Consumed

Looking at the title of the latest Benjamin Barber book, Consumed: How Markets Corrupt Children, Infantilize Adults, and Swallow Citizens Whole, I was hopeful that this would be an assault on capitalism by a well-known political author, something that would probably spread the good word of socialism. A review of the book says it's not quite that, which is disappointing. But it's a step in the right direction, as the title talks about the effects of capitalism (or 'markets') on one's own person. During my last time between jobs I found the following quote from Marshall Berman to be most apt:

The crucial reality is the need to sell your labor to capital in order to live, the need to carve up your personality for sale -- to look at yourself in the mirror and think 'What have I got that I can sell?'