Artificialization

Abstract

Apart from a small wealthy elite segment of the world that craves natural foods, natural fibers, natural childbirth, organic gardening, feng shui, human powered sports, environmentalism, deep ecology, natural death, and preserves for nature, wildlife, nudity, and aboriginal peoples, what the mass of humanity clearly prefers is an artificial, sanitized, synthetic environment. Through our consumption choices we clearly signal a preference for synthetic foods, artificial additives, genetic modification, pesticides, herbicides, atomic energy, surrogate motherhood, artificial intelligence, Disneyfication, and McDonaldization. This is not mere passive acceptance of conditions foisted upon us by conniving marketers or totalitarian governments. Rather it reveals an active desire for the artificial over the natural, the "real."

How to Cite

Belk, R., (2005) “Artificialization”, Ethnologia Europaea 35(1), 102-106. doi: https://doi.org/10.16995/ee.989

Publisher Notes

  • This article was previously published by Museum Tusculanum Press.

Download

Download PDF

Share

Authors

Russell Belk (York University)

Download

Issue

Publication details

Dates

Licence

All rights reserved

Identifiers

File Checksums (MD5)

  • PDF: e15244a17d3aa2c3cd4fdb254de268af