Equipment goods

biens d'équipement

Worked through in 2 videos · 4 passages.

Summary

Dominique Pagani takes from Michel Clouscard the distinction between consumer goods and capital goods, which he presents as the key to the question of consumption1. The car, the washing machine or the refrigerator do not belong to a playful, marginal consumption: they serve production and exploitation2. He describes them as mediations immanent to subsistence, means of family praxis, which one does not, strictly speaking, consume3. He sets out a sequence: collective equipment, then household equipment, and finally a playful, marginal and libidinal consumption reserved for a privileged class4. He sees a qualitative leap between capital goods and consumer goods, and he criticizes Marcuse for confusing the two5. He returns to this distinction from 2012 to 2024, in particular when discussing the ideology of desire.

Summary produced automatically from 5 of the passages below, to be reviewed; the numbers link to the moment in the session.

Cycle 12 · 2 May 2024Neo-fascism and the ideology of desire: Clouscard, as relevant as ever

29:16They are distinguished from consumption goods by a qualitative leap; Marcuse confuses the two.
1:02:04The fridge and the car are mediations immanent to subsistence, means of family praxis: one does not consume them.

Series · 17 Dec 2014C for Consumption

4:04Clouscard's distinction, key to the question, between consumer goods and equipment goods.
5:36Sequence: collective equipment, household equipment, then playful, marginal, libidinal consumption reserved for a privileged class.