Stroll with the stroller: Walter Benjamin, the question about the flâneur and the subject of the capitalism

Abstract

In Walter Benjamin`s book Das Passagen-Werk (In German), he contributes a series of reflections on the figure of the Flâneur, a French word that designates that character who wanders, drifts through the streets, who is lost in the crowd, urban figure who observes the city, its transformations, someone who does not allow himself to be seduced by the shop windows, who makes the act of walking; a pleasure in itself. The capitalist functioning of the XXI century has altered the relationship of the subjects with the city, the city scenes seem to be made for consumption, for the purchase and sale of products, thus, as the act of walking ends up crossed by the logic of use and utility, today we walk with eagerness, without contemplating, without getting involved with the urban environment, technology, speed and consumerism generate effects on the way in which subjects relate in cities. In this article, the notion of flâneur is explored in the work of the philosopher Walter Benjamin, its articulation to the work of the poet Charles Baudelaire, as well as the critique of capitalism that is embodied in the practices of this character who emerged at the dawn of Paris from the 19th century, from this exploration some reflections on new ways of relating to the city's living space and the configurations of current subjectivity are presented. This whole journey ends with some considerations on the question: can one be a flaneur at this time.