Divided we move

 

Thrown into a vast open sea with no navigation charts and all the marker buoys sunk and barely visible, we have only two choices left: we may rejoice in the breath-taking vistas of new discoveries - or we may tremble out of fear of drowning. One option not really realistic is to claim sanctuary in a safe harbour; one could bet that what seems to be a tranquil haven today will be soon modernized, and a theme park, amusement promenade or crowded marina will replace the sedate boat sheds. The third option not thus being available, which of the two other options will be chosen or become the lot of the sailor depends in no small measure on the ship's quality and the navigating skills of the sailors.

Everybody may be cast into the mode of consumer, everybody may wish to be a consumer  and indulge in the opportunities which that mode of life holds. But not everybody can be a consumer. To desire is not enough; to make the desire truly desirable, and so to draw the pleasure frome the desire, one must have a reasonable hope of getting closer to the desired object. This hope, reasonably entertained by some, is futile for many others. All of us are doomed to the life of choices, but not all of us have the means to be choosers.

Like all others know societies, the postmodern, consumer society is a stratified one. But it is possible to tell one kind of society from another by the dimensions along which it stratifies its members. The dimension along which those "high up" and "low down" are plotted in a society of consumers, is their degree of mobility - their freedom to choose where to be.