Consumption

consommation

Worked through in 4 videos · 6 passages.

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Summary

Dominique Pagani approaches consumption through Michel Clouscard, whose thesis he restates consistently from 2012 to 2021: there is no "consumer society," but classes that consume1 2. In his view, the single term masks heterogeneous realities. Berlusconi's champagne and the miner's first colour television cannot be named with the same word3. Following Clouscard, he distinguishes collective facilities, household capital goods, which serve production, and a playful, libidinal and marginal consumption reserved for a privileged elite4 5. He draws a consequence from this: strictly speaking, people consume too much of this and not enough of that, and the majority does not consume enough6. Consumption thus becomes a criterion for analysing social classes. Clouscard, he stresses, studies classes through consumption as much as through production2.

Summary produced automatically from 6 of the passages below, to be reviewed; the numbers link to the moment in the session.

Series · 14 Jul 2021Everything's allowed, but nothing is possible! Michel Clouscard, May 68, French theory and capitalism

39:57There is no such thing as a consumer society, only a class that consumes; Clouscard studies classes through consumption as much as through production.
42:25Clouscard distinguishes capital goods, which serve production, from libidinal consumption, playful and marginal, reserved for the privileged.

Talks · 18 Jun 2016At the bistro (part 1)

26:52Clouscard distinguishes collective facilities, household equipment goods, and playful, libidinal, marginal consumption reserved for an elite; there is no consumer society.

Series · 17 Dec 2014C for Consumption

4:04One cannot put under the same word Berlusconi's champagne and the miner's first color television.
8:57Strictly speaking, one consumes too much of this and not enough of that; the majority does not consume enough.

Series · 6 Jul 2012Radio Galère: Michel Clouscard (1)

21:10There is no consumer society, only classes that consume; one must distinguish capital goods from libidinal, ludic, and marginal consumption.