Commodity fetishism

Signs are a commonplace feature of daily life. A sign is defined as anything that can be used to represent something else. (Berger, 2013). Commodity signs are a crucial part of consumer culture. These signs can be found on websites, in advertisements or even in a company’s logo. The principles of semiotics and the criteria for a successful commodity sign can be seen in the logo for Apple Inc. Semiotics is the study of signs and the meanings and codes created by these signs. The pioneers of…

economic growth could improve the material well being of the working-class. Marx believed economic growth came at the backs of the proletariat, and that most growth is horded by the bourgeois, only beneficial to the capital elite and added to commodity fetishism. While, Adam Smith believed greater national output was beneficial to everyone, raise all boats with the tide, and increase the wages of the working class, too. The difference lies in the two economists view on whether or not labor is…

The communist manifesto was a revolutionary one-sided propaganda tool that disseminated the information seeking to influence the opinion of the public. Published by Friedrich Engels Pages and Karl Max, the manifesto is romantic, persuasive, and offer insightful explanations of a progressive society. More so, the article offers incredible explanation of a progressive society rather than analytical condemnation of rampant capitalism. The persuasive presentation of arguments by Marx and Engels…

The only way that the self could be reified would be that these institutions that shaped it were somehow forgotten and abstracted; rather than represent actual objective social relations, authenticity resembles a form of commodity fetishism.24 Ontology segregates itself from the cultural and holds itself to be superior to be the culturally mediated; by doing this, ontology makes itself more vulnerable to said mediation.25 By claiming that the individual owns herself, authenticity…

love and acceptance. .Capitalism NEEDS for women to have low self confidence, and to be insecure. Women who accept themselves as they are don't make the best customers. Self acceptance also makes one immune to the “commodity fetishism” prevalent in today’s society. Commodity fetishism is defined as “process of ascribing magic “phantom-like” qualities to an object, whereby the human labour required to make that object is lost once the object is associated with a monetary value for exchange”…

1916:pg.607) it is only expected that such individuals in a high position on the social spectrum would commit such treachery, as they lack morality due to pure egoism. Capitalism has arguably given birth to egoism, and in turn fueled society’s fetishism of commodities; for (Marx 1867: Pg.49) producers and consumers perceive each other by means of money and goods that they own, products are seen as a language, the language of value that converts every product into a social hieroglyphic. Society…

and success. From a conflict theory point of view, Karl Marx would analyse my observations in Canada as “commodity fetishism” wherein an intrinsic value is placed on commodities which obscures the human labour that it took to produce it. Furthermore, he argues that “commodity fetishism” masks social relations within an exploitative capital society as the production and exchange of commodities is not merely about the behaviour of money but a social practice that reflects the conflict of social…

Contrary to what the surface of the book reveals, there’s more behind the story than being a tragic tale of romance. Fitzgerald shown throughout the ‘20s being the era of declination of the American dream, and through symbolism and exploring the story with drama, comedy, and various personalities had shown how materialism and greed of a lost generation. F. Scott Fitzgerald begins the story with a young man of the name Nick Carraway, who is considered the “author” of the story. Through the eyes…

Both Marx and Marcel Mauss were particularly attentive to this feature. They were aware of how the fetishism of money, its apparent ability to render all items comparable, fuels inequality. It is not the process of exchange in itself that renders things equal. Rather it is the reduction in exchange to an abstract common unit. This supposed one dimensionality…

People associated their own meaning to a product (243). This is known as fetishism of a commodity. “Requiem for the American Dream” illustrates this through the advertising industry. Chomsky states that ads are a way to create consumers and tries to control people (Hutchison & Nyks, 2015). The advertising industry tries to sell products…