[Nettime-nl] Krisis 2012, issue 1 online

[Jappe Groenendijk <jappe.groenendijk@gmail.com>]

In the sixties and seventies of the last century many philosophers criticized consumerism: the constant and often increasing preoccupation with the acquisition of goods and services. Since then, consumerism hasn’t been robbed of its strength; to the contrary: globalization gave an enormous boost to consumerism. The question is whether current forms of consumerism are not only quantitatively but also qualitatively different from the ones of roughly forty or fifty years ago. And if so, do we need new theories to conceptualize the consumerism of the 21st century? Or are the theoretical notions of Marcuse, Illich and others still fruitful?

This special issue of Krisis, contains five contributions on current politics of consumerism. Dominik Schrage provides a genealogy of consumption that has been missing to date. The ambivalent character of the political role of consumers is the topic of Veronika Kneip’s contribution. Jörn Lamla aims to develop crucial elements of a cultural theory of the consumer citizen. In her interview with Daniel Miller, Andrea Rödig asks him to elaborate on his claim that the critique of consumption is hypocritical. And in an essay rife with references to contemporary artistic practices, Ton de Munck reflects on the relation between art and consumerism. 

Furthermore, this issue contains an essay by Rudi Laermans on ‘Teaching Theory and the Art of Not-Knowing’ and several reviews.


www.krisis.eu
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