Phenomenological Approach to Consumption Society Analysis: E. Husserl and J. Baudrillard

Abstract

The notion of “consumption society” was introduced by J. Baudrillard in 1970, when he published the book of this name, so well-loved by researchers. Today, “impression society” or “experience consumption society” is getting more and more widespread along with the “consumption society” concept. Consumption of impressions means a certain industry producing impressions. This paper aims to identify the link between J. Baudrillard’s concept of “consumption society” and key explanatory concepts in the sphere of public production and consumption that existed in his time. The paper poses and answers the question of potential sources of Baudrillard’s research approach. It is argued that, despite his “leftist” aesthetics, J. Baudrillard was pretty far from C. Marx. His view of the purpose of consumer value is explained from E. Husserl’s perspective of the phenomenological methodology. We find attention to the context of contemporary economic ties in works by G. Simmel, specifically, in his The Metropolis and Mental Life. The paper ends with the conclusion that while C. Marx’s contemporary society, with all the significance of production processes, with its obvious commodity orientation and large-scale crises caused by commodities overproduction, still included lacunae not directly associated with the world of capital – family, religion, ethnicity, lifestyle – the “consumption society” seizes these, too.