The Debasement of Modern Society

 

After Theory, by Terry Eagleton is really difficult to follow. I had a hard time getting into this text, or really understanding anything within it. (- I just felt that it is important to state this first, before actually getting to what the text is possibly about, as a warning for possible future readers – especially since I am not the only one who is of this opinion). Eagleton seems to want to criticise everything and anything, with no actual real finish to his attacks. He seems to jump from one subject to another, and then maybe a few pages later comes back to add some other new statement to a previous subject. I must admit that it became so confusing that I didn’t read most of it.

However, don’t get me wrong there were a few snit-bits that I found interesting, amusing and I even sometimes agreed with him; when I actually understood what he was going on about, that is. The first thing that was clear was the fact that Eagleton is clearly a Marxist. His ideas seemed to be on the same mind set as Alain Badiou, however he talks more about the general state of the everyday and how most things, even simple things have evolved, unfortunately, for the worst (particularly since capitalism).

What I seemed to understand and more or less agree with was his statement that the general quality of life and value of things is slowly depleting. This is mainly due to the evolution to a more global, commercial world. Through the 20^th Century, the idea of profit has become more and more important. To the point to which the want to make more has reduced the time spent on each object produced, and, ultimately, has reduced the quality of the product. However, the merchandise itself is continually changing, evolving. To keep the desire for the product high, the product itself is ‘improved’. – Which poses the question why spend more time in making a product, getting to the best quality, when you know a new one version of it will come out of few months later with some of the improvements you would have spent more time putting on the existing product? The answer: you don’t, instead you generate the idea of ‘want’; constantly wanting something new, different, better. There is this idea of getting new things as instantly as possible, to be constantly entertained. This feeling is increased by your constant need to compare yourself to other people. This is not just through the means of products, but also through the different Medias. The consequence of this world of consumerism and marketing is the growth disparity between people, and their general debasement.