Christ and Consumerism Describe What

Christ and Consumerism

Describe what Kavanaugh means by the commodity form?(p.37-45)

Kavanaugh explains Consumerism and the Commodity Form of life on page 38 as a "total worldview" that affects "the way we think and feel, the way we love and pray, the way we evaluate our enemies, the way we relate to our spouses and children." The Commodity Form is a way of life that permeates every aspect of existence. It is a fixation on materialism and consumerism, but it is more than that: it is a pretense for spiritual values even as the Form is by definition lacking moral teachings. The Commodity Form is "consumerism functioning as a system of reality (a philosophy of what is most real and valuable) and a religion (a belief in what saves us and gives us ultimate meaning)," (p. 38).

On page 39, Kavanaugh notes that the Commodity Form's core values include "producing, marketing, and consuming." Producing, marketing and consuming become "ethical lenses" by which we perceive the world (p. 39). The Commodity Form models self-worth as well as social interactions, social behavior, and the nature of knowledge itself. To illustrate how the Commodity Form has affected the most fundamental values of the society, Kavanaugh notes that individuals are judged according to their productivity levels and their acquisition of wealth. An idea is evaluated in terms of whether or not it is marketable. The notion of worth is itself transformed by the Commodity Form. Any person, concept, or ideal are weighed against their being able to produce, market, or be consumed. Everyone and everything and all decisions are subjected to a cost-benefit analysis.

The Commodity Form is a paradigm. Most Americans take the Form for granted because it is so deeply ingrained in our cultural consciousness. The Commodity Form is imposed upon us since the day we are born, shaping our outlook on life and our views of other people. Politics and public policies are affected by the Commodity Form, which impacts every aspect of daily existence from when the garbage gets picked up to where a new housing development will be located. School curricula and school environments reflect the Commodity Form, which can reveal poignantly conflicting messages to children. We are chastised for not looking good enough while junk food commercials are aired; we are told that our self-esteem should be high even though the commercials tell us to buy a series of Botox injections.

Kavanaugh also notes that the Commodity Form is hidden behind a "veil of illusion"; we pretend it does not exist because we imagine our decisions to be based on higher principles (p. 41). The core ethics of American society is what the author calls "commodity ethics," (p. 41). Therefore, the Commodity Form means the commodification of every aspect of life. Materialism is the dominant cultural paradigm, the ethos by which every statement, decision, person, or idea is judged. Commodification is the Form our ethical code assumes, the Form our relationships evolve into, and the Form of our own self-image. Moreover, commodification is the lens by which we view the world.

The media, notes Kavanaugh, is the primary means of disseminating the Commodity Form. By feeding images of idealized beauty, idealized lifestyles, or idealized careers, the media makes marketing possible. The media feeds the consumer machine, enabling and engendering a Commodity Form. Consequently, humanitarian values are diminished, even ridiculed. Kavanaugh ultimately summarizes the Commodity Form on page 45: "We are what we possess...we are robbed of our very humanity."

2.How does the commodity form diminish the dignity of the human person?(p.37-45)

Kavanaugh emphasizes the repercussions of buying into the Commodity Form. Noting that the Commodity Form causes "personal devaluation," the author shows how society distorts essential human ethics when the driving force behind behaviors are based on marketing and production (41). As the author notes, "there is no intrinsic human uniqueness or irreplaceable value" in the Commodity Form of society (p. 40).

The Commodity Form diminishes the dignity of the human person by placing products before people, and profits before people. Human beings are devalued. Instead, their labor value and their net worth are what matters. It matters not what a person's character is like; what matters more is how much money that person can bring in, or how that person can contribute to the growth of the economy. Children are preened to be good money-makers. They are told that they will not get a "good" job if they don't finish school and go to college, instead of being told that they will not be able to think as critically or creatively if they drop out. The children who excel in school are heralded as ethically upstart human beings not because they are so, but only because they are model students for the Commodity Form. At a college or high school reunion, those who have done "well" for themselves are not the ones with the biggest hearts but rather, the ones with the most prestigious careers and cars.

The Commodity Form also creates ethical conundrums that also diminish the dignity of the human spirit. When a person "sells out," he or she has sacrificed essential human dignity to serve the Commodity Form. Because the ultimate value of our society is commodified, anything that falls short will not fit. An individual who denies the relevance of the Commodity Form is of no worth or value to the society and is cast aside for an individual who does create value. Similarly, an idea is devalued unless it can be marketed.

