The loss of authentic being in the context of the consumer paradigm

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In his analysis of consumerism, Baudrillard argues that consumerism is premised upon the assumption that consumption offers personal happiness and secures any individual a degree of self-expression. Modernity, according to Baudrillard, is beset by an unfortunate trend towards disabusing the individual of all things dream- and imagination-like, displacing the latter with a technico-operational reality betokened by the materialisation of such dreamscapes. As such, the individual’s essentially inscrutable constellations of thought and inner epistemic vistas are rendered in terms of a public vernacular – that, in short, of objectification. As such, it is an ethos of personalisation and espouses the importance of self-differentiation. In the consumer culture, prevalence is given to the individuation of the person, often at the expense of the group to which they belong. Little to no import is given to the integration of the individual within the group, and great stock is placed in personal well-being. This article compares two possible responses to consumerism: Sartre’s notion of authenticity, and Gyekye’s view of African communalism and argues that the latter is the more promising candidate. First, I consider the social logic of consumption, according to Baudrillard, so as to create a context for the following consideration of Sartre’s notions of bad faith and freedom. It will be argued that freedom fails to extricate the individual from the homogenising grip of the consumer paradigm and that, rather, an African communitarian approach is best suited to the resurrection of authenticity and authentic relationships.