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Marx and Engels suggest that one's class position is defined in relation to the means of production. They argued that insofar as millions of families live under economic conditions of existence that separate their mode of life, their interests and their culture from those of the other classes, placing them in hostile opposition to the latter, thus, forming a class.
In capitalist society, the means of production are such as technology, knowledge and the machinery involved in the production. Then the defined social class position leads directly to the economic and political control. Thus, the class that owns the means of production may be thought of as dominant and superior class, while the class that does not own the means of production may be thought of as the subordinate and subservient class.
In addition to that, according to Weber, there is a slightly different conception of social class groups and status groups. Status groups are communities that comprise of members who are aware of their common status. They normally share 'social esteem' or 'social honor', but not necessarily, a means of production. Status groups also share a 'style of life' depending on upbringing and education. For example, members of different status groups make similar choices in the way that they display their ornaments in their living rooms. On the other hand, members of middle-class groups choose models of cars different from those that members of higher-class groups would opt for.
A consequence of the social orders is that a social class becomes a dominant group in so far as its beliefs and ideas are dominant. In this sense, it is worthy to point out from Maxism and Weber's observation that the different interests between class groups or status groups have effects not only the types of production and consumption of goods, but also production of visual culture in the production process that graphic designers are engaged. This is the reason why graphic designers cannot avoid their social responsibility. Therefore, graphic design products must not be a simple result in which graphic designers' intuitive inclination is involved, but a consequence to which graphic designers' epistemological thinking is related.
Social and cultural values and attitudes are reflected in graphic design products such as advertisements, posters, signage, logos, and etc. For example, many British advertisements from 1970s contain stereotypes of women, because the culture of the time was 'sexist'. As Ha-joon Chang insists that the invention of washing machine is one of the critical catalysts that accelerated capitalism economy. The characteristics of a culture in a certain era are definitely affected by various different conditions such as politics, technology, or the natural environment.
Similarly, in propaganda communication, for instance, Lindley Fraser insisted that, in 1950s, despite the fact that propaganda as an activity had in one form or another been used ever since the dawn of life, or at least of the higher forms of life, it was by no means confined to human beings. However, the systematic and consistent use of propaganda and the elevation of it into a craft or art is exclusively human, as, still more, are the recent attempts to convert it into a science.
Great Britain emerged from World War I with the doubtful distinction of having employed propaganda better than any other nation. Anthony Rhodes exemplified a newspaper. Alfred Harmsworth, later Lord Northeliffe, father of the yellow press. When the war was going badly in 1917, he persuaded Prime Minister Lloyd George and the cabinet that skilful denigration of the Germans could stimulate the flagging energies of the British people. Lloyd George let him establish a propaganda department in Crewe House. Within a year, thanks to his powerful newspaper conglomerate, Northcliffe had convinced most of his countrymen that the Germans were ruthless savages, violators of women, and inventors of the 'Kadaver factory', a chemical process by which soldiers' corpses could be converted into fats for the manufacture of explosives. This example shows how graphic design can control public perception and how it finally rationalizes public visual consumption in their collective unconscious.
Moreover, economics is also central to the account of culture since consumption is part of the social process in which symbolic forms are created, apprehended and used. According to Marx, for instance, without production, there is no consumption; but also, without consumption, there is no production; since production would then be purposeless. Similarly, as Williams says, capitalism and advertising could not continue without each other. Advertising would not exist without a capitalist, class-based society and modern capitalism 'could not survive' without advertising. Consumption is therefore directly related to social and cultural identity and consequently to politics.
Barnard's assertion makes the argument clear. A magazine which uses a loose 'cut-and-paste' technique, with bold colours and a cluttered page is constructing an identity that is different from a magazine which uses a serve grid-based layout and a limited number of colours. A surfing magazine will construct a different identity from a stamp-collecting magazine, by selecting and using a different layout, typefaces, shapes and colours. Different social and cultural groups utilize different graphic techniques, processes and styles to reveal their own different identities.
As it was argued, class identity is the product of an economic relation to the means of production. A cultural group's beliefs and values are established and communicated through consuming products different from those consumed by other cultural groups. Not only that, consumption is related to politics since the social classes or cultural groups are the result of the different choices and uses. They relate to each other in a structure. In this sense, visual consumption is also related to politics in so far as consumption is encouraged by graphic design as part of the process of visual communication.
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Jainal works in silver cooking pot factory. He is 11 years old. He has been working in this factory for three years. His work starts at 9 a.m. and ends at 6 p.m. For his work he gets 700 taka (10 USD) for a month. His parents are so poor that they can not afford to send him to school. (Photo from http://lalettredelaphotographie.com (Right))