Aesthetic Capitalism

When a new smartphone is released, queues of people form in front of the palatial shops in the early hours of the morning. This goes to show that nowadays it’s not only about the practical value of an article (i.e. that these devices allow us to make calls or surf the internet), but also about that which Gernot Böhme calls the »presentational value«.

The presentation of products and life styles is a central feature of aesthetic capitalism, the manifestations of which Böhme explores. By occupying himself with the ideology of growth, the soundscape of shopping centres and the connection between an achievement-oriented ideology and consumption, he offers a valuable contribution to a reconstruction as well as an expansion of the theory of cultural industry into the realm of economic life.