Bella Horkheimer/Adorno

The Industrial Revolution in the late 1700’s made it possible for products to be mass-produced and sold at a cheap price. The ready availability of materials sparked a steady increase in the desire to consume, a sensation that has overcome today’s culture. Before this era, consumerism was usually on an as-needed basis. Only the rich and royal could afford to spend money frivolously. Today, most people believe that consuming will lead to happiness. Yesterday, the pain I feel in my shoulders on daily basis reached an all time high so I called me doctor. He asked me if I use a tote bag to carry my books or a backpack. I use a tote bag. He gave me the name of a backpack that is designed to keep weight off the shoulders and distribute it more into the hips. By 10pm last night, I had ordered on online and it should arrive by Friday. Consumerism has become so simplified that I can simply search the name of a product, find a vendor, enter my credit card numbers, and have it delivered to my door at a whim. I never have to leave my bedroom. As Jiggy wrote in his blog, “Our whole lives are one big business transaction where we put ourselves in position to buy everything and question nothing”.
Despite my doctors referral, I knew that the brand he was recommending to me was a well known name-brand backpack and would stylish every day. It sounds stupid, but I was relieved. The media has influenced me to recognize those symbols as ones of success, status, and power. Horkheimer and Adorno wrote, “The procedure [of media influenced consumption] is evident from the fact that the mechanically differentiated products are all ultimately the same” (43). A backpack is a backpack. It is unfortunate that the name should have so much influence but was it not Benjamin that argued that the name of something is what gives it its importance? Horkheimer and Adorno addressed the issues facing our culture today, our obsession with consumerism, and it makes me worry about where our culture will go next. I don’t know how to stop myself from wanting.