this post was submitted on 29 Jul 2026
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What we call today consumerism is just programmed obsolescence by capitalism, which requires us to change stuff every year, either by making repair difficult, or by releasing small improvements, or by marketing. We could very well have cars that last 10-20 years, computers and devices that last 5-10 years, modular designs that help us to replace parts without replacing the whole thing, software updates that don't make our old devices unusable, better quality clothes etc.
It's impossible to do sustainable consumption when the whole society is driven by profit maximization.
Well said. It's kind of mind-boggling to take a step back and think about just how many things do not need to be so wasteful/cyclical. The science is often there to make things last, but this is fundamentally incompatible with a societal arrangement where the continued profitability of a particular company is more important than society itself. Under a socialist arrangement, it doesn't matter if a particular merchant fails, so long as the productive forces are overall strong and able to meet the basic needs of the people. But under capitalism, the needs of the people are subordinate to those of the merchants and, as you say, subordinate to profit maximization. The merchants become like religious idols and the market like a deity.
The article I shared also comes to similar conclusions looking at Marx's takes on consumption/over-consumption - basically that capitalist consumption can be done better, fairer and still provide an outlet for people's needs and wants. This is one of those ways - a lot of the shit we buy is purposefully enshittified to make us buy more of it than we would otherwise purchase if things were built to last.