School is the advertising agency which makes you believe that you need the society as it is.
Ivan IllichRead
In a consumer society there are inevitably two kinds of slaves: the prisoners of addiction and the prisoners of envy.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote suggests that consumerism creates individuals who are enslaved by their desires for material goods and by their jealousy of others' possessions.
Ivan Illich's quote highlights the dual nature of enslavement in a consumer-driven society. It argues that people become 'slaves' either by becoming addicted to material goods or by feeling envious of what others possess. This reflects a deeper critique of consumer culture, pointing to how it can diminish individual freedom and fulfillment by fostering unhealthy desires and comparisons.
Themes
ConsumerismAddictionEnvyDesireSociety
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be shared during discussions about the impact of advertising on our values.
More from Ivan Illich
All quotes βSchool prepares for the alienating institutionalization of life by teaching the need to be taught. Once this lesson is learned, people lose their incentive to grow in independence; they no longer find relatedness attractive, and close themselves off to the surprises which life offers when it is not predetermined by institutional definition.
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The pupil is ... 'schooled' to confuse teaching with learning, grade advancement with education, a diploma with competence, and fluency with the ability to say something new.
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The myth of unending consumption has taken the place of the belief in life everlasting.
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Effective health care depends on self-care; this fact is currently heralded as if it were a discovery.
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Modern medicine is a negation of health. It isn't organised to serve human health, but only itself, as an institution. It makes more people sick than it heals.
Ivan IllichRead
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