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Can design end consumer culture?

By Niti Bhan - March 31, 2008

in Object Culture

Hugh Graham asks some searching questions on designers, their role in consumer culture and the philosophy of it all in this thoughtful post. Here's a snippet,

Should designers work toward the end of aspirational consumer culture? Can the design industry, broadly defined, reposition and reinvent itself to provide value and sustainability while still creating desire? When I was at Northwestern, I took some classes from a Professor of Philosophy, David Michael Levin, who once asked us whether having a choice was important in our lives. Specifically, he was asking about the difference between choice and the appearance of choice. For instance, he asked, is it important to be able to choose between Crest and Colgate? [...] The problem ultimately is that all this consumption fills some sort of void in our lives, at least temporarily. And by feeding the void in our lives, designers are providing the stimulus that keeps the modern economy moving.

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James David

16 years ago

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Niti, these are important questions, no doubt. I've been weighing similar concerns in conversation with Alix Rule, who'd published The Revolution Will Not be Designed in In These Times magazine. I'm very much looking forward to this article - thanks!
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JP

16 years ago

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anti-design for sustainability
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Testudo Liberalis

16 years ago

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Can design end consumer culture? Unlikely. It's usually the government that would need to step in to curtail people's rights. Like in Zimbabwe, Cuba or the former Soviet Union. Design can't do it alone. A telling quote from the article, "help individuals and society move away from materialism & consumerism and towards more intrinsically satisfying pursuits that promote personal well-being". Of course the implication is that the consumers themselves aren't capable of deciding for themselves what satisfying pursuit would promote their personal well-being. No, only a well-meaning disinterested beaurocrat should determine that I suppose.

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