Two years ago, I found myself in a state of perplexity. In a political theory lecture in my second year of University, my professor introduced us to The Jargon of Authenticity by Theodor Adorno, a philosopher from the Frankfurt School of Critical Theory.During her lecture, she argued that the so-called “authentic self” is a product sold to us by capitalist institutions.
These institutions create agencies—brands, advertisements, and cultural narratives—that convince us authenticity can be bought. Adorno called this strategic use of language or “jargon,” a tool deployed in marketing, politics, and culture to project an illusion of realness, even when it is entirely performative. “If you want to be your authentic self,” she paraphrased, “buy this and achieve it.
” Pic/iStockAt the end of the lecture, she gave us an exercise: review our purchases from the last three months and divide them into two categories—necessary expenses and those driven by desire, impulse, or peer pressure. To my surprise, most of my spending, like that of my classmates, fell into the latter. Choosing to eat at a fancy café over the college mess or buying clothes on impulse rather than necessity—all small decisions, yet they reflected a larger pattern.
On one hand, I was participating in climate change rallies and writing about sustainability. On the other hand, I was actively participating in the consumer culture fuelling these very crises. Hypocritical, wasn’t it?Headphones, Min.
