Psychological Effects of Capitalism

[Ander]

I'm not certain whether this is the appropriate forum for what I am about to say, but if not hopefully a Mod can move it for me. I feel that I also might begin to ramble, so I apologise for that but I just need to get this out of my system.

Today I was sitting at a McDonald's inside of a Wal-Mart with two friends eating lunch. I spaced out for a while and just observed everything around me. I saw the people sitting around us eating their disgusting processed food. I saw children running around playing with the cheap Christmas Santa's and various decorations set up around the entrance and exit of the store. I saw the ocean of food and products ahead with bright colours and shiny signs overhead. When I got up to put my garbage away, a darker skinned (Indian?) man took the tray from my hands and didn't give me a single look, even when I said thank you.

I felt awful. I felt depressed.

Often there are times when I feel like capitalism is draining our lives away. People and things are reduced to nothing but numbers and figures. A miserable working class man couldn't even look me in the face, it was as if his lifeless eyes were trained on some unseen task in front of him. Life becomes so impersonal. It's almost as if we're just a mass of ants in a colony, with no rest and the only option of continuing our mediocre lives. It makes me feel like shit.

Sometimes it's easy to forget about all of this. When I'm out with my friends or when I'm drinking or getting high these problems don't tend to bother me too much. But when it comes down to it, I'm not sure that we who understand the problems of this system will ever rest until it or we are gone.

Does anyone have anything to say about this?

[Vanguard1917]

We can all complain about the system in various ways; the point is to change it. It seems to me that a lot of the people who these days like to moan about 'capitalism' (which they understand to mean fast-food chains, supermarkets and ipods) are less motivated by a genuinely progressive anti-capitalist impulse, and more by their anxieties about change itself. (For example, consider the 'anti-capitalist' greens who blame capitalism for supposedly giving way to too much economic development and consumption (!), or those in the anti-globalisation movement who blame capitalism for transforming traditional cultures and ways of life worldwide.) Historically, all sorts of people have criticised the market system. Some for the right reasons, but some for the wrong reasons. This is something which we should bear in mind.

And maybe if that 'darker skinned' man was given a decent wage and working conditions, he'd give more of a shit about his customers' feelings.

[Ander]

I think you missed my point about the man I was talking about. I pointed out his skin colour because I believe racism is perpetuated by capitalism; it contributes greatly to the fact that non-whites and foreigners are often stuck in low-end jobs such as this one. I'm not upset at him because he didn't look at me, I'm upset because this system is so miserable he couldn't even lift his head. It's like a dog who's afraid of being beaten.

I'm aware that capitalism is much more than fast-food chains, supermarkets, and ipods, but these are all parts of capitalism.

I am more or less driven by an anti-capitalist impulse, even though my life doesn't fare too badly under the current system. I'm not working class, I'm a middle class, job-less student. Personally I just believe that this system is illogical and wasteful and it's a disgrace. Humanity deserves and can achieve better.

[Ander]

No one has anything to say about this? Fuck, I feel like people avoid my topics on purpose or something.

[Raúl Duke]

A study of all the negative psychological effects of capitalism would be very interesting indeed...

Didn't Marx mention something that it dehumanized people, making them like a cog in a machine; a machine which doesn't care about their humanity?hmm..

[crimsonzephyr]

I think most if not all of us feel the same you do jello...

It is a disgrace and needs to be changed, too bad the people who are running these sort of are rich and therefore have power. us leftist need to join together, spread the word. Our only way to fight against it is to have many people because we dont have the power right now but if people hear and word spreads it can happen

[R_P_A_S]

first of all Jello.. what the hell were you doing at a Mcdonalds... INSIDE A WAL MART!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I thought you knew better. lol. anyways.

I have to agree bro. Its all true and fucking sad. and YES like you said..DEPRESSING!

sometimes from extra cash I pick up some shifts running errands for a hollywood studio. Its decent money and they pay for my gas. still.. I get a lot of exposure around working class people like my self.

I went to a popular Dinner, "Denny's" and I got very very depressed and felt helpless. just the ENTIRE vibe of that place drained me. the cashier looked like she wanted to shoot her self and the waitress had no expression on her face. It made me mad! I felt so fucking bad for her, everyone there and even for my self and people I know who feel the same way....

:angry:

[Lenin II]

Originally posted by [email protected] 21, 2007 09:31 am
A study of all the negative psychological effects of capitalism would be very interesting indeed...

Didn't Marx mention something that it dehumanized people, making them like a cog in a machine; a machine which doesn't care about their humanity?hmm..
Oddly enough, people say that communism is the ideology that makes people into "worker drones" or "like ants and bees." Nonsense! It is capitalism that does this, while socialism contributed to the all-around development of the individual!

As for the side effects, you should research the are links between capitalist advertising and the epidemic of depression. Ads are designed to make you feel the lack of something, and when you can't have that, it triggers feelings of inadequecy. Like Marx said, “A house may be large or small; as long as the neighboring houses are likewise small, it satisfies all social requirement for a residence. But let there arise next to the little house a palace, and the little house shrinks to a hut. The little house now makes it clear that its inmate has no social position at all to maintain.”

[Ander]

Originally posted by [email protected] 21, 2007 06:20 pm
first of all Jello.. what the hell were you doing at a Mcdonalds... INSIDE A WAL MART!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I thought you knew better. lol. anyways.
I was buying food and a mini-fridge, products that I am forced to pay for under this miserable system. I hadn't eaten for the entire day and the only place that I could get food at was this particular McDonald's. It was also far too cold to go outside looking for anywhere else to eat.

The truth is that I don't feel this all the time. I have fun in my university residence, fucking around with my friends and hanging out and whatnot. But there are times when I'm sitting on a public bus or in a grocery store or somewhere random that I just feel this feeling. It's not right. This system is not right.

I feel helpless because I feel as if arguing in favour of a change takes so much effort and most college students nowadays only care about getting drunk and having fun. Hell, I love to get drunk and go out but I just happen to be somewhat politically conscious at the same time.

I fear that I may never know a better system than this one, but I also fear revolution and the consequences that it may bring.

[Vanguard1917]

Originally posted by Jello+November 22, 2007 08:19 am--> (Jello @ November 22, 2007 08:19 am)
[email protected] 21, 2007 06:20 pm
first of all Jello.. what the hell were you doing at a Mcdonalds... INSIDE A WAL MART!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I thought you knew better. lol. anyways.
I was buying food and a mini-fridge, products that I am forced to pay for under this miserable system. I hadn't eaten for the entire day and the only place that I could get food at was this particular McDonald's. It was also far too cold to go outside looking for anywhere else to eat. [/b]
You don't have to explain yourself. There's nothing wrong with shopping at Wal-Mart and eating at McDonald's.

'Ethical shopping' is for middle class snobs.


I fear that I may never know a better system than this one, but I also fear revolution and the consequences that it may bring.

This is very telling. You fear revolution, you fear change, you fear the future. Try to fear less and understand more.

[Comrade Rage]

Originally posted by [email protected] 18, 2007 07:59 pm
Does anyone have anything to say about this?
There definitely are psych effects of capitalism, as it is a system that suppresses individualism, and uses what vestiges of it that remain to sell crap to people.

What it sounds like you need to do is get away from it all. See if you can spend a weekend in the country with your relatives, or if there's any way you can get out of the city for a while.


If not, tak a long hike in a park or something. It helps me when I get overloaded. Just going somewhere where there aren't any signs of capitalist domination.

Hope this helped.