trends and future of sustainable development - TransEco

HOW TO REVISE THE CONCEPTS OF ECONOMYPekka MäkeläABSTRACT When taken for granted that we have moved into a society of consumers, as e.g.Baudrillard (2004) and Bauman (2007) have suggested, it follows that we should reconsider theconcepts of economy and economics from the point of view of consumption. The essential terms andconcepts of economy have their heritage in the early modern era, in the dawn of industrialisation,when it was quite natural to concentrate on the point of view of production as the main aspect ofeconomy and economics. Accelerated ability to produce just about anything implies that we couldafford affluence for all humankind if only we could free ourselves from the treadmill of fulfilling theincreasing needs we have created to justify and push forward the increasing production, as Galbraith(1969) and Marcuse (1964) stated already more than half a century ago. True, focusing on the richareas of the world, the growth of production is dislocated, but technically the problem can be solved.To solve today’s main dilemmas requires concentration on demand instead of supply. The fate of theproduction-orientated system now seems to be in the hands of the consumers, i.e. dependent on thewillingness of consumers to consume more and more. Consequently, they have become the key agentsof society, instead of ‘workers’ or ‘producers’.In this paper I will outline some new concepts based on the notion that it is both necessary andpossible to invent and create a ‘concrete utopia’ which doesn’t rely on ever continuing economicgrowth. At first, I want to criticize some of the prevailing notions concerning the supposedempowerment of consumers, the very concept of consumption and the ‘imperative’ of economicalgrowth, the hidden roots of which are in the consumerist way of living in a society of consumers.Furthermore, before suggesting new concepts, I will introduce Thorstein Veblen’s ideas of thedynamics of consumption.1. Empowerment of consumers as power to exercise choiceIn their article ”Consumer empowerment: a Foucauldian interpretation” (2006) Shankar, Cherrier &Canniford argue that at the beginning of the 21st century we are in the midst of a shift in power fromproducers to consumers and this has strengthened the identity of the consumers – as buyers of goodsand services. This can be regarded as a liberal-humanistic, traditional and common-sense concept ofpower and empowerment. People, when conceptualised as consumers, have either been given or theyhave taken more power, control and influence just as consumers. They are now seen to possess power toget goods and services made according to their desires, to reject non-desired goods, and to shop aroundfor the best price-quality ratio. This consumer power changes the product push approach into aconsumption pull strategy and reconfigures the supply chain to the demand chain, which is supposed to173