Kavanaugh describes the impact of the Commodity Form on the human spirit on page 40: "What this means in effect is that there is no intrinsic human uniqueness or irreplaceable value. The person is only insofar as he is marketable or productive." Nowhere is this worldview more visible than in the workplace or in the entertainment industries. In the workplace culture of most every corporation, prospective employees are hired because of what they can bring to the company in terms of increased value. The individual is judged as a cost-benefit analysis. His or her wages are also based on what those wages mean to the company and not at all about what those wages mean to the individual. An individual's value is based on what that person means to the machine of consumerism.

Coldhearted as it may seem, many marriages take place based on the same principles of commodification. A prospective mate is judged on what he or she brings to the table financially. His or her ethics, outlook on life, goals, personality, and character are of lesser importance than how much money the person has in the bank or how much money that person might make in the future based on their current career trajectory or good looks. Similarly, the entertainment industries devalue intrinsic human talent and aesthetics in favor of what can be commodified. A television show that sells well is the one that makes airwaves; not the show that offers quality programming. The music industry is notorious for devaluing artistic integrity and encouraging "sell-outs," the musicians who bought so fully into the Commodity Form that music takes a back seat to marketing value.

3.What does Kavanaugh mean by the personal form?(p.147-176)

The Personal Form is first and foremost about "faith and hope and love," and as such is in direct contradiction to the Commodity Form (p. 147). The Personal Form encourages face-to-face accountability and ethical integrity. Kavanaugh describes the personal form largely in terms of how it relates to a modern Christian community. A Christian community is organized around and based on shared values of faith, hope, and love. The focus is on the person, not on the commodity: which is why Kavanaugh calls it the Personal Form. The Personal Form is a subculture, a counterculture opposed to the prevailing norm of the Commodity Form.

Focusing on the person, the Personal Form demands personal and collective responsibility. It is "communitarian," (p. 149). The community is based on trust, "internal critique" and "external critique" too (p. 149). Individuals are made vigilant. Members of the community make personal sacrifices to achieve common goals. The Personal Form is "non-competitive," as well as "encouraging, sustaining, and challenging," (p. 149). Service and self-sacrifice are key components of the Personal Form, which is manifest in the modern Christian community or in any community dedicated to the same shared values and visions.

The Personal Form may be confrontational, especially when pitted against the Commodity Form. To preserve the fundamental values it espouses, the spiritual community must actively challenge the status quo, subvert its twisted ethics that are ingrained in society as the Commodity Form. As Kavanaugh notes, dishonesty, manipulation, and injustice may arise within the community as well as without and thus members of the community must be constantly aware of when its values are being compromised.

One of the hallmarks of the Personal Form is transforming the individual into the collective; the personal becomes political. In the Commodity Form, individuals can get away with ethical transgressions as long as those transgressions serve the common end of marketing and production value. In the Personal Form, on the other hand, individuals do not get away with moral transgressions. Their personal approach to life is colored not by materialism but by core spiritual ethics and values. The Person is elevated above the commodity and not vice-versa.

Prayer is also made communal: as such prayer has the power to transform not just the individual but the community as a whole. Moreover, the prayer is not about the individual but it is about the common Christian values of the community. Prayer is made public because the individual is empowered in the Personal Form. The Commodity Form devalues human dignity by denying spiritual presence altogether. In response, the Personal Form elevates human dignity to the extent that Prayer becomes a major mode of communication and change. Similarly, Catholic sacraments are woven into the community structure in the Personal Form, imbuing spiritual rituals and religious rites with a value that transcends commodification. Faith and society are no longer mutually exclusive; they are naturally inclusive and interrelated. They engage in an ongoing dialectic, notes the author (p. 175).

4.Talk about a theme/issue that discusses or reflects what Kavanaugh talks and calls personal form. (p.147-176)

One of the major conflicts within any Christian is how to mediate the Commodity Form with the Personal Form. Do the two overlap, or is there an evolutionary process by which the Commodity Form becomes the Personal Form? When Christians or any group of like-minded individuals vow to create a community based on humanitarian values, they risk isolating themselves from the world they are endeavoring to help. The risk can and should be minimized by finding creative ways of integrating the Personal Form into the Commodity Form, changing the nature of the latter with the spiritual strength of the former.