Dealing with contemporary consumerism, capitalism, and the life it permits. 2012-02-09T15:22:34Z Copyright (c) 2012, PopMatters.com ExpressionEngine tag:popmatters.com-marginal-utility,2012:02:10 tag:popmatters.com,2012:pm/blogs/marginal-utility/9.154146 2012-02-03T16:41:07Z 2012-02-03T16:41:07Z Rob Horning tag:popmatters.com,2012:pm/blogs/marginal-utility/9.154045 2012-02-01T21:00:12Z 2012-02-01T21:00:12Z Rob Horning Google, then, is the reification of the general intellect. It manages to take human curiosity and turn it into capital. ]]> tag:popmatters.com,2012:pm/blogs/marginal-utility/9.153970 2012-01-31T21:00:50Z 2012-01-31T21:00:50Z Rob Horning tag:popmatters.com,2012:pm/blogs/marginal-utility/9.153910 2012-01-30T22:35:15Z 2012-01-30T22:35:15Z Rob Horning tag:popmatters.com,2012:pm/blogs/marginal-utility/9.153831 2012-01-27T23:55:00Z 2012-01-27T23:55:00Z Rob Horning Communization and Its Discontents (pdf), is a good point: It is certain that the division of society into classes would be... ]]> tag:popmatters.com,2012:pm/blogs/marginal-utility/9.153756 2012-01-26T15:16:32Z 2012-01-26T15:16:32Z Rob Horning Commentary essay "The Culture of Modernism" (here's a gated link for all you Commentary subscribers in the audience) is the sort of thing I usually don't have much... ]]> tag:popmatters.com,2012:pm/blogs/marginal-utility/9.153721 2012-01-25T20:00:25Z 2012-01-25T20:00:25Z Rob Horning tag:popmatters.com,2012:pm/blogs/marginal-utility/9.153670 2012-01-24T17:55:04Z 2012-01-24T17:55:04Z Rob Horning Using Facebook made me feel acutely narcissistic, not because it got me to boast about myself, but because it brought home to me just how much I expect other people's lives to revolve around me. ]]> tag:popmatters.com,2012:pm/blogs/marginal-utility/9.153608 2012-01-23T19:45:34Z 2012-01-23T19:45:34Z Rob Horning The Economist's holiday double issue a few weeks ago had an article about 1950s motivational-research guru Ernest Dichter (author of The Strategy of Desire) that argued that newfangled... ]]> tag:popmatters.com,2012:pm/blogs/marginal-utility/9.153432 2012-01-18T15:52:53Z 2012-01-18T15:52:53Z Rob Horning tag:popmatters.com,2012:pm/blogs/marginal-utility/9.153410 2012-01-17T22:38:13Z 2012-01-17T22:38:13Z Rob Horning tag:popmatters.com,2012:pm/blogs/marginal-utility/9.153156 2012-01-11T21:13:28Z 2012-01-11T21:13:28Z Rob Horning tag:popmatters.com,2012:pm/blogs/marginal-utility/9.153065 2012-01-10T11:00:23Z 2012-01-10T11:00:23Z Rob Horning Wall Street Journal front page today ("Revitalized Detroit Makes Bold Bets on New Models") this sentence jumped out at me as being a clear example... ]]> tag:popmatters.com,2012:pm/blogs/marginal-utility/9.152796 2012-01-03T18:02:53Z 2012-01-03T18:02:53Z Rob Horning tag:popmatters.com,2011:pm/blogs/marginal-utility/9.152561 2011-12-20T16:03:52Z 2011-12-20T16:03:52Z Rob Horning tag:popmatters.com,2011:pm/blogs/marginal-utility/9.151913 2011-12-01T17:36:06Z 2011-12-01T17:36:06Z Rob Horning tag:popmatters.com,2011:pm/blogs/marginal-utility/9.151728 2011-11-28T19:00:05Z 2011-11-28T19:00:05Z Rob Horning tag:popmatters.com,2011:pm/blogs/marginal-utility/9.151208 2011-11-11T20:28:06Z 2011-11-11T20:28:06Z Rob Horning tag:popmatters.com,2011:pm/blogs/marginal-utility/9.150959 2011-11-07T14:20:36Z 2011-11-07T14:20:36Z Rob Horning Economist point out, retail loyalty programs -- where you give a name and address in exchange for a card you present to get point-of-sale discounts -- aren't... ]]> tag:popmatters.com,2011:pm/blogs/marginal-utility/9.150891 2011-11-04T12:45:39Z 2011-11-04T12:45:39Z Rob Horning Is a middle-class job one whose work marks the employee with a certain class status, or is it one whose income affords the employee a certain lifestyle? ]]> tag:popmatters.com,2011:pm/blogs/marginal-utility/9.150805 2011-11-02T19:00:25Z 2011-11-02T19:00:25Z Rob Horning Google, like the rest of the online companies, would like to destroy the idea that you would separate any of your online behaviors from any of the others. ]]> tag:popmatters.com,2011:pm/blogs/marginal-utility/9.150775 2011-11-02T14:30:00Z 2011-11-02T14:30:00Z Rob Horning The continuing economic slump has brought some heretofore heterodox economic ideas about how to manage central banks and the money supply increasing attention. One of those gaining increasingly... ]]> tag:popmatters.com,2011:pm/blogs/marginal-utility/9.150654 2011-10-28T22:44:24Z 2011-10-28T22:44:24Z Rob Horning tag:popmatters.com,2011:pm/blogs/marginal-utility/9.150568 2011-10-27T17:27:25Z 2011-10-27T17:27:25Z Rob Horning tag:popmatters.com,2011:pm/blogs/marginal-utility/9.150343 2011-10-25T14:45:02Z 2011-10-25T14:45:02Z Rob Horning Social media has made it harder for us to create the "stage of intimacy" Barthes mentions. It's easy to assume a god-like position of the solitary observer, but harder to create a shared space that isn't shared automatically with everyone. ]]> tag:popmatters.com,2011:pm/blogs/marginal-utility/9.150061 2011-10-19T11:50:45Z 2011-10-19T11:50:45Z Rob Horning Will the energy that has been summoned by OWS lose its urgency if not put to specific political use? ]]> tag:popmatters.com,2011:pm/blogs/marginal-utility/9.149909 2011-10-14T13:00:09Z 2011-10-14T13:00:09Z Rob Horning I don't think one can express individuality by consuming products or by broadcasting what one has consumed. I think individuality is always expressed through a specific social relation. ]]> tag:popmatters.com,2011:pm/blogs/marginal-utility/9.149640 2011-10-07T11:50:55Z 2011-10-07T11:50:55Z Rob Horning Steve Jobs worship perpetuates the idea that proprietary technology is developed for us, for our improvement and our needs, rather than for profit or for the egos of venture capitalists and self-proclaimed visionaries. ]]> tag:popmatters.com,2011:pm/blogs/marginal-utility/9.149441 2011-10-02T16:11:27Z 2011-10-02T16:11:27Z Rob Horning tag:popmatters.com,2011:pm/blogs/marginal-utility/9.149388 2011-09-30T22:34:49Z 2011-09-30T22:34:49Z Rob Horning tag:popmatters.com,2011:pm/blogs/marginal-utility/9.148700 2011-09-16T16:28:46Z 2011-09-16T16:28:46Z Rob Horning tag:popmatters.com,2011:pm/blogs/marginal-utility/9.148650 2011-09-15T17:40:58Z 2011-09-15T17:40:58Z Rob Horning Marx Beyond Marx. Frequently I have a hard time figuring out what is even at stake in the arguments he's making; it seems as though he is trying to ground a... ]]> tag:popmatters.com,2011:pm/blogs/marginal-utility/9.148386 2011-09-09T20:10:54Z 2011-09-09T20:10:54Z Rob Horning tag:popmatters.com,2011:pm/blogs/marginal-utility/9.146330 2011-08-17T21:53:10Z 2011-08-17T21:53:10Z Rob Horning tag:popmatters.com,2011:pm/blogs/marginal-utility/9.146085 2011-08-12T20:38:50Z 2011-08-12T20:38:50Z Rob Horning tag:popmatters.com,2011:pm/blogs/marginal-utility/9.145981 2011-08-10T10:40:29Z 2011-08-10T10:40:29Z Rob Horning Why now? Why riots in London all of a sudden, if this sort of exclusion has been persistently present? Is it just random when