Academic literature on the topic 'Critique of the Commodity-producing Modern Society'

For the social theorists of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, measurement, quantification and calculation were of particular social and political significance. Karl Marx, in Capital, based his critique of classical political economy on an analysis of the quantification of labour as a commodity. Max Weber, in Economy and Society, emphasized the importance of rational calculation in the conduct of modern bureaucratic organizations. And in his major work, The Philosophy of Money, Georg Simmel highlighted what he called ‘the calculating character of modern times'.

For Weberian Marxists, the social theories of Max Weber and Karl Marx are complementary contributions to the analysis of modern capitalist society. Combining Weber's theory of rationalization with Marx's critique of commodity fetishism to develop his own critique of reification, Georg Lukács contended that the combination of Marx's and Weber's social theories is essential to envisioning socially transformative modes of praxis in advanced capitalist society. By comparing Lukács ‘s theory of reification with Habermas's theory of communicative action as two theories in the tradition of Weberian Marxism, I show how the prevailing mode of “doing theory” has shifted from Marx's critique of economic determinism to Weber's idea of the inner logic of social value spheres. Today, Weberian Marxism can make an important contribution to theoretical sociology by reconstituting itself as a framework for critically examining prevailing societal definitions of the rationalization imperatives specific to purposive-rational social value spheres (the economy, the administrative state, etc.). In a second step, Weberian Marxists would explore how these value spheres relate to each other and to value spheres that are open to the type of communicative rationalization characteristic of the lifeworld level of social organization.

Den globale kapitalisme er eksplosiv i sin udvikling, og det har resulteret i, at den ofte beskrives ud fra en række nye synonymer, såsom vidensøkonomi, oplevelsesøkonomi eller kreativ økonomi. Denne artikel vil undersøge om de modsætninger og problemer, som denne nye kapitalisme skaber for lønarbejderne, kan analyseres fra en kritisk position med udgangspunkt i Marx’ økonomikritik. Begrundelsen for at vælge dette kritikperspektiv er, at den meget levedygtige globale kapitalisme viser sin dynamik gennem en eksplosiv udbredelse af vareliggørelsen af alle former for aktiviteter til alle dele af samfundet og hele kloden. Vareformens dominans gør det afgørende at fastholde, at kritiske nøgleindsigter i denne samfundsstruktur skal udvikles gennem en fornyet kritisk refleksion af den mest omfattende analyse af vareformen i et kapitalistisk samfund, og den finder vi hos Marx i Kapitalen. Marx’ analyse af kapitalismen er ikke først og fremmest en teori om økonomiens strukturering og udvikling, men en teori om magt og sociale relationer i arbejdslivet i det kapitalistiske samfund. Teorien er en formanalyse, forstået som en analyse af de former, vare- og værdiformen, som med Marx’ ord gennemtrænger og strukturerer de samfund, der er bygget op på en kapitalistisk vareøkonomi – hvorfor en kritik må sættes ind netop der. ENGELSK ABSTRACT: Finn Hansson: Marx and Modern Working Life. A Discussion of the Labour Theory of Value’s Meaning for the Critique of Working Life in Global Capitalism Global capitalism has often been described through a number of synonyms like knowledge economy, experience economy or creative economy. This article will show that this “new” capitalism is really not that new and that new problems in working life can be analyzed and understood by going back to Marx and his critique of the political economy. The key reason for going back to Marx is that his social criticism rests on a theory of the commodity and value form – and that modern capitalism has extended commoditization to all sectors of society. The aim of Marx’s social critique in Capital is to understand the roots of power and social dominance in work-life situations and its impact on the reproduction of labour power. His major tool is the theory of forms, commodity and value forms, permeating the whole capitalist society. Key words: Capitalism, work life, critical sociology, Marxism.

Despite prolonged resistance campaigns against what are regarded as unethical production practices of companies such as Nike, people around the world still seem to be happy to spend a lot of money buying expensive consumer products. Why is this so? In this article we discuss this question through the lens of the concept of fetishism. By discussing texts by Freud and Marx, amongst others, we first explore the genealogy of the concept of fetishism. We then develop a Lacanian reading to understand how processes of fetishization dominate today’s capitalist society, producing a modern subject that constantly desires to consume more in order to constitute itself. We argue—with Lacan—that at the heart of this process of the constitution of the subject through consumption is enjoyment or, what Lacan calls, jouissance. Capitalism—as any other socio-economic regime—can thus be understood as a system of enjoyment.

