Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2006/06/15
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]I'm curious, Marc, where in Veblen you find a critique of "planned obsolescence?" He had a keen eye for the vicarious and the conspicuous (and I often talk about the culture of Leica when I teach Veblen), but I just don't recall, after many years of assigning him in the classroom, that he has much to say about this subject. Alfred Sloane came along just as Veblen was shuffling off this mortal coil, and the phrase itself, "planned obsolescence" is a neologism of the twenties and thirties, and grew out, so far as I understand, of the automotive industry, about which Veblen had little to say. I'm reasonably well read in the literature of consumer culture in 19th century America, and this is the first I've heard that this practice consciously articulated itself during that century. Cheers! Chandos -----Original Message----- From: lug-bounces+chandos=cox.net@leica-users.org [mailto:lug-bounces+chandos=cox.net@leica-users.org] On Behalf Of Marc James Small Sent: Wednesday, June 14, 2006 8:05 PM To: Leica Users Group Subject: Re: Consumerism [was RE: [Leica] Digital Leica M] Mass production and consumerism -- "planned obsolescence" and the like -- date from the 1800's. Social critics such as Thorstein Veblein noted this at the turn of the last century. In truth, there is nothing new under the sun. What has changed is that the dynamic has gone from marketing machines with repairable components to marketing machines with replaceable components. The US military went through this in the 1970's and 1980's when mechanics were, of a sudden, told to quit pulling components and fixing them and to pull components and replace them with new components; the ones pulled were then sent for rebuld but, today, are simply sent for salvage -- the exterior frame is still good, and the materials inside are worthy of scavenging, but the basic component is not worth rebuilding. Microchip technology has howled down the price of basic componenets. The most modern auto I have yet owned is a 1984 Audi 4000S and I am continually reminded of the sophistication afforded us by electronic controls. (But, damn, I STILL miss my '57 round-window Beetle on which I could fix anything!) My wife wants us to get all new appliances once we get moved to Richmond and we shall do so. We shall pay less than we did the last time around and get appliances whose use-by date is determined solely by the life of a microchip. But the new item will still be more effective, more efficeint, and offer more features than the older ones. Hell, my wife and I moved up from 1999 Nokia cell phones last weekend. I am so bored by technology that I will still not know all of the features of this telephone when I trade it in for a new one in two or three years. Hell, I cna't figure out Photoshop 5, so who am I to talk? I drive a five-speed as does my wife, but hers is a 2004 Hyundai Elantra. It is intriguing to find out that my Audi, which was a lower-end luxury car when marketed, has all of the features of Pam's Elantra, a lower-end car for which she paid cash when she bought it. Yes, I do get slightly better gas mileage, but then, the Audi takes High-Test, so it all evens out in the end. Do not regard the changes in US marketing over the past twenty or thirty years as remarkable as these changes have been going on sicne the development of our commercial system in the late 1800's, and critics have abounded ever since. Marc msmall@aya.yale.edu Cha robh b?s fir gun ghr?s fir! _______________________________________________ Leica Users Group. See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information