The consumer society
Sir, —Tuesday’s review of the 8.8. C. television documentary, “Beyond the Wail” attributes to the film’s commentator, Alan Watson, the curious remark, “ . . . East Germany ... is about to become communism’s first consumer society.” The plethora of "societies” which litter the path of contemporary history, in response to the requirements of politician’s rhetoric—the great, the affluent, the permissive, the welfare, the open, the closed —even if endowed with minimal validity, have at least conveyed the gist of their authors’ meaning, but “consumer society” is a nonsensical tautology. The postulation by implication of a nonconsumer society is patently absurd; a feature common to both capitalist and communist societies is consumers. The uncritical acceptance of such a term as ideological ammunition in the arsenal of cold war propaganda is a tribute to the effectiveness of the conditioning which constant brainwashing induces in its unwitting victims.— Yours, etc., M.C.H. January 18, 1972.
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Bibliographic details
Press, Volume CXII, Issue 32819, 20 January 1972, Page 10
Word Count
150The consumer society Press, Volume CXII, Issue 32819, 20 January 1972, Page 10
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