Minimalism
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I am very interested in the minimalist movement, if that’s not too strong a word, and searching the internet I find some interesting lines of thought on it and think it kinda meshes a little with socialism in that it is a large step away from the culture of consumerism, with sharing more and owning less.
Has anyone else looked into this? Anyone else consider themselves minimalist? I also wondered if it has the makings of a Standard article?
Socialism is about production not consumption. But yeah, its liberating to not obey the marketing idea-shaping industry. Some of “minimalism” is co-opted by the industries, like “minimalist” software or “minimalist” furniture ranges which really is just function-less.The main website I can find on it is http://www.reddit.com/r/Frugal/, any others you know would be welcome. I quite like Adbusters.
Interesting. Two replies that demonstrate the same misunderstanding about minimalism that most people have about socialism!! The irony…… Minimalism is NOT about austerity or going without, it is about choosing what is important and not filling one’s life and home with un-needed rubbish. It is about using and loving the things you have rather than always wanting more and more. Try these links for some explanations. Of course some people go extreme and choose to live with very little, others not so. It does call into question the need for ‘things’, the emotional attachments we form with objects and also how little really, we use every day. http://mnmlist.com/links/
They should choose a better name than “minimalism” then. If we say to people they’ll have to “minimise” their consumption in socialism we’ll get even less far than we do now. I agree, though, that the concept of “ownership” will come to be replaced by that of “use”.
Maybe I’m overanalysing here but here goes. The “use” concept when compared to “ownership” (ie. in terms of consumption) reminds me of rationing by “homesteading” anarchist mutualist political perspective (Walden Pond etc.) too much. On the other hand if we wanted to increase consumption, we might aswell go with Social Credit. Why should we artificially control consumption via minimalism or maximimalism at all? The production (for use) side is the significant side relevant to socialism rather than consumption. I do like minimalism in some respects but its a personal choice not a political one.
Sheesh.
Hi SS
Thanks for this. It’s an interesting concept. I’ve pottered around a variety of ‘minimalist’ sites and it seems that there is a variety of ideas about what it is. Maybe the real irony is not that, like Socialism, it is misunderstood, but that, like Socialism nobody agrees on a definition. The view you express is clearly a dominant strain within it, though.
Having read up on it a little, I could certainly do with some of it in my life, but from a political point of view, it seems to me that jondwhite’s opening comment nails it: socialism is about production, not consumption. And if socialism isn’t about consumption, it’s not about a style of consumption either, minimalist or otherwise.
If you think about it, minimalist consumption is a lifestyle choice within capitalism – a healthy one perhaps – but still a choice, like how you use your minimalist wages. It’s not a structural element of society or a set of social relations, so I don’t think it has a direct relationship to socialism, either as an idea, a movement or an achieved society. As for the kind of ways people would consume within socialism. Who knows!
I think the idea would make a good jumping off point for an article. Why are so many people not minimalist in capitalist society, in the sense that you describe? Why is it hard to break the habit of consuming for its own sake? What’s missing? How does the system work?Thanks HD. I think you are correct to a point, but I also think that minimalism has an echo with our ideals in that it is learning to live a life without the flotsam that capitalism foists upon people. You are led to believe that more is more and that you’ll only ever be happy when you get this or that and it is a lie. As humans, we really need very little to live very comfortably and this meshes perfectly with socialism in that things will only be produced to meet a need, or a democratically expressed desire from the majority. Can you se a socialist society churning out the plastic-fantastic crap that there is today in every market?
Five Minimalist Masterworks… Steve Reich: “Music for a Large Ensemble” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=96pj1SkFHsE John Adams: “The Chairman Dances” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Sde2s-tTOI Philip Glass: “Satyagraha” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CHKUt5fDbH0 Meredith Monk: “The Dolmen Music” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7su7d76LhWg Terry Riley: ” In C” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OjR4QYsa9nE Enjoy! Cheers Ray
Five Minimalist Masterworks… Steve Reich: “Music for a Large Ensemble” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=96pj1SkFHsE John Adams: “The Chairman Dances” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Sde2s-tTOI Philip Glass: “Satyagraha” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CHKUt5fDbH0 Meredith Monk: “The Dolmen Music” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7su7d76LhWg Terry Riley: ” In C” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OjR4QYsa9nE Enjoy! Cheers Ray
Hi SS
I’m a straight-down-the-line materialist when it comes to socialism, so, all my ideals evapourated a long time ago. That means learning how to live without the flotsam that capitalism foists upon us isn’t a socialist ideal for me. In fact, I’m not sure I would know what a socialist ideal was. I don’t know what attitudes people will take to personal possessions once capitalist property relations are overthrown. I can imagine, though, that they would be unlikely to want to produce all the crap that capitalism produces. That’s not an ideal though I would aim for: if it happens, it will be a consequence of altering the material basis of society. And that wouldn’t be something people would have to learn as consumers, it would be the result of a democratic decision they had taken as producers.
(Looking around my front room, sadly, I’d say that right now, I’m rather captivated with all the flotsam that capitalism has foisted on me. LOL)LOL. I think there are several pairs of braces caught in the revolving door, here. Purely from an observer’s point of view, this discussion lost its substance a long, long time ago.
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