Under capitalism consumption targets abstract value rather than bodily need

Evidence

For what we consume is always to a certain extent an idea rather than a material thing: this is the very essence of the distinction between use and exchange values, that the object no longer exists primarily to satisfy a need, understood by analogy with the needs of the body, but rather as a kind of abstract and emblematic value in which we can no longer clearly distinguish between need-satisfaction and artificial stimuli. … In contrast, pleasure under capitalism is simply the sign of the consumption of an object: it is thus relatively extraneous to the object’s structure or use, since it can attach to any kind of object, and is at the same time gratuitous to the degree that it serves no collective function beyond that of encouraging further consumption and making the system operate at top capacity. — Fredric Jameson, Marxism and Form, 753

Categorization

• XREF: Commodification as causal mechanism — connects to Jameson’s Frankfurt lineage: Lukács’s reification and Adorno’s culture industry echo this use/exchange value distinction. — connects to: Capitalist need-satisfaction depends on suppressing needs — Clara E. Mattei, Escape from Capitalism, 383; Commodity fetishism in mass production dictates conventional human behavior — Theodor W. Adorno, Max Horkheimer, Dialectic of Enlightenment, 46; Alienated consumption compensates for alienated labour — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School: Its History,…, 2304 (+15 more)

Broader Connections

• Capitalist need-satisfaction depends on suppressing needs #expands (0.78) — Clara E. Mattei, Escape from Capitalism, 383
• Commodity fetishism in mass production dictates conventional human behavior #expands (0.74) — Theodor W. Adorno, Max Horkheimer, Dialectic of Enlightenment, 46
• Alienated consumption compensates for alienated labour #expands (0.72) — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School, 2304