iCommunism

Description

Our relationship to consumption is not an easy one. Apart from being self-centred, superficial and narcissistic, the consumer is held responsible for global warming, poverty and now, by binging on easy credit, economic crisis. A straw man has many uses, including being part of the solution by reducing carbon footprints, consuming more ethically and tightening the proverbial belt. iCommunism defends the consumer against the prevailing politics of austerity. It splits the fetish from the commodity fetish by taking the shine away from the commodity now signified in the ubiquitous i of i branded products and transfers it over to communism. With ideology once again alive on the streets of Europe, iCommunism reimagines Herbert Marcuse 1960s artistic critique of capitalism s repressive performance principle for today s consumer society. Capitalism promised us shiny things but only communism can deliver them in a different, more liberating, universal and sustainable form. Colin Cremin was born in London and now lives in New Zealand where he lectures in sociology at the University of Auckland. Capitalism's New Clothes was published with Pluto Press in 2011 which examines how injunctions to be enterprising, ethical and to enjoy overlap and reinforce an ideological indeterminacy that in various ways implicates the subject in capitalism's destructive tendencies. Cover Half Title Title Page Copyright Acknowledgements 0.0 Introduction Even Marxists like to shop All roads lead to austerity Critics of consumerism have hitherto only wanted us to tighten our belts in various ways; the point is to burn them i, the non-commodified no-logo 1.0 Addiction Between wants and needs 1.1 M-C-Mi The strangest of fetishes are those that have been normalised Human nature is an unfinished project Capitalism has tied the knot with Eros; the commodity is the glint in our loving eye 1.2 False Needs There are needs and there are false needs and there are needed false needs M-C-Mi is the formula of consumerism 2.0 Excess The advertising slogans for Pepsi-Cola sound out above the collapse of continents (Adorno and Horkheimer) 2.1 Blow Out There is no such thing as scarcity; austerity prevails There is always a crisis of consumption 2.2 Capitocene The geological age of capital The Khan Hypothesis 3.0 Identification Variety has colonised the senses 3.1 Enjoy Division That we enjoy ourselves is no marker of our freedom Parties that are greater than countries Blackshirts to blue 3.2 Consumption for Dummies Consumption does not come naturally; we have to be taught how to consume Experience has folded into hyperreality 3.3 Gotta Catch ‘em All A brief history of consumerism The Internet maps already captured desire The iGeneration The stars come down to earth 3.4 Gift-wrapped Liberation is the perfect excuse to be a commodity 4.0 Conscience The ethical consumer does not exist 4.1 Communicity The emotive force of communism The culture industry as apparatus of progressive politics From the society of the spectacle to spectacular realism 4.2 The Fetishisation of Guilt, and its Secret It is easier to shop than change the world If global warming did not exist it would have to be invented From antidote to antidope 5.0 Commons Touring without being a tourist 5.1 Utopian Realism The baby that kicks against the womb, hinting at a possible future 5.2 Disaster Communism After the tsunami Eros and apocalypse The customer must be satisfied Notes to the Text 0.0 Introduction Addiction Excess 3.0 Agency Conscience Commons