I would like to preface by saying I am very sorry if this is the wrong community. This post touches on the core philosophy of Marxism, and I was hoping to get some insight.
My friend claims that the only reason companies produce things is because the working class, regular citizens, are asking for it; he does not get behind the idea of companies subconsciously persuading people to buy the items they sell. He believes that because your regular person wants a new phone, kitchen equipment, clothes, whatever - they are pushing capitalism forward and therefore it is the right / natural system.
How would you reason? I feel conflicted. On one hand, people do want things and there is almost always something to produce it for them, but on the other hand companies are steadily pushing for profit, using various tactics to drive consumerism. I would appreciate what you guys think and what you would answer, because according to him, capitalism only exists because demand exists. Whether that’s true or not, I hope we can discuss. Cheers!
I’d say it’s bit of both. Capitalism offers solutions to legitimate needs/wants of people, but more frequently than not the wrong ones. It can be seen through housing scarcity and other necessities not being addressed correctly. Giving wrong solutions to issues doesn’t resolve them, allowing capitalists to get more out of the issue. Sometimes they will go as far as create an issue for people, so they can sell them a (wrong) solution to it.
All of those things can be produced without capitalism. Demand doesn’t explain why this mode of production is used over another.
Production exists to satisfy demand that’s right. And nothing about that is any different under socialism or communism. Whether people want a new phone or not is orthogonal to the fundamental problem of who controls production.
@Dasus@lemmy.world has already given you a good answer.
But just ask your friend if he would (all else being equal) prefer to buy from a co-op where all the workers get a living wage and a fair share of the profits.
No profits siphoned off by idle shareholders, who don’t spend it locally and more likely than not route it via a tax haven to eliminate all the benefits to any economy, least of all the local economy. Because they will use the money they don’t need to buy up all the stuff the rest of us do need, so they can charge us extortionate amounts for access to basic means of survival (while refusing to pay a living wage for the labour that produces their profits).
Now ask him why it is almost always impossible to find a co-op alternative, even if you’re willing to do a lot of (unpaid) work researching the options.
He’ll never get anywhere if he starts from the position that things are the way they are because the broad mass of people want them to be that way. That’s not how it works.
