needs and desires (Jim O'Connor)

[Barbara Laurence]

You have to contrast the satisfaction of needs in the commodity form versus
directly social forms before you can say anything about
needs/desire/socialism. In capitalism, that is as an individually
satisfiable need, because the commodity is individually owned. We could
just as well define our needs in the social form. Examples: Need for
transport can be satisfied by individual car or by public transport that
one looks forward to using; need for security can be satisfied by an IRA or
by a network of friends and comrades who take care of one another in bad
times, including when one can no longer take care of himself. The need for
food can be construed as the need for a backyard of community garden, not
the need to go shopping in the food store. The need for distinguishing
clothing (if ther is one) can be construed as the need to hit the mall
shops, or the need to learn to sew and design clothing. So discussions
about whether we need bungee jumping equipment or planes for sky divers and
desert dune buggies and snowmobiles, etc., miss the point: each need or
desire for excitement, physical challenge, etc., can be satisfied in the
commodity form or in social forms. People think that high tech sports
equipment makes it possible to improve their physical performance, in fact,
it's the equipment not the individual that's causing the high performance.
Willie Mays made that famous catch over his shoulder with a "primitive"
glove; today's players' gloves are the size of waste baskets, and it's much
easier to make such a catch. For example.
Jim O'Connor