In this article Christopher Collins considers how the rural is represented in contemporary Irish theatre through a performance analysis of WillFredd Theatre’s award-winning production of FARM, staged in an industrial Dublin warehouse. Adopting a relational perspective, the article explores how the rural in contemporary Irish culture is a valuable commodity that is produced for urban consumption, and examines how the representation of the rural in FARM offered a critique of economies of capital that obscure the inherent labour of producing the rural. It also highlights how the performance explored the workings of the Irish cultural economy that produces rural nostalgia as an affective practice at the expense of some of the lived realities of rural life that extend beyond labour to loneliness, depression, and gendered essentialism. Consequently, Collins questions what, if anything, has changed from the representation and reception of the rural as nostalgic utopia, and the role nostalgia plays in articulating regional and national identities. Christopher Collins is an Assistant Professor of Drama at the University of Nottingham. He has published widely on modern and contemporary Irish theatre, including two monographs on the plays and performances of J. M. Synge. In 2016 he was appointed as Secretary General (Communications) for the International Federation for Theatre Research.

AbstractThis paper critiques ethnographic tendencies to idealise and celebratesufi‘traditionalism’ as authentically South Asian. We perceive strong academic trends of frank distaste for reformism, which is then inaccurately—and dangerously buttressing Hindutva rhetoric—branded as going against the grain of South Asian society. This often goes along with (inaccurate) branding of all reformism as ‘foreign inspired’ orwah'habi. Kerala'sMujahids(Kerala Naduvathul Mujahideen [KNM]) are clearly part of universalistic trends and shared Islamic impulses towards purification. We acknowledge the importance to KNM of longstanding links to the Arab world, contemporary links to the Gulf, wider currents of Islamic reform (both global and Indian), while also showing how reformism has been producing itself locally since the mid-19th century. Reformist enthusiasm is part of Kerala-wide patterns discernable across all religious communities: 1920s and 1930s agitations for a break from the 19th century past; 1950s post-independence social activism; post 1980s religious revivalism. Kerala's Muslims (like Kerala Hindus and Christians) associate religious reformism with: a self-consciously ‘modern’ outlook; the promotion of education; rallying of support from the middle classes. There is a concomitant contemporary association of orthoprax traditionalism with ‘backward’, superstitious and un-modern practices, troped as being located in rural and low-status locations.

The aim of this paper is a socio-philosophical analysis of attention deficit phenomenon, which is being detected at the intersection of several subject areas (psychiatry, theory of journalism, economics). The main methodological instrument of the study is a Marxist principle of alienation. Alienation of attention, which, on the one hand, is being understood as a process of producing attention as a commodity, and on the other one – as the process of producing a person as a user of the platform, provides the methodological basis, necessary for a holistic view of the phenomenon. The main differences of attention alienation from alienation of labor and desire are considered within the paper. The possibility of a modern form of alienation is associated primarily with the emergence of the new forms of capital – platforms, providing infrastructure for the interaction of other users and aimed at collection and procession of large amounts of data. The main aspects of attention management: game, content sharing and design have been distinguished within the paper. The main consequences of alienation of attention for the structure of the individual and society have been spelled out. The effects of the spread of gaming techniques of attention management and content distribution techniques specific to social networks have been considered. It being is suggested that there is a correlation between the spread of ADHD diagnosis and the spread of attention management technologies, and, as well, between the distribution of attention management technology and the ‘renaissance’ of social in the social theory.

