- Capitalism and Alternatives -

Situationist

In the late 1960s in France there was a very interesting group at work called the Situationists. They were very anti-capitalist, though not really communist as I understand it. Their theories were built around the concept that our modern relationship with the world is based on objects. Our relationship with the world is in fact mediated through objects according to Situationist theory. They described this culture as the society of the spectacle. Everything was packaged as an object, some times in a quite abstract way. For example the phenomenon of lifestyle magazines would be interpreted as being the selling of life as an object, as a purchaseable commodity. The emphasis though is not that it can be purchased but that it can be sold. I think we can take it as wrote that what drives capitalism is consumption and in order for consuption to be prolific enough for the system to be self supporting everyone must participate, not just the tradional landowning classes.
This has led to an entire socitey developing which is incapable of relating to the world on its own, it needs to relate to it in terms of the object.
This is not an original concept, we can find many of the same ideas in William Morris' art and crafts movement. Not all of the Situationst's ideas are correct as far as I am concerned, not are they in anyway thorougly documented above, but if these ideas make some sense to you, or pique your curiosity with regard to capitalist alternatives, you might find there books (two as far as I know) on theory quite interesting. Also if someone has already brought this up elsewhere on this column, I'm sorry, I haven't read it all.

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