The theory set out here is, in the first instance, an abduction—an attempt to account for a puzzling pattern by postulating a state of afairs from which that pattern would follow as a matter of course (Peirce 1903 [1997]; Frankfurt 1958). In the chapters that follow, I draw attention to some historical features of wage labor and consumer capitalism that provide some support for the theory. The empirical analysis concentrates on the United States between roughly 1900 and 1980, with particular focus on the period between 1920 and 1970. I take the US case to be an exemplar of high industrial consumer capitalism and would suggest that similar features can be found in other consumer societies, albeit in forms mediated by local conditions, particular histories, and cultural context. In the remainder of the present chapter I first note some explanative advantages, at a variety of diferent levels of analysis, ofered by approaching consumption as a form of wage-labor commensuration. The commensuration theory of mass consumption sheds light on otherwise puzzling aspects of the economic behavior under capitalism, and on a variety of large-scale cultural, institutional, and economic developments. Second, I consider some of the more obvious objections that could be lodged against the theory and ofer some responses to the objections.
- Some Explanative Advantages of the Commensuration Theory
In this section I consider some ways in which the commensuration theory of work and consumption explains general patterns of economic behavior in modern industrial capitalist societies. This is not to claim that the theory is the only or best explanation for these patterns. However, the degree to which the theory can make sense of various features of capitalism provides some initial grounds for thinking that there might be something to it.
A Theory of Mass Consumption as Wage-Labor Commensuration
91