Production and Consumption: Mirrors of Each Other?

When considering at a general level the relationship between production and consumption one has been accustomed to think that the former determines the latter; that production is the dominating element. What exactly is meant with this expression varies considerably. Some,like Jean_Baudrillard, claim that consumption is only a function of production (Baudrillard 1988, 46). Others avoid being so extreme and content themselves by maintaining that production decisions determine consumption only in “the last instance”. What is common to all these views 1s the idea that production is a strong precondition for consumption because it creates the object of consumption. The only task left to consumption is ta destroy this object (see for instance Lefebvre 1971, 116). Homo faber is homo producens, not homo consumens.

• ISSN: 0357-9603
• ISBN: 951-9282-12-2