In theory, the endogenous formation of preferences by and within the system of economic relations helps to form a dimension of community in the economy because it orients consumer behavior toward a vital purpose of association – the preservation and expansion of capital. The question now is whether this logic has a real-world counterpart in the causal processes of actual capital-based market systems. If we can identify the actual processes of endogenous formation of preferences, then the logic of the previous chapter suggests that it would imply the existence of a dimension of community in the economy. This chapter undertakes an extended analysis of endogenous formation of preferences and elaborates the concrete workings of the process in order to demonstrate the presence of community in capital-based market systems.

ENDOGENOUS PREFERENCES, THE SYSTEM OF COMMODITY PRODUCTION AND EXCHANGE, AND ECONOMIC COMMUNITY

Consumer wants are endogenously formed partly because producers cannot create wealth without using methods that must create wants in order to work. Commodity production is the essential method of producing wealth. It, alone among production processes, can multiply production processes and multiply products necessary for the production and acquisition of wealth. The purpose of commodity production – to satisfy multiple, virtually unlimited wants – drives production to levels productive of wealth. Commodity production is production for a mass market comprised of people with needs having a certain generality, objectiveness, and universality.