Poverty is still the main topic as a problem that must be resolved and an indicator of the existence of a pre-prosperous society, and this cannot be separated from the factor of economic inequality and the inability of the community to meet their basic needs. Poverty can also mean a lack of social needs and economic inability. As for the objectives of this activity, namely: (1) Socializing contemporary coffee packaging as an adaptive and novelty form of packaging in the modern era; (2) Providing training on the creativity of coffee farmers in coffee making and providing great opportunities in promoting superior products of coffee producers; and (3) Providing business assistance for coffee producers. The method used in this service activity, namely: Focus Group Discussion (FGD) to determine the potential of the coffee-producing community and using the Waterfall method. The results of these activities, namely (1) Coffee packaging innovations that have been carried out have received positive responses from partners and are useful for increasing the number of sales of coffee commodity products; (2) Coffee packaging innovations consist of information on Brand Coffee, Single Origin and Espresso Blend, region, varietal, roast level, cupping notes, height, weight of coffee, roast date, beans, and level of fineness; (3) Community service is carried out through socialization of coffee packaging innovations, packaging design training, and business assistance; and (4) Business assistance with partners includes training in partner organization management, assistance in program development, as well as monitoring and evaluation of activities.

Along with Karl Marx, Friedrich Nietzsche may be considered a great theorist and critic of Art Nouveau, negative life aspects of modern culture considered. Nietzsche developed one of the first sustained critiques of mass culture and society, the state, and bureaucratic discipline that later deeply influenced discourses of Art Nouveau. Nietzsche perceived mass culture central to modern social reality as the forces of decadence and nihilism that undermines the authentic culture and creates a mediocre culture. Nietzsche was “anti-politically” oriented, believing mass politics led to herd conformity, the loss of individuality, producing mass manipulation and homogenization harmful to vital life energy, creativity, and superior individuality. Moreover, Nietzsche thought modern democracy, liberalism, and enlightened social movements contributed regression of “modern man”, especially through press and mass culture, focusing on the trivial, superfluous, and sensational, creating homogenization and conformity. The project Skopje 2014 may also be seen from the perspective where the state and political elites are hiding behind culture and national identity trying to build an identity based on culture with no individual but only improvised collectivity. Individual, lost in ideology, system, and environment changes become lost in the collectivity, unsuccessfully trying to find his place, not realizing there is nothing beyond deception. Santrauka Greta Karlo Marxo, Friedrichas Nietzsche gali būti vertinamas kaip didis Art Nouveau teoretikas ir kritikas, gilinęsis į moderniosios kultūros negatyviuosius gyvenimo aspektus. Nietzsche išplėtojo masinės kultūros ir visuomenės, valstybės ir biurokratinės disciplinos kritiką, kuri yra bene pirmoji tokia nuosekli kritika, vėliau turėjusi didelės įtakos Art Nouveau diskursams. Nietzsche masinę kultūrą suprato kaip esminę moderniosios socialinės realybės atžvilgiu – kaip dekadanso ir nihilizmo jėgą, paveikusią autentiškąją kultūrą ir kuriančią vidutinybių kultūrą. Nietzsche's orientacija buvo „antipolitinė“ – jis tikėjo, esą masinė politika veda link minios konformizmo, individualumo praradimo, produkuoja masinį manipuliavimą ir homogenizavimą, žalojančius vitalinę gyvenimo energiją, kūrybiškumą ir aukščiausiąjį individualumą. Be to, Nietzsche manė, kad modernioji demokratija, liberalizmas ir švietėjiški socialiniai judėjimai prisidėjo prie „moderniojo žmogaus“ regreso, ypač dėl spaudos ir masinės kultūros įtakos, sutelkiančios ties banalybėmis, nesaikingumu ir jutimiškumu ir produkuojančios homogeniškumą bei konformizmą. Projektas Skopje 2014 taip pat gali būti vertinamas iš tos perspektyvos, kur valstybės ir politinis elitas prisidengia kultūra bei nacionaliniu identitetu, siekdamas sukurti identitetą, kuris būtų grįstas kultūra be individualumo – vien tik improvizuojamu kolektyviškumu. Ideologijoje, sistemoje ir aplinkos permainose nuskandintas individas, bandydamas surasti savąją vietą ir nesuvokdamas, kad nebėra nieko, išskyrus apgaules, buvo kolektyviškumo sunaikintas. Reikšminiai žodžiai: Friedrichas Nietzsche, individas, Makedonija, masinė kultūra.

