, will necessarily acquire the habit of perceiving themselves and the surrounding world
as mere things and objects. The consumers’ perception of commodities has alienated them
from themselves and from the telos that is purpose/goal of commodity-production.
Moreover, according to Honneth, this very misperception is the process leading to alienation
and objectification. Non-reifying involvement is impossible in capitalist society since
reification is the result of the production and exchanging of commodities with economic
value. Hence Marcuse posits that “non-conformity with the system itself appears to be
socially useless, and the more so when it entails tangible economic and political disadvantages
and threatens the smooth operation of the whole” (Marcuse 1964:2).

Conclusion
The paper had set out to understand consumerism as a phenomenon of modern industrial
society. It emerged that consumerism is a cons�tu�ve element of industrial capitalist
economy without which there would be no capitalism. For it is characterised fundamentally
by commodifica�on and the excessive preoccupa�on of society with the purchase of goods
and services. Thus the consumer culture embedded in capitalism as was observed, is
spawned by the crea�on of unnecessary needs and excessive adver�sements.

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The works of Marcuse and Fromm were engaged with in order to critique the distortion of
consciousness caused by consumer culture. From this it emerged that one of the deleterious
consequences of consumerism is the loss of individuality, qua authentic individual.
This as, consumer culture as a phenomenon which suppresses and absorbs potentially
revolutionary elements and negates them by integrating the masses into the capitalist status
quo. The central concern relates to the ability of capitalism to destroy the preconditions of
critical, revolutionary consciousness. Social oppression as it were, sustains itself by distorting
the consciousness of the masses and by ensnaring them. Fear and desperation plays an
important role leading to conformity.
References
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[3] Fromm, E. 1955. The Sane Society. New York: Rinehart
[4] Fromm, E. 1970. The Crisis of psychoanalysis and its dialectic Revision. New York:
Open Road Media
[5] Honneth, A. 2008. Reification and Recognition: a New Look at an Old Idea. New
York: Oxford University Press.
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