Commodity Fetishism

Improved Essays
According to Michael Foucault, a French philosopher on power, there is one key aspect that can be used to help control or organize individuals and the population. That key aspect is the norm which “is something that can be applied to both a body one wishes to discipline and a population one wishes to regularize” (Foucault 252-53). In a population, there are always norms, traditions, and customs. If one were to act outside of these norms, one might face a degree of estrangement or alienation. As humans, we are social creatures so individuals and populations will adhere to norms in order to fit in with the rest, thus these norms essentially hold power over individuals and the population. Furthermore, power has a significant role in both creating norms and controlling behavior because people tend to yield to power and conform to a system that the power figure establishes.
In his writings on commodity fetishism, German philosopher and revolutionary socialist Karl Marx, well-known for his 1848 pamphlet The Communist Manifesto, argues that in commodities, “the social character of men’s labour appears to them as an objective character stamped upon the product of that labour” (Marx
…show more content…
In Karl Marx’s critique on political economy, he argues that “since the producers do not come into social contact with each other until they exchange their products, the specific social character of each producer’s labour does not show itself except in the act of exchange” (Marx 474). The producers’ relations with one another are dependent on market exchanges. Marx suggests that people have no relations with each other; therefore, social relations are continually mediated and expressed with objects such as commodities and money. Commodities hold value from the labour put in by individuals and those emotions and values are transferred through the trade of

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    Our minds will hardly ever drift to the women working in the factories in Asia; this is where Marx’s commodity fetishism can best be observed in our modern…

    • 971 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    When Karl Marx (2003) talks about labour in a political economy, he argues that the workers are “degraded to the most miserable sort of commodity” (p. 6)—in other words, the workers are being exploited by owners of private property. He introduces the concept of alienation, describing how workers become externalized not only from their labour and the product of their labour, but also from their species’ being and other workers. This, as a result reduces the workers’ capabilities of seeking their greatest potential, leaving them powerless. While Marx is able to explain how alienated labour is developed, are the ideas around alienation only confined to labour? This paper will discuss the ways in which alienation is conceptualized and applied…

    • 298 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    To control a society everything has to be completely congruent with each other. There can not be new different things or else the society will be destroyed. Although the rules are not being used correctly and many are disobeying them in…

    • 1096 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The Conflicting Views of Adam Smith and Karl Marx on the Division of Labor and the Role of Money in Exchange In their works, Adam Smith and Karl Marx prove to have differing opinions on money and the division of labor. Although they understand money as a representation of value and as a medium of exchange, they arrive at different conclusions about the role of money in social life. Smith sees the division of labor as a constructive system and a means of furthering exchange, leading to the use of money. Marx, on the other hand, finds labor to turn human beings into alienated workers, and the division of labor to spread and increase this concept.…

    • 1432 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In some ways these norms act like a type of social control.…

    • 1073 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    In this essay, I address how Karl Marx in The Critique of Capitalism and Louis Althusser in the Ideology and Ideological State Apparatuses demonstrate that institutional forces within capitalist societies have upheld the power dynamics central to capitalism, and the main driving force that allows this upholding to persist is reproduction. Marx explains that in order for capitalism to continue the reproduction of the character of the worker and reproduction of worker needs to exist. The feudal system, in Marx’ eyes, persisted only when feudalism was widely accepted and endorsed by society. For capitalism it is the same. Capitalism is in the very fabric of society which is why the reproduction of the character of the worker has persisted.…

    • 1133 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In this piece, Marx discusses the concept of “Estranged Labour”, about which he goes into great detail. He begins by stating that the current political economy takes the worker from the level of a human, to that of a commodity. He describes this as “the most wretched of commodities”, as the commodification of the worker is always done in contrast to success of the land owner. This creates two classes, the property owners and the propertyless workers, with a stark distinction between the two. The political economy that creates this distinction is run by greed, which is fueled by competition.…

    • 530 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Today, many will agree that the world revolves around commerce, as the economy has been the main focal point of many thriving nations. Globally, the most common economic system is a mixed economy, which is a combination of a command and market economy. A command economy is focused on the central government. In a command economy, the government has control over the marketplace, and decides what is produced and sold. A market economy focuses on private business, and it allows for free trade and competition.…

    • 1209 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The most fundamental and important of these conflicts is that between the Bourgeoisie (those who own and control the means of production in society) and the Proletariat (those who simply sell their labor power in the market place of Capitalism)”. (Theories, 2009) One of the reasons that the philosophy of Karl Marx and Marxism is so misunderstood is the connection that society makes to…

    • 958 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    Society is presumed to consist of both dominant and subordinate figures who cooperate to establish social norms, yet the imbalance of power between the two entities suggests otherwise. Dominants posses the resources needed to configure the world according to their inclinations, while subordinates do not, contriving the question of who composes the authoritative society that dictates culture and ethics. Dominants are able to use their power to establish social norms, create traditions, and spread ideologies that maintain their power. These ideologies become ingrained into our culture and become further supported by social subordinates. Consequently, these dominant ideologies become an irrefutable aspect of everyday life.…

    • 1693 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Aguilar, Kimberly English 28 Professor Aksoy Commodity Fetishism Draft Commodity Fetishism is everywhere we go. Its on magazines, billboards and even on T.V. A simple plain T-shirt can cost up to ten dollars but once a a company labels it with their logo, the shirt can cost up to three times the original amount. Its not just on clothes but on electronics, accessories and beverages. Many people will buy things just because of the brand.…

    • 806 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Marxism In Fight Club

    • 1340 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Capitalism, according to Marx, is a mode of production based on private ownership of the means of production. It is a system of social relations in which labour-power is commodified and the driving force of society is the accumulation of capital. Marx theorized that economic systems result in two social classes, one of which holds the power and uses it to oppress the other. In capitalism, this is the bourgeoisie, the capitalists, who own the means of production, and the proletariat who’s labour allows the system to function and is the source of the bourgeoisie’s power. As such, the social relations of production are antagonistic.…

    • 1340 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Karl Marx, Emile Durkheim and Max Weber are three fundamental figureheads in the foundation of sociology who asserted that our lifestyles are products of the society in which we live. They all lived in a period of great social change, that of the Industrial Revolution, and based their writings and musings upon what they observed happening around them and extrapolated as to the condition of the future. One foundational product of contemporary societies, that truly came into existence at the time during which they were writing, would be the economy and economic life. Looking at it on a macro level perspective, it is one of the aspects of the social superstructure. It is a social institution by itself, but it also shares a give and take relationship with other institutions in society and the superstructure such as education, ethics, law, religion, etc.…

    • 1198 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Marxism in The Hunger Games If there is any perfect representation of Marxism in film it is in The Hunger Games. For this case study, I will be focusing on the first movie of the trilogy. This paper will overview the way Marxism is shown in The Hunger Games using a few examples from the movie. In this paper, I argue that The Hunger Games’ plot line has Marxism theories extremely exposed and almost blatantly exposed. Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels developed Marxism in the early 1900s.…

    • 753 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Such transformation eventually leads to the good being sold in market which creates its value. Thus, the value exists in relation to other things in the market. However, Marx states that, “a commodity is” essentially “a mysterious thing” (Marx 1867) such that the labor time and social processes invested in it are often hidden from the worker. Therefore, people are alienated from labor, things, and relations with other people. This alienation eventually leads to the worker fetishizing commodities more than social relations.…

    • 757 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays