Commodity Fetishism

Definition

Commodity fetishism is a concept in Marxist theory that describes the mystification of social relationships between people into relationships between things (commodities). It refers to the tendency to ascribe intrinsic value and powers to commodities, obscuring the social relations involved in their production.

5 Must Know Facts For Your Next Test

1. Commodity fetishism arises from the capitalist mode of production, where the social relations between people are transformed into economic relations between things.
2. It masks the exploitative nature of capitalist production by presenting commodities as having intrinsic value, rather than deriving their value from the labor that went into their creation.
3. Commodity fetishism leads to the misunderstanding of the true source of value in capitalist society, obscuring the role of labor and the exploitation of workers.
4. The Frankfurt School, particularly Theodor Adorno and Max Horkheimer, built upon Marx's concept of commodity fetishism to critique the culture industry and the ways in which it perpetuates the fetishization of commodities.
5. Overcoming commodity fetishism is a key aspect of the Marxist solution, as it involves revealing the social relations and power dynamics underlying the capitalist system.

Review Questions

• Explain how commodity fetishism arises from the capitalist mode of production and how it obscures the true source of value.
  • Commodity fetishism arises from the capitalist mode of production, where the social relations between people are transformed into economic relations between things (commodities). In this system, the value of a commodity is perceived to be intrinsic to the object itself, rather than being derived from the labor that went into its creation. This obscures the exploitative nature of capitalist production, where the surplus value generated by workers is appropriated by capitalists as profit. Commodity fetishism masks the true source of value, which is the labor of the workers, and presents commodities as having inherent worth, rather than being the product of social relations.
• Describe how the Frankfurt School, particularly Adorno and Horkheimer, built upon Marx's concept of commodity fetishism to critique the culture industry.
  • The Frankfurt School, particularly Theodor Adorno and Max Horkheimer, expanded on Marx's concept of commodity fetishism to analyze the culture industry and its role in perpetuating the fetishization of commodities. They argued that the culture industry, through the mass production and standardization of cultural products, reinforces the idea that commodities have intrinsic value, rather than being the result of social relations and the exploitation of labor. This process of commodification, they claimed, leads to the reification of social relationships and the alienation of individuals from the means of cultural production, ultimately serving to maintain the power structures of the capitalist system.
• Explain how overcoming commodity fetishism is a key aspect of the Marxist solution and how it relates to the goals of the Frankfurt School.
  • Overcoming commodity fetishism is a crucial element of the Marxist solution, as it involves revealing the social relations and power dynamics underlying the capitalist system. By demystifying the inherent value of commodities and exposing the exploitative nature of their production, the Marxist approach aims to empower workers and challenge the existing social order. This aligns with the goals of the Frankfurt School, which sought to use critical theory to expose the mechanisms by which the culture industry perpetuates the fetishization of commodities and the alienation of individuals. Overcoming commodity fetishism is seen as a necessary step in the Marxist and Frankfurt School's efforts to transform the capitalist system and liberate individuals from the constraints of the existing social and economic structures.

Related terms

Reification: The process of treating an abstract concept as if it were a concrete, tangible object, obscuring its social and historical origins.

Alienation:

The separation of workers from the products of their labor, the means of production, and the act of production itself, leading to a sense of powerlessness and detachment.

Surplus Value:

The difference between the value a worker creates and the wage they receive, which is appropriated by the capitalist as profit.