Iluzoryczna podmiotowość człowieka dorosłego w konsumpcjonistycznej rzeczywistości

Ewa KUBIAK-SZYMBORSKA

The illusory subjectivity of an adult in the consumerist reality

Słowa kluczowe: dorosłość, człowiek dorosły, konsumpcjonizm, podmiotowość, iluzja podmiotowości.

Key words: adulthood, an adult, consumerism, subjectivity, illusion of subjectivity.

Abstract: The issue of man's subjectivity, regardless of one`s age or other characteristics, is a subject of deliberations of many researchers. This paper, in which the question of the subjectivity of an adult was related to the characteristic feature of modernity which is the phenomenon of consumerism, is also dedicated to the issue. Following a general outline of the issues of consumerism and adulthood, subjectivity and its most important determinants were elaborated upon. Threats to this subjectivity which lie in the world surrounding man, and sometimes in himself, were also indicated. This results in an illusion of subjectivity, and also in the objectification of man. It is through a number of mechanisms that are characteristic of them, such as, e.g. the infantilization of adults or „the subjectivization of things”, that consumerism not only makes the subjectivity of an adult illusory, but it also deprives them of „being a subject”. This situation triggers the need to support this group of people through, inter alia various forms of education in identifying mechanisms of manipulation of the market, and breaking free of objectification.