INFINITE APPROPRIATION

The “The Story of Stuff” with Annie Leonard describes the capitalist system of production and consumption. Although it seemed as though much of the class did not like this film, I did enjoy it. The film was broad and simplified the reality of the capitalist process, yet for someone like me, with minimal previous knowledge of how the system works, I found it helpful as an introduction to the ethics/politics/economics unit.

In “The Story of Stuff” Annie Leonard discusses how within the capitalist system there are things called perceived obsolescence and planned obsolescence. Perceived obsolescence is basically (at least as described in the film as) “what’s in”, like fashion. In America and other capitalist systems, as Leonard suggests, citizens are extremely obsessed with “what’s in” or “what’s hot”. I am definitely a victim of perceived obsolescence in that every year I go though my closet and throw out clothing that I would no longer wear, yet realistically and physically still could. Planned obsolescence, on the other hand, is when companies and businesses, such as computer companies, purposefully produce their computers to have short life expectancies or to be unreliable to ensure that their customers will continue to rely on them (kind of ironic). These forms of obsolescence contribute to what Professor Perry termed in class as “infinite appropriation by capitalism”, in which money produces commodities which in turn create more money (M --> C --> M’). The discussion in class was whether or not this infinite appropriation which defines America occurs by capitalism or by human nature. It definitely appears as though the economic cycle within we are trapped contributes to this infinite appropriation, but perhaps “infinite appropriation by capitalism” and “infinite appropriation by nature” do not have to be completely exclusive. Perhaps it is our human nature to continuously consume, and thus our economic system, which we created and “bought into”, is just evidence of this tendency. AND/ OR our economic dependency on consumption is slowly beginning to define our culture, and thus our human nature (which could be continuously changing).