The rationality of ‘irrational’ behaviour: Georges Bataille on consuming extremities

This scheme of thought is more or less unwittingly and uncritically reproduced by many consumer researchers and marketing theorists. Utilitarianism is for instance central to the ‘marketing concept’ and the ‘societal marketing concept’ as defined by Kotler (1988): the task of marketers is to determine the ‘needs’ and ‘wants’ of consumers, to provide a maximum of ‘satisfaction’, and to preserve the ‘well-being’ of society which is thus described in anthropomorphic terms. We do not want to dismiss this inherent utilitarianism in marketing theory as altogether misconceived, but we would assert that this foundation with its emphasis on purposes and utility obscures some important aspects of consumption. This is due to a too restricted conception of rationality, order, and ‘well-being’. The rationality of economic life and of market behaviour is fundamentally regarded as a planned and structured activity, and discussed in terms of uses (or usefulness), calculation, productivity and meanings.