: Man's consciousness of his own needs is a product of his historical development and attests to the cultural value achieved by preceding generations.Yes. This is why Utopia 2000 (and behaviorists in general) have found such promise in 'experimental pilot' communities. In such insular environments, 'culture' can be intentionally shaped (by all community members) without exposure to competing, stronger cultures (i.e. the capitalist leviathan). A standard example: in a small intentional community, automobiles can be made superfluous (within the community); the desire to own an automobile will be affected by the environment more than any appeals to 'non-materialism,' 'thrift,' or 'conservation.' Alter the setting and the values will follow; there is no need to actually alter the values.
: Still, it does seem as if two different needs are being described here - basic animal needs which are ahistorical and "determined by nature", and those which are a product of social, economic, and cultural overlay.
Yes, and they are easily blurred. As Skinner pointed out,* the consumption of food (especially certain foods) was initially (in the development of humankind) very important. To consume as much as possible as quickly as possible had survival value and, so, became incorporated into what is known as our 'genetic endowment.' Our culture (man-made environment), however, has rendered this phylogenic exigency less intense by subsequent agricultural advances. Indeed, the once necessary reinforcement (consuming as much as possible as quickly as possible) has threatened to become a biological liability in our new environment (where food is far more accessible). To insure that food remains reinforcing (and this is paramount for businesses to stabilize labor costs), our culture has created foods with less nutritional values in order to offset the (relative) abundance of food...
: The particular needs of those populations residing on garbage dumps outside metropolitan areas such as Cairo or Manila are extraneous and irrelevant to the dominant culture...
While we are talking Marx, I would possibly consider whether or not these 'surplus' people are not, in fact, contributing to the low labor costs of the region (hence dominant culture)...
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* First in 'The Environmental Solution,' Contingencies of Reinforcement: A Theoretical Analysis (Appleton-Century-Crofts, 1969), p. 58; then conclusively in 'Why We Are Not Acting to Save the World,' Upon Further Reflection (Prentice-Hall, 1987), pp.4-5. (The same applies to aggression and reproduction, BTW.)
None.