one of the land mines Zygmunt Bauman sees littering consumer society gets stepped on? ]]> tag:popmatters.com,2011:pm/blogs/marginal-utility/9.145920 2011-08-08T15:14:23Z 2011-08-08T15:14:23Z Rob Horning tag:popmatters.com,2011:pm/blogs/marginal-utility/9.145847 2011-08-05T18:00:23Z 2011-08-05T18:00:23Z Rob Horning In a consumer society we have this sense that you have to put your money where your mouth is to "prove" your taste. ]]> tag:popmatters.com,2011:pm/blogs/marginal-utility/9.145204 2011-07-21T13:00:36Z 2011-07-21T13:00:36Z Rob Horning We collectively participate in the idea of customizing our consumer goods, but finding a unique angle on this common culture is the main avenue for hipster distinction. ]]> tag:popmatters.com,2011:pm/blogs/marginal-utility/9.145112 2011-07-20T09:10:25Z 2011-07-20T09:10:25Z Rob Horning Do people want less stuff and are thus willing to work less? Do they choose unemployment over drudgery and better appliances? Are we all eager to take our share of the economic surplus in leisure? ]]> tag:popmatters.com,2011:pm/blogs/marginal-utility/9.144957 2011-07-15T15:06:55Z 2011-07-15T15:06:55Z Rob Horning tag:popmatters.com,2011:pm/blogs/marginal-utility/9.144665 2011-07-07T19:30:11Z 2011-07-07T19:30:11Z Rob Horning Yes, very magical when technology can program us unobtrusively. Take away the benevolent aim of these particular devices and what's left is design as propaganda. How enchanting. ]]> tag:popmatters.com,2011:pm/blogs/marginal-utility/9.144583 2011-07-05T19:10:35Z 2011-07-05T19:10:35Z Rob Horning Social media makes it seem natural and validating that one could consider selling one's snapshots to marketers and publishers so that they could be used for some commercial purpose. ]]> tag:popmatters.com,2011:pm/blogs/marginal-utility/9.144490 2011-07-01T14:15:28Z 2011-07-01T14:15:28Z Rob Horning attention and recognition, though I think we easily confuse them in speech and in practice. We seek attention when we want recognition, some... ]]> tag:popmatters.com,2011:pm/blogs/marginal-utility/9.144452 2011-06-30T15:45:58Z 2011-06-30T15:45:58Z Rob Horning Social media confronts us with how little control we have over our public identity, which is put into play and reinterpreted and tossed around while we watch -- while all the distortions and gossip gets fed back to us by the automated feedback channels. ]]> tag:popmatters.com,2011:pm/blogs/marginal-utility/9.144141 2011-06-24T11:30:20Z 2011-06-24T11:30:20Z Rob Horning tag:popmatters.com,2011:pm/blogs/marginal-utility/9.144114 2011-06-22T18:07:58Z 2011-06-22T18:07:58Z Rob Horning tag:popmatters.com,2011:pm/blogs/marginal-utility/9.144062 2011-06-21T14:29:59Z 2011-06-21T14:29:59Z Rob Horning What we tend to do instead of fighting internships is to take advantage of new tools to measure our prestige and figure out ways to leverage it into enduring privileges for ourselves and our friends. ]]> tag:popmatters.com,2011:pm/blogs/marginal-utility/9.143899 2011-06-17T17:01:32Z 2011-06-17T17:01:32Z Rob Horning tag:popmatters.com,2011:pm/blogs/marginal-utility/9.142726 2011-06-10T17:55:30Z 2011-06-10T17:55:30Z Rob Horning tag:popmatters.com,2011:pm/blogs/marginal-utility/9.142670 2011-06-09T21:24:26Z 2011-06-09T21:24:26Z Rob Horning tag:popmatters.com,2011:pm/blogs/marginal-utility/9.142481 2011-06-06T15:28:36Z 2011-06-06T15:28:36Z Rob Horning tag:popmatters.com,2011:pm/blogs/marginal-utility/9.141946 2011-05-27T20:00:43Z 2011-05-27T20:00:43Z Rob Horning