Beta exercise : the theory and practice of Osamu Kanemura

Abstract

The Isetan department store in Tokyo used an advertising slogan, “Life is a Gift,” for their 2015 Christmas promotion. Does this rather assertive phrase mean human life is a wonderful gift unexpectedly given by Almighty God? If gifts are connected with the grace of God, why did Isetan, an avatar of commodity society, use this word, whose real meaning runs against commercialism, in this advertisement? If life is really a gift from Almighty God, it must be irreconcilable with a society dominated by the capitalist mode of production that produces a huge mass of commodities. A commodity requires exchange, while a gift is not supposed to be exchanged. The latter should be unilaterally given, while the former offers a network of social relationships. It reflects the entire chain of exchange that permeates society like a web. How is it possible to establish common traits between these two things? A commodity is produced by anonymous “abstract labor.” It is an accumulation of symbolic labor disconnected from concrete labor, and this concrete side of labor is always diminishing. A gift has the material trace of God inscribed, while a commodity requires no such thing. A number of commodities need to have equivalent value for exchange, which is only made possible by alienating labor from actual production.