Resumo: Em O Capital, Marx nos alertou que a mercadoria tem um caráter misterioso que carrega “sutilezas metafísicas e argúcias teológicas”. Este artigo tenta decifrar um pouco desse mistério buscando decodifica-lo naquilo que denominamos como a estranha objetividade do valor. Para isso, analisamos a relação entre a ideologia e o valor a partir da crítica marxiana à mercadoria, consignada à lógica de Hegel. Vemos que o valor se constitui como razão ontológica da mercadoria enquanto produto do processo de trabalho que carrega uma racionalidade imanente, isto é, um espírito socialmente produzido que se objetiva à medida que é vivenciado pelos indivíduos como uma lógica social que rege as relações nesta sociedade. Isso se dá por meio de “sutilezas metafísicas” na formação da realidade social marcada por contradições estabelecidas entre, de um lado, o conteúdo objetivo das relações sociais, e de outro, a forma como essas relações são vivenciadas pela consciência na sociedade capitalista. Nesta relação entre conteúdo e forma, encontramos determinações de profundidade ontológica entre o valor e a ideologia, enquanto forma social que opera harmonizando as contradições constituintes da realidade social, a exemplo do que acontece no trabalho assalariado. A mediação ideológica se põe como uma progressão imanente à materialização da vivência concreta da relação entre capital e trabalho no salário, de maneira a naturalizar a exploração que se esconde na estranha objetividade do valor que se realiza na troca de mercadorias. Concluímos que a conexão ontológica entre o ser social e a mercadoria é socialmente ubíqua, precisamente por conta do seu caráter ideológico na formação da sociabilidade a partir do processo de trabalho subjugado ao capital. Palavras-chave: Valor. Ideologia. Trabalho, Capital. Salário. Abstract: In Capital, Marx warned us that the commodity has a mysterious character bearing "metaphysical subtleties and theological insights." This article attempts to decipher a little of this mystery by decoding it into what we call the strange objectivity of value. For this, we analyze the relation between ideology and value from the Marxian critique of the commodity, consigned to the Hegelian logic. We see that value is constituted as the ontological reason of the commodity as the product of the labor process that carries an immanent rationality, that is, a socially produced spirit that is objectified as it is experienced by the individuals as a social logic that governs the relations in this society. This is done through "metaphysical subtleties" in the formation of social reality marked by contradictions established between, on the one hand, the objective content of social relations, and on the other, the way in which these relations are experienced by consciousness in capitalist society. In this relationship between content and form, we find determinations of ontological depth between value and ideology, as a social form that operates by harmonizing the constituent contradictions of social reality, as in wage labor. Ideological mediation is seen as an immanent progression to the materialization of the concrete experience of the relation between capital and labor