ABSTRACT
Karl Marx distinguishes between ‘production in general’ and specific historical modes of production. As he explains it, production in general ‘is common to all social conditions, that is without historic character, human’ (1973: 320). But the human need to produce is always located historically in a particular mode of production: i.e. humans have always produced but how they produce is always historically situated. In other words, there is a difference between a slave mode of production and a capitalist mode of production. If we think of this in terms of consumption, we arrive at similar conclusions: there is ‘consumption in general’ and there are specific modes of consumption. Humans have always consumed, but in different historical periods we have consumed differently. As Marx points out,
Hunger is hunger, but the hunger gratified by cooked meat eaten with a knife and fork is a different hunger from that which bolts down raw meat with the aid of hand, nail and tooth. Production thus produces not only the object but also the manner of consumption, not only objectively but also subjectively. Production thus creates the consumer (1973: 92).
