Odrešljivi prihranki ali kako skozi potrošnjo postati asketski

Abstract

Weber’s startling thesis from The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, which seems so implausible at first sight, has undergone numerous critiques since its first publication and it still remains contested today. Among the many criticisms that were voiced, one remains particularly steadfast: while the spirit of self-restraint might be germane to capitalist entrepreneurship, an economy does not run on entrepreneurs alone; it also needs consumers willing to buy more than what actually covers their needs. Following Benjamin, capitalism is a religion without dogma or theology, but with a pure cult consisting of the ongoing celebration of the believer in order to actualise his faith through consumption. As I would like to argue, placing two moments of crisis in parallel, i.e. that of WWII and the financial crisis of 2008, allows new light to be shed on Weber’s famous thesis about the ascetic nature of capitalism, and provides a new explanation why investment capitalism and consumer capitalism are not contradictory at all, but ultimately perfectly convergent. During World War II, namely, both the US and the Canadian governments issued a series of propaganda posters that were aimed at reducing spending and redirecting the financial exertions of private households into the general war effort. Many of those posters, developed by some of the most cunning advertisers of the time, drew on one of the most deeply rooted principles of New England Puritanism: the duty of self-restraint. The message was: your savings will be redeemable by the end of the war – only slightly shifting Calvin’s perspective of savings that allow redemption by end of the world. Today, we would be well advised to think about the eschatological implications of those prophets prescribing the best behaviour in the event of the end of the crisis.Webrova vznemirljiva teza iz dela Protestanska etika in duh kapitalizma, ki sprva izgleda tako neverjetno, je bila od svoje prve objave deležna številnih kritik, spodbijajo pa jo vse do danes. Ena izmed številnih kritik, pa ostaja še posebej nepopustljiva: če je duh samoodpovedovanja primeren za kapitalistično podjetništvo, pa ekonomije ne poganjajo samo podjetniki; ekonomija potrebuje tudi potrošnike, ki so pripravljeni kupiti več od tega, kar predstavlja njihove dejanske potrebe. Po Benjaminu je kapitalizem religija brez dogme ali teologije in ni nič drugega kot čisti kult. Kot takšen sestoji v nenehnem slavljenju vernika, ki svojo vero udejanja skozi porabo in potrošnjo. V nadaljevanju bi rad izpostavil tezo, da nam vzporejanje dveh momentov krize – krize Druge svetovne vojne in krize 2008 –, omogoča na novo osvetliti Webrovo slavno tezo o asketski naravi kapitalizma, ter podal novo razlago tega, zakaj investicijski kapitalizem in potrošniški kapitalizem sploh nista protislovna, temveč konec koncev popolnoma sovpadata. Med drugo svetovno vojno sta namreč vladi Združenih držav Amerike in Kanade izdali niz propagandnih plakatov, katerih cilj je bil zmanjšati porabo in preusmeriti finančne sile gospodinjstev v prid skupnega vojnega napora. Mnogi od teh plakatov, ki so jih naredili nekateri najbolj zviti oglaševalci tistega časa, so črpali iz najgloblje zakoreninjenih načel puritanizma Nove Anglije: dolžnosti samoomejevanja. Sporočilo je bilo v naslednjem: vaši prihranki bodo odrešljivi ob koncu vojne, to pa le malce premesti Calvinovo perspektivo varčevanja, ki omogočajo odrešitev v času ob koncu sveta. Danes bi bilo dobro, če bi premislili eshatološke implikacije teh prerokov, ki predpisujejo najboljše obnašanje ob dogodku konca krize