in wage, in order to naturalize the exploitation that is hidden in the strange objectivity of the value that is realized in the exchange of commodities. We conclude that the ontological connection between the social being and the commodity is socially ubiquitous precisely because of its ideological character in the formation of sociability from the labor process subjugated to capital. Keywords: Value. Labor. Ideology. Capital. Wage. REFERÊNCIAS ADORNO, Theodor W. Teoria Estética. [Asthetische Theorie]. Tradução de Artur Morão. – São Paulo : Livraria Martins Fontes, 1988. ADORNO, Theodor W. Três estudos sobre Hegel. [Drei Studien zu Hegel]. Tradução: Ulisses Razzante Vaccari. – 1. Ed. – São Paulo: Editora Unesp, 2013. ARAÚJO, Wécio Pinheiro. Ideologia e capital: crítica da razão imanente à sociedade moderna. Tese de doutorado. João Pessoa, PB; Leipzig, Saxônia, UFPB/UFPE/UFRN-HGB, 2018. ARTHUR, Christopher J. A nova dialética e “O Capital” de Marx. Tradução de Pedro C. Chadarevian. – São Paulo : Edipro, 2016. DUSSEL, Enrique. A Produção Teórica de Marx: um comentário sobre os Grundrisse. Tradução de José Paulo Netto. – 1 ed. – São Paulo : Expressão Popular, 2012. GERAS, Norman. Marx and the Critique of Political Economy. In: Ideology and Social Science: politics, sociology, anthropology, economics, history. – Ed. by Robin Blackburn, Fontana/Collins, 1977, p. 284-305. JAEGGI, Rahel. Alienation: News directions in Critical Theory. Columbia Uni. Press, 2014. HERÁCLITO, de Éfeso. Heráclito : fragmentos contextualizados. Tradução, apresentação e comentários Alexandre Costa. – São Paulo : Odysseus Editora, 2012. HEGEL, G. W. F. Fenomenologia do Espírito [Phänomenologie des Geistes]. Tradução de Paulo Meneses; com a colaboração de Karl-Heinz Efken, e José Nogueira Machado. – 5. ed. – Petrópolis, RJ : Vozes : Bragança Paulista, Editora Universitária São Francisco, 2008. MARX, Karl. Das Kapital: Der Produktionprozess des Kapitals. Erster Band, Erstes Buch (Kapitel XVI-LII). Hamburg, Nikol Verlag., 2016. MARX, Karl. Grundrisse: manuscritos econômicos de 1857-1858 : esboços da crítica da economia política. – supervisão editorial Mario Duayer; tradução Mario Duayer, Nélio Schneider (colaboração de Alice Helga Werner e Rudiger Hoffman). – São Paulo : Boitempo; Rio de Janeiro: Ed. UFRJ, 2011. MARX, Karl. Manuscritos econômico-filosóficos. [Ökonomie-philosophische Manuskripte] Tradução, apresentação e notas de Jesus Ranieri. - 2. reimp. - São Paulo : Boitempo Editorial, 2008. MARX, Karl. O Capital – Crítica da Economia Política. Livro 1 – O Processo de Produção do Capital. Vol. I – 10 ª. Edição, Tradução de Reginaldo Sant’ Anna. Do original em alemão: DAS KAPITAL – Kritik der politischen Ökonomie (Buch I: Der Produktionsprozes des Kapitals, Quarta edição, 1890). São Paulo : DIFEL, 1985. MARX, Karl. O Capital – Crítica da Economia Política. Livro 1 – O processo de produção do capital. Do original em alemão: DAS KAPITAL – Kritik der politischen Ökonomie (Buch 1: Der Produktionsprozess des Kapitals. – São Paulo: Boitempo, 2013. NICHOLS, Bill. Ideology and the Image: Social Representation in the Cinema and Other Media. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1981.

