Freedom and Consumption: Toward Conceptualizing Systemic Constraints for Subaltern Consumers in a Capitalist Society

Abstract

Extant postmodern theorization celebrates a close relationship between freedom and consumption. Some theorists have argued that in this period of late capitalism, consumption has become an independent sphere and compensates for freedom lost in the domain of production. Challenging this interpretation and demonstrating a close association between the spheres of production and consumption for subaltern consumers, we illustrate that consumer freedom continues to be an elitist privilege. Furthermore, with the concepts of negative and positive freedom we draw attention towards the systemic dimensions of capitalism in order to understand the state of unfreedom for subaltern consumers.

Keywords:

• Freedom
• Subaltern Consumers
• Consumer Culture
• Political Economy