Consumer Capitalism and the Future of Human Civilization

Throughout the semester you have learned about many sociological issues. These include culture, race, class, gender, among many others. Capitalism, as a mode of production, is not only the dominant global economic system, but is a “totality,” to use Marxist author Lukacs’ terminology. A totality encompasses every aspect of our lives and invades all other social relations and institutions. In his lecture, Dr. Lewis addresses the “consumerist” element of contemporary capitalism as it has evolved over the past 40 years. One of his key points is that in order for capitalism to grow, citizens are required to endlessly consume. This not only threatens us individually at a financial level, but threatens the viability of our civilization due to the catastrophic environmental consequences that it entails. In essence, there is an inherent contradiction within capitalism. In order to create, we must destroy. In order to grow, we must cause damage. The concept of “planned obsolescence” is that in a consumer version of capitalism, products must be designed to fail and/or become obsolete in order to drive further consumption. In the quest for increased GDP, we pollute our natural environment. In the search for profit, we lose our connection with nature. We have confused the “good” life with the “goods” life! Can this continue forever? One important question to consider is how we can manage the impending ecological catastrophe that awaits us within the confines of the capitalist system? Is there a way to salvage the current system, by implementing reform to increase the likelihood of our species survival? Or is capitalism itself the core problem?

For our fourth class discussion, please watch Professor Lewis’ (2012) short Tedtalk on consumer capitalism and creating reform. Next, read the article posted above by Bellamy Foster and Clark (2012), which considers capitalism the true culprit in this problem. Finally, think about my comments above as they relate to these two pieces of knowledge.

*Citing evidence from both sources, craft a 500+ word initial post that responds to the following prompts:

1) Explain Dr. Lewis’ view on the long term viability of consumer capitalism

2) Discuss 1-2 theories from the Bellamy Foster article that support Lewis’ argument.

3) Using the article, explain how capitalism as an economic system is embedded within the environmental problems we face.

4) Based on all of the evidence presented, create a unique argument as to how we should proceed as a civilization to solve this problem.