Shopping, Recreation, Experimentation.

For many Americans, shopping is the primary mode of recreation. Now, while the source of its appeal is often analyzed as the exercise of 'freedom of choice', the latter is a moment in a more extended process--trying something new--which spans the moment of purchase to the moment of consumption, i. e. taking a product home, unwrapping it, etc., is part of the recreation. In other words, shopping under such circumstances is an opportunity for the exercise of the experimental drive, for which part the price paid is a cover charge. In contrast, insofar as a Marxist Economy aims at only the fulfillment of needs, shopping is not recreation, from which Capitalists can derive the argument that their system better accommodates the spirit of Experimentation than does its rival. The Marxist might respond that such 'recreation' is as ersatz as are the products that are its occasion.