Manipulation of Needs: How Capitalism Turned Maquiavelic
by This article deals with the “Manipulation of needs” thesis, i.e. that the capitalist system manipulates our basic needs by forcing us to engage its structures in order to meet our basic necessities.
Are we being manipulated? We would not enjoy that. When trying to explain the mechanism followed by capitalist societies to manipulate needs, four basic elements have to be recognised and differently assessed:
1. What does the term “need” mean? It is possible to find two universal needs. The first one refers to food, shelter and, in general, survival requirements; the second one refers to the self-development of a rational and autonomous life.[1] The latter could include the need of self-esteem and reassurance provided by the recognition of the individual’s skills and creativity, as well as emotional gratifications of any kind: it can be argued that the mentioned needs of autonomy and self-development are not as important as the first one, but according to Marx, to put an example, those needs define the human essence.[2] He establishes a clear limit between animals and human beings: these are able to choose what they want to become.
2. In a capitalist system, basic needs have to be solved by means of money and in contact with the forces of the market. Far from a self-sufficient system of satisfying these needs, the individual is obliged to sell his/her labour in return of money. Nevertheless, the individual is selling as well his/her time, his/her energies and, therefore, his/her entire existence and autonomy to the dominant class. The relationship between this dominant stratum and the working class is one of subordination, and subordination is based on the fact that the dominant capitalist class has resources and, therefore, means of exercising autonomy. In spite of that, autonomy is highly restricted for that lower class-population earning a miserable sum for a tiring and very demanding job.[3] It becomes a dilemma between time and money: if money is to be earned the individual will have to lose his/her time; if the individual wishes to sped more time for his/her self-development money will not be obtained and basic needs of survival will remain unattended. This dilemma is commonly obviated, because instinctively the first option appears to be more reasonable. As the Latin proverb says: “primum vivere, deinde philosophare” (first is to live, then to philosophise). Thus it is logical to advert that in a capitalist system, nowadays, the individual’s needs are manipulated and it is only sacrificing his/her autonomy that survival stands feasible. Dominance is exercised by this restriction of the individual’s autonomous potential.[4]
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