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Management Theory
Having vs. Being in The Society of the Spectacle
The Society of the Spectacle was first published in France in 1967. The text was written by Guy Debord, a philosopher and Marxist. The work is succinct yet dense critique upon modern societies, particularly ones that are capitalist and systematically promote consumerism. There are many ideas presented in the text, yet there are a few to several pervasive themes. One persistent theme Debord presents is that as a society, we have moved from what he calls "being" into a state of "having." Debord describes his perceptions of the trajectory of modern society through a critical lens declaring that people no longer have or experience authentic social lives. Instead of authentic social experiences, we interact with series and layers of representations mediated through images. In the 21st century, it is not difficult to experiment, test, or apply Debords assertions, particularly during a time of year where mass consumerism is urged in may parts of the world. The paper will explore the central theme Debord proposes, where having has replaced being and appearing to have replaced having.
Debord asserts that society has become a spectacle. He claims that people have been transformed into consumers...
The idea of the commodity is significant to Debord's arguments. Commodification is key to the society of the spectacle, and the process is a spectacle in and of itself. He does not view commodities and commodification as harmless or only having positive effects. Debord explains that commodification conquers social life before preceding to rise in power over reality and over the world itself. "The spectacle corresponds to the historical moment at which the commodity completes its colonization of social life. It is not just the relationship to commodities is now plain to see -- commodities are now all that there is to see; the world we see is the world of the commodity." (Debord, 67) If the spectacle of commodification colonizes and overpowers social life, then we are left without an authentic social experience. We stop "being" with ourselves and stop "being" with others. We stop being and having authentic, social experiences that compose overall, authentic, social lives. We move from being authentically socially and having authentically social lives, to having the appearances of having social lives.
Consider the social networking platform, Facebook. There is often content on the site and…
References:
Debord, Guy. The Society of the Spectacle. Donald Nicholson-Smith (trans.) Zone Books: New York, 1995. Print.
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