The Object Culture of the Non-Profit Society

Object culture is informed by the mode of production.

1) If objects were produced to satisfy a need, rather than the profit motive how would this be
reflected in our object culture?
2) -Has there ever been a time where this was the primary reason for production? In pre-
captialist societies

If production was made for need there would be no need to produce surplus, ergo more
resources could be directed towards other matters. Time is a resource.

In our current mode of production the production of most objects is to satisfy a profit motive.

Production to satisfy a need – not for profit. What would object culture look like if out objects were
made to satisfy a real need?

In his 1954 essay ‘To Hell with Culture’ Herbert Read speculates on what impact it might have on the
cultural works of a society should that society re-organise itself into a socialistic mode of production.
Read argues that the drive to generate profit through the production and sale of household objects
such as furniture both reduces the quality of the object (it will be made to the minimum necessary
standard for the price point) and affects our cultural enjoyment of these objects. The ‘culture’ which
Read damned was the application of ‘style’ to poor quality objects in order to charge a premium for
them without adequate improvements in usability or durability. Read argues that should the object
in question be made with the materials most suited to the task required and that the form of the
object be informed entirely by the function then object will by necessity be ‘art’.

Ownership by the workers.

Read also speculated the impact of workers ownership of industry on the quality of the object
produced.

Noam Chomsky video on youtube cites studies where workers that managed there own businesses
prior to the industrialization of America were more culturally involved – they were producing
newspapers and poetry – they were more involved in literature.

The post work future:

The effect of increased automation and the reduction in working hours – the end of the job. Citizens
basic living wage. Are these factors likely to impact the culture or artistic output of the future? Will
peoples engagement with the arts increase?

Ecology:

Look at the future of the planet it is becoming increasingly evident that sustainability is increasingly
necessary. How can the profit motive and sustainability possibly co-exist? The hierarchy of ‘R’s’ in the
vernacular of sustainability places reduce of above both reuse and recycle. A reduction in
consumption doesn’t seem compatible with the capitalist economic model which strives to ever
increase the size of production and exchange or risk stagnation and then inevitable crash. If a future
society places additional emphasis on sustainability as necessary what will the outcomes be in terms
of our built world. Can the drive to produce objects which do not need to be replaced co-exist with a
capitalist economic model?

-Look for examples of collectively owned eco-design businesses. Look for examples of sustainable
design – design which doesn’t need to be replaced periodically.