Review article
Modern Society: Physis or History? Reality of Consumer Society
Tena Martinić
; Fakultet političkih nauka Zagreb, Lepušićeva 6
Abstract
The modern society is being defined by analyzing a certain number of society theoreticians (Galbraith, Katona, Hourdin, Janne, Touraine, Marcuse, Richta, Gorz). It is allowable to discuss the question of modern community as a consumer society since the consumer aspect has been implicit in almost all the researches. The basic principle of the contemporary society: production—consumption—profit has been proclaimed an absolute out of which all other characteristics have been derived. The goods’ value as well as the value of all other human activities are being determined by profit. Social and cultural values necessarily get included into the measurable system and their significance, not directly but implicitly has been determined according to the consumption with the profit being the one to insure it. The system of values of modern society coincides with the material consumption. The consumer society proclaims such a state the only possible one. The history would stop thus at our time. By thesis, which transforms history into physis, the near catastrophe of civilization is being prophesied. Alternative type of such a society is a socialist social community in which social values and not acquiring goods apart from the community will be of greatest importance. Socialist is the only one to be acknowledged by intellectualizing human values. The historicity itself originates from the social, encourages human action and the material goods become what they really are, that is, means of human existence. Self-managing is not palliative solving of misfortunes in modern civilization but the quality which seeks for gradual and thorough changing of the complete social complexes raging from economic to cultural. The individual gets included into the community and makes a strong tied line, reciprocally conditioned, based on a clearly historical observation of human reality.
Keywords
Hrčak ID:
156392
URI
Publication date:
30.6.1975.
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