we can state that the need for culture increases with “usage or
satisfaction.”
Moreover, cultural desires can cause physical sacrifices and vice versa. Physical needs can cause one to give up cultural ones. Cultural desire can require a person to control bodily desires, to limit, redirect, suppress, twist, or inspire them.
Two in One
Any human thing consists of a material thing and cultural phenomena inscribed in it. However the relationships between these two types in one thing can be different. First of all, it is necessary to distinguish between physical things that have their own value and pure media (books, musical records, movie tapes, etc.) that actually have no value of their own, but derive value entirely from cultural phenomena. There are two more types in between, as well. Thus we have four categories: consumer goods, tools, media, and artifacts. Let us define each of them in detail:
- Consumer goods are things that are consumed and disappear.
They lose form as their value is being utilized. The most typical representative of this group is food. People who buy and use consumables are consumers. A key point is that normally people do not “put their soul” into consumables; they do not feel a personal affiliation with or attachment to them.
- Tools are used in their current form, namely to produce (fix,
upgrade, destroy, preserve, etc.) other things. They gradually depreciate while being used and gradually turn into nothing, at least with respect to their initial function. People who buy and use tools correspond to the notion of customer. Since tools are normally used for a prolonged period of time, people can develop personal feelings toward them, but this phenomenon is not in direct relationship to the nature of the tools. They do not appeal to feelings by nature; they just must function.
- Media do not possess value as physical objects. Their value is
acquired exclusively through the inscription of cultural phenomena. They are intended solely for communication.
