List of things which are neither production nor consumption

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This list of things which are neither production nor consumption reflects the notion of Yale University anthropologist David Graeber that there is a tendency in Marxist literature to define consumption as "any activity that involves the purchase, use or enjoyment of any manufactured or agricultural product for any purpose other than the production or exchange of new commodities." This argument confronts traditional economic anthropologists whom accept Karl Marx's definition of production as the transformation of nature through human activity.

Graeber argued against this idea of consumption, insofar as it produces images of society as "a gigantic engine of production and destruction in which the only significant human activity is either manufacturing things." Bruce Owens have argued that many economies are characterized by objects that neither circulate nor are consumed.

For reference purposes, this list provides a roster of economic activities which might not fit comfortably into the dichotomy between production and consumption.

One heuristic principle for inclusion might be to think of an activity which, if undertaken 200 years ago, would not be considered consumption, but in current discourse might be classified that way.

Here are three more formal criteria:

The activity is not consumption, in the narrow sense of simply purchasing something;
The activity is not production, in the sense of being intended for sale or exchange as a commodity.

Comments on applicability can be included parenthetically.

Table of contents

1 The List
2 Further reading
3 See also

The List

Cooking a meal (production of finished goods from raw materials, consumes energy) (isn't this transformation of nature through human activity?)

Extinguishing a fire (isn't this transformation of nature through human activity?)

dressing and undressing (consuming, that is, using clothing: both actions)

Applying makeup (consuming make-up, going from a non-used state to a non-reuseable state, becoming a commodity (something to be consumed))

Watching television (consuming electricity and often times commercials, depreciating phosphors in the TV)

Playing in a band (with musical instruments that have been purchased?)

Falling in love
Reading (can be considered consumption of commodities)
Listening to music (can be considered consumption of commodities)
Going to a museum or gallery (consuming items of value due to light destruction, albeit very minor, very long-term destruction)
Taking a photograph (consuming film - can also be considered an act of production in the finished photograph)
Gardening (isn't this transformation of nature through human activity?)
Writing (on paper, consumes ink and paper, on a computer consumes electricity as well as depreciation of computer's value)
Conducting a coming of age ceremony
going window shopping
doing sports
acting
teaching
having an argument
playing games
having sex (unless you produce children or consume bodily fluids)
attending a religious service (but some Communists states ban such activities)
looking at old photos
aimlessly surfing the Internet (Freud would say nothing is aimless)
waiting for something to happen or for someone
scratching your bum
add more here