Critiquing Capitalism

A critique of capitalism that I have is that space, among many other things, becomes commodified and so there's less urban space to explore that's not just shops and bars and restaurants: commodified space where you need to sit down and purchase something to be able to feel like you can use that space. I like being able to go out into the streets and enjoy public space without feeling like I have to spend money. Being a student on a budget has encouraged me to explore new ways to enjoy myself in the city that's not primarily going clubbing or shopping, and hula hooping has certainly been a highlight of this. All I need is my hoop (a speaker and sometimes a camera is great too) and I can wonder around town and find spots in the street to jam.

But... we live in a post-industrial age. Capitalism, the system and ideology of accumulation, and more specifically neo-liberalism endorses a free market ideology in that everyone is free to set up their own business and stick out for themselves. This fosters a competitive business environment as companies compete for customer appraisal. Consumer desire is put at the forefront of concern in ways that portray that shoppers have power (or agency), for example explained in Russell Keat's book, The Authority of The Consumer. 

Capitalism creates competition between individuals in the same way that there is competition between businesses, and this is another critique that I have of the system that governs us today. Being a hoop performer is usually quite niche. Coming up against other hoop performers can turn into something quite stand-offish when you are all looking for work. This isn't the general feel for hooping for recreation, for example I went to the UK Hoop Gathering Spanish holiday 2013 and this was a wonderful as we all enjoyed hula hooping for our personal benefit on mutual grounds.

It is not the same for when you are trying to sell your act, however, and I feel like wider socio-economic processes influence attitudes between performers. Although it may be hard to overcome, I personally like to see other artists as potential collaborators and hope to foster cooperative relationships rather than competition.

Finally, from a Mark and Engels perspective, I am interested in this division of physical and mental labour that occurs in capitalist society and the idea that if you fail school which is mental labour then you proceed to physical labour which is seen as less worthy. Physical labour is definitely not less worthy. I like the idea of being able to have a duality and even multiplicity of labour in your life, both physical and mental and wherever in between. For example I'm currently studying in my final year of uni which is a lot of mental work to achieve a qualification, but at the same time I'm doing physical work performing around between cities in the UK.