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O objetivo desta dissertaÃÃo à desferir uma crÃtica radical ao trabalho abstrato-concreto enquanto princÃpio fetichista constitutivo da moderna sociedade produtora de mercadorias, a partir da teoria do valor de Karl Marx. Em primeiro lugar, perscrutar-se-à a estrutura da mercadoria enquanto unidade social concreta portadora intrinsecamente de uma dupla determinaÃÃo, isto Ã, sendo ao mesmo tempo um valor de uso e um valor. A dualidade da mercadoria se deriva da dualidade do trabalho, enquanto ao mesmo tempo abstrato e concreto. Hà uma relaÃÃo antagÃnica tanto no interior da mercadoria quanto no do trabalho, visto que, por um lado, o valor se impÃe destrutivamente sobre o valor de uso e, por outro, o trabalho abstrato se impÃe destrutivamente sobre o seu outro, a saber, o trabalho concreto. Esta relaÃÃo antagÃnica à marcada, pois, por uma lÃgica negativa, cuja tendÃncia à gerar contradiÃÃes cada vez mais insustentÃveis. O cerne dessas contradiÃÃes consiste no fato de toda a realidade social produtora de mercadorias da modernidade està fundada em uma abstraÃÃo social real: o ser-valor. Este ser à constituÃdo originariamente pelo trabalho abstrato enquanto substÃncia social. Em segundo lugar, determinar-se-à que a lÃgica negativa que perpassa a estrutura da mercadoria possui um carÃter fetichista. Este carÃter torna os objetos produzidos socialmente pelo trabalho abstrato-concreto em coisas ao mesmo tempo sensÃveis e suprassensÃveis. O cunho fetichista das mercadorias se deriva da prÃpria natureza dual do trabalho que as produz. O fetichismo da mercadoria consiste em um mecanismo social absurdo de engendrar a realidade da sociedade como se fosse dominada por coisas autÃnomas, as quais possuem poderes anÃnimos frente aos prÃprios indivÃduos que as produziram. O mecanismo de fetichizaÃÃo social da realidade se configura e se objetiva de tal forma pelo hÃbito das relaÃÃes sociais de produÃÃo que a mercadoria parece possuir a propriedade do ser-valor como sendo algo natural e nÃo socialmente constituÃdo pelo trabalho. A consolidaÃÃo fÃrrea desse mecanismo se dà porque ele à caracterizado por uma tripla dimensÃo: uma objetiva (realidade), uma subjetiva (pensamento) e uma intersubjetiva (linguagem). A unidade destas trÃs dimensÃes constitui a moderna sociedade produtora de mercadorias como uma totalidade negativa, determinada por uma matrix a priori que condiciona fetichistamente o agir, o pensar, o falar, o sentir etc. de todos os seus integrantes atravÃs de um poder impessoal. Em um terceiro momento, investigar-se-à qual o horizonte histÃrico e lÃgico no qual o trabalho abstrato-concreto està circunscrito, a saber, tÃo-somente ao moderno sistema produtor de mercadorias. Tal limitaÃÃo do horizonte histÃrico e lÃgico do trabalho serà complementada com a teoria da crise final do sistema capitalista. Essa teoria acaba por caracterizar o trabalho como uma categoria historicamente determinada e pertencente tÃo-sà ao moderno sistema produtor de mercadorias, nÃo sendo, pois, um princÃpio ontolÃgico determinador da essÃncia do homem enquanto ser social fundado no e pelo trabalho, nem um princÃpio transhistÃrico pertencente a todas as formas de sociabilidade. Por fim, concluir-se-Ã, a partir dos aspectos do conteÃdo, forma e matÃria que constituem a sociedade moderna produtora de mercadorias, com a determinaÃÃo do conceito de histÃria como histÃria das relaÃÃes fetichistas e nÃo como histÃria das lutas de classe.
The aim of this dissertation is to strike a radical critique at abstract-concrete labor as a fetishist principle that constitutes the modern commodity-producing society. All this from the point of view of Karl Marxâs theory of value. Firstly, it scrutinizes the structure of commodity as a concrete social unit that carries inherently a double determination, which means it is both a use-value and a value. The twofold nature of commodity is derived from the twofold nature of labor, while at same time abstract and concrete. There is an antagonistic relation both within the commodity and the labor, however, the value is imposed on the use-value of destructive form. On the other hand, the abstract-labor is imposed also on its destructively way, which is named the concrete-labor. This antagonism is characterized by a negative logic, which tends to generate increasing unsustainable contradictions. The core of these contradictions lies the fact that the whole commodity-producing social reality of modernity is based on a real social abstraction: the value-being. This being is originally constituted by the abstract-labor as social substance. Secondly, it determines that the negative logic which permeates the structure of commodity has a fetish-like character. This character becomes the socially produced objects by abstract-concrete labor in things at same time sensible and supersensible. The fetish-like character of commodities is derived from the twofold nature of labor that produced them. The fetishism is an absurd social mechanism that engenders the reality of society as if it was dominated by autonomous things, which have anonymous powers against individuals themselves who produced them. The social mechanism of fetishization of reality is formed by habit of social relations of production. This habit makes the commodities to appear having a property of value-being as something natural. But this property is merely socially constituted by labor. The strongly consolidation of this mechanism occurs because it is characterized by three dimensions: an objective (reality), a subjective (thoughts) and an intersubjective dimension. The unity of these three dimensions constitutes the commodity-producing modern society as a negative totality, since it is determined by a priori matrix that characterizes fetishistically to the act, speaks and fells of all its members through an impersonal power. Thirdly, it investigates the historical and logical horizon in which the abstract-concrete labor is limited: merely the commodity-producing modern system. This limitation will be complemented with the Marxâs theory of final crisis of capitalism. This theory turns out to characterize the labor as a historically determined category and so it belongs only to commodity-producing modern system. It is not therefore an ontological principle that determines the manâs essence as a social being founded by and through labor, nor a transhistorical principle belonging to all forms of sociability. Finally, it concludes according to contend, form and matter of the commodity-producing modern society that history is the history of fetishists relations and not the history of class struggles.