I would like to preface by saying I am very sorry if this is the wrong community. This post touches on the core philosophy of Marxism, and I was hoping to get some insight.
My friend claims that the only reason companies produce things is because the working class, regular citizens, are asking for it; he does not get behind the idea of companies subconsciously persuading people to buy the items they sell. He believes that because your regular person wants a new phone, kitchen equipment, clothes, whatever - they are pushing capitalism forward and therefore it is the right / natural system.
How would you reason? I feel conflicted. On one hand, people do want things and there is almost always something to produce it for them, but on the other hand companies are steadily pushing for profit, using various tactics to drive consumerism. I would appreciate what you guys think and what you would answer, because according to him, capitalism only exists because demand exists. Whether that’s true or not, I hope we can discuss. Cheers!
I think this comes down to a persons definition of capitalism. For some its the idea of exchange of goods and services. For others it starts at virtualizing value with tokens. For others its the idea of ownership of land and natural resources. Others personal property in general. For others its about laws that start getting into virtual entities of production/consumption like corporations. For others its meta things like interest. And none of these generalities would fit any particular persons things as its about some parts but not others. I myself am shifting to what I think of as anti corporatist which many might see as anti-capitalist. Its sorta funny but citizens united drove me to anti corporatism and Qanon flipped me to full athiesm.