Capitalism In The Age Of Prosumer

Despite living in a capitalist society, people have long discussed the issues that it brings. While there are some obvious benefits to it, the consequences are sometimes worse. The main purpose of a capitalist society is to want people to consume as much as they can while costing the major corporations the least amount of money to produce the products and services that are being consumed. For these corporations, the current state of the capitalist society is a dream come true. Nowadays, people are willing to consume and do the work at no cost to the corporations. This is what George Ritzer and Nathan Jurgensen discuss in their article “Production, Consumption, Prosumption: The Nature of Capitalism in the Age of Digital ‘Prosumer’”. The authors

It is believed that production was the main component of the early economy in the West. The goal was to produce as much as possible. The more goods that were produced, the more they were being consumed. Of course, there was a shift in the production line with some items being mass-produced which “led to ever-increasing consumer interest and demand” (Ritzer & Jurgensen, 2010: 15). Surprisingly, products that saw a decrease in their production, such as for the American heavy industry, did not result in a decrease in consumption. The consumption had

According to them, social media is the primary cause of it for we usually do all the work that people would usually do for a fee but in our case, we do it for free. Examples are given of setting up and updating our Facebook profiles, using photoshop to upload art you have spent hours on making. What is interesting is that the prosumers are thought to be exploited but that is not the case for they “seem to enjoy, even love, what they are doing and are willing to devote long hours to it for no pay” (Ritzer & Jurgensen, 2010: 22). As stated by the authors, prosumer culture did not start existing with the internet and the Web 2.0. It used to exist longer than that during the Industrial Revolution where the distinction between producers and consumers was not clear since “the producers consumed raw materials [and the] consumers produced their meals” (Ritzer & Jurgensen, 2010: 17). The best example of a prosumer that the authors give is that of the fast food industry. The customers at the restaurant would serve as their own partial producers of the food for they would serve themselves and, depending on the restaurant, they would also make a portion of their meal such as the salad (Ritzer & Jurgensen, 2010).

What is interesting to note is that even though the prosumers are willing to produce for little or no pay, they do not see themselves as being exploited. In fact, they rather enjoy doing the work. However, it should