Böhm, Steffen and Batta, Aanka (2010) Just doing it: enjoying commodity fetishism with Lacan. Organization, 17 (3). pp. 345-361. DOI https://doi.org/10.1177/1350508410363123
Böhm, Steffen and Batta, Aanka (2010) Just doing it: enjoying commodity fetishism with Lacan. Organization, 17 (3). pp. 345-361. DOI https://doi.org/10.1177/1350508410363123
Böhm, Steffen and Batta, Aanka (2010) Just doing it: enjoying commodity fetishism with Lacan. Organization, 17 (3). pp. 345-361. DOI https://doi.org/10.1177/1350508410363123
Abstract
<jats:p> Despite prolonged resistance campaigns against what are regarded as unethical production practices of companies such as Nike, people around the world still seem to be happy to spend a lot of money buying expensive consumer products. Why is this so? In this article we discuss this question through the lens of the concept of fetishism. By discussing texts by Freud and Marx, amongst others, we first explore the genealogy of the concept of fetishism. We then develop a Lacanian reading to understand how processes of fetishization dominate today’s capitalist society, producing a modern subject that constantly desires to consume more in order to constitute itself. We argue—with Lacan—that at the heart of this process of the constitution of the subject through consumption is enjoyment or, what Lacan calls, jouissance. Capitalism—as any other socio-economic regime—can thus be understood as a system of enjoyment. </jats:p>
Item Type: | Article |
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Uncontrolled Keywords: | consumer capitalism; enjoyment; Lacan; Freud; Marx; Nike; subjectivity; sweatshops |
Subjects: | H Social Sciences > HN Social history and conditions. Social problems. Social reform |
SWORD Depositor: | Unnamed user with email elements@essex.ac.uk |
Depositing User: | Unnamed user with email elements@essex.ac.uk |
Date Deposited: | 31 Aug 2013 15:19 |
Last Modified: | 04 Dec 2024 06:08 |
URI: | http://repository.essex.ac.uk/id/eprint/5387 |
Available files
Filename: boehm-batta-2010-organization.pdf