Democracy and Commodification - Essay Example

? Democracy and Commodification The commodification of all aspects of social life seems to have a long history. In fact, it is just after the end of the Enlightenment that the first signs of ‘commodification of everything’ (Hiley 163) appeared. Gradually, commodification has been expanded to politics. Today, the commodification of political life has reached such level that traditional political concepts, such as democracy, have lost their initial value. The commodification of democracy, especially in regard to modern societies, is analyzed below. Examples are used, where available, for showing that commodification is one of the major challenges that democracy has to face today. Moreover, it seems that the above problem may take quite a long time to be resolved, taking into consideration the quick expansion of consumerism and the continuous increase of the power of media worldwide. In order to understand the potential effects of commodification on democracy, it would be necessary to describe, even in general, the concept of commodification as related to the political and social life. According to Giddens and Griffiths (2006) in a ‘highly commodified system, welfare services are treated like commodities’ (Giddens and Griffiths 367). In other words, commodification sets barriers to the communication between the state and the citizens. In the context of commodification, services that would be normally under the control of the state came under the control of the private sector, a fact that leads to the increase of cost involved (Giddens and Griffiths 367). Thus, the access to these services becomes more difficult and even, impossible, for a high majority of the population. From this point of view, commodification leads to the limitation of democracy, a political system that is based on equality and fairness in terms of law (Giddens and Griffiths 367). The potential limitation of democracy through commodification can be made understood by referring primarily to the cases of welfare regimes that are based on commodification and those that are not commodified. These cases would show how modern political systems could be related to commodification. Then examples could be provided for showing the relationship between democracy and commodification in practice. Giddens and Griffiths (2006) explain how political systems can be related to commodification: a) the social democratic regime promotes the provision of welfare services for all citizens with no exception, at a universal level (Giddens and Griffiths 367). Scandinavian states, that have this type of regime, are examples of states supporting the non-commodified political system; b) in ‘conservative/ corporatist states, such as France and Germany’ (Giddens and Griffiths 367), welfare services are non-commodified but they are not fully independent from the capital. Indeed, in the above states, the potential of each citizen to access the welfare services is differentiated according to his social status (Giddens and Griffiths 367); c) there is also the case of the liberal states, like United States, where ‘welfare services are fully commodified’ (Giddens and Griffith 367). It should be noted that the use of specific practices, in regard to the management of an economy, does not, necessarily, indicate the commodification of the local political system (Williams 157). In democracy also, a similar issue would exist. At this point the potential influence of commodification on democracy should be explained using relevant examples. In all states where democratic regimes exist media is commonly used for the promotion of specific political messages. Reference can be made, as an example, to the use of media for supporting a particular legislative text or for persuading the public that a specific political decision, for example the establishment of an area of entertainment, is fully justified in terms of public interest. In regard to this issue, emphasis should be given to the following fact: in most states, media is used for influencing public opinion (Rheingold 302). However, as also Habermas notes, public opinion is a key aspect of democracy (Rheingold 302). Therefore, by intervening in public opinion a political party or politician violates democracy for promoting private interests. A similar example is the following one: in many states the right to talk on politics is not absolute (Rheingold 302). This phenomenon can appear in countries of democratic and of non-democratic regimes (Rheingold 302). Setting barriers in communication is an activity allowed in the private sector where private interests exist. For example, within organizations developing doubts against the decisions of top management team can result to the firing of the employees involved. However, in the public sector, especially in countries based on democratic regimes, such practice should not be allowed since it leads to the commodification of democracy (Rheingold 302). Papacharissi (2010) refers to the case where the decision of a government to proceed to the privatization of a specific section of public services faces the strong opposition of the public (Papacharissi 17). In the above case, media is often used for justifying the above decision. Moreover, such decision is usually depended on the level of offers submitted by private organizations. This means that the project is assigned to the firm that submitted the highest offer (Papacharissi 17). In the example presented above two different forms of commodification are presented: at the first level commodification can be related to democracy at the level that the media is used for changing the public opinion (Papacharissi 17). Moreover, the assignment of a project related to the property of the state to an organization of the private sector using as a criterion the offer made proves that money can affect political decisions in democratic regimes leading to the promotion of inequality among citizens. Another example showing the increase of commodification in democracy is the following one: when developing a public discussion for resolving critical public issues, an opposite result appears (Rheingold 302). For example, before elections panels are organized for discussing the practices that a political party will promote if it wins. However, today the financial supporting of parties is mainly based on the private sector. This means that the members of a political party have to promote, necessarily, private interests. The dependency of political life on the financial aid of the private sector helps the commodification of the political system and of democracy. In the case mentioned above, the public discussion over political issues, which is a pure democratic process, is transformed to an activity promoting private interests; in this way, democracy is related to the market, a fact that leads to the gradual limitation of its power and its value. Democracy is a demanding political system. Its application requires the existence of certain conditions which, especially today, are often difficult to be met. Today, one of the most important challenges that political systems related to democracy have to face is their independency from the market. In practice, the risk for the development of a relationship between democracy and the market can be high, in the context described above. In this way, it would be accurate to say that democracy has been commodified at such level that today it would be impossible to think of a democratic regime with no signs of commodification. The social and political ethics developed worldwide have highly contributed in this phenomenon. Works Cited Giddens, Anthony, and Griffiths, Simon. Sociology. London: Polity, 2006. Hiley, David. Doubt and the Demands of Democratic Citizenship. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006. Papacharissi, Zizi. A Private Sphere: Democracy in a Digital Age. London: Polity, 2010. Rheingold, Howard. The Virtual Community: Homesteading on the Electronic Frontier. Cambridge: MIT Press, 2000. Williams, Colin. A Commodified World?: Mapping the Limits of Capitalism. New York: Zed Books, 2005. Read More