Gigi Morgan Clark

Marxist Ideologies, Commodity Fetishism, Dialectical Materialism, and Increasing

Complexity in Development of Societies and Economy

Karl Marx, a German-English political philosopher born on the fifth of May in 1818, explains the

increasing (or, subjectively decreasing) complexity that we see in history and economic systems through

seven or eight main thresholds of what he calls economic development: tribalism, primitive communism,

feudalism, fascism, capitalism, socialism, and communism.

Tribalism, or forager society, was the first type of human society. In Tribalism, men hunt for food

and women gather nuts and berries (although this was sometimes flipped), and no class or private

property existed. Because there was no private property, there was no commodity fetishism. Slave culture

was first established during the tribal period, which would eventually lead to early class society.

Primitive communism encompasses the agricultural revolution, where, due to increasing

populations, and therefore hunger, humans developed new methods to get food. These new techniques of

getting food included different methods of farming. For example, instead of constantly moving and

collecting wild berries, people would settle down in one area and domesticate crops or animals. They

could grow rice on paddy fields or breed cows for meat and milk.

As techniques of farming improved, the problems that humans faced changed from scarcity of

food to an abundance of it. Humans learned that, since they harvested more food than they could

consume, they could hire other people to work for them in exchange for some of the crops they produced.

As a result, they would yield more crops, and therefore earn the ability to hire more people. This

abundance eventually would lead to the gathering of power which led to an aristocracy.

In the beginning of feudalism and the late stages of primitive communism, multiple tribes

merged, either by conquest or mutual agreement, into a city-state. Feudalism ties directly into the

inception of kingdoms from several of these city-states. This kingdom, with perhaps hundreds of
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city-states, would be ruled by one person (or a small group of people), and would take a portion of

everything that the people produced. In early feudalism, this would be what they farmed, but during late

stage feudalism, this could be anything from shoes to milk jugs to weapons to selectively bred animals.

During the feudalist stage, peasants (or people tilling land) were transformed into proletariat workers, and

powerful farm-owners were transformed into the bourgeois. The working-class, proletariats worked on

assembly lines, creating only a small fraction of the final product. They never got to see the fruit of their

labor, resulting in the alienation of the modern worker.

Marx writes that what we produce and how we produce it are a representation or a fragmented

part of ourselves, and when we don’t even see (let alone own) what we produce, it is alienating. In other

words, we lose the sense that we are in control of our lives, or that we make our own decisions. (Which in

some cases leads to us doing really stupid things like buying a Ferrari, taking up drinking, or shooting up

the postal office you work at.)

The class system in medieval feudalism did not have a middle class, but rather only had three

levels: aristocrat, or the ruling class; bourgeoise, or the upper, property-owning, rich class; and proletariat,

or the working class, the people who worked day jobs and alienating jobs. Even in something like a

hospital, workers could be anything: a doctor would be the bourgeoisie, but the secretary would be a

proletariat.

Feudalism, in many cases, leads to other stages. Another German philosopher who Marx was

heavily influenced by called Hegel said that if A then B, and if B then C, then if A then C. We can fill this

in with:

If... A: Person makes a semi-automatic and sells it to Distributor, then... B: Distributor sells semi-auto to

X and if B. Distributor sells semi-auto to X, then... C: X goes and shoots up a school. So... If Person

makes a semi-auto, the school will be shot up. Marx’s ideologies talk about taking responsibility for the
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vicarious effect your actions have, and how the “well, I was just doing my job, how could I know he was

going to go shoot up a school?'' is morally wrong and should not be accepted.

We can also fit this ideology into Feudalism, meaning that feudalism will always eventually result

in fascism: if capitalists exploit the proletariat, then the proletariat will be alienated and depressed. And if

the proletariat is alienated and depressed, eventually the proletariat will take over the country and bring in

a fascist regime.

Capitalism is the final micro-threshold of economic history, and it pertains to the ideology that a

free market gives equivalent opportunities to all, when in reality it keeps the rich rich and keeps the poor

poor. It allows someone to start a shirt business called Homosexual Phrog Studios right next to Gay Frog

Studios and sell shirts for $19 instead of $20, because it is privately owned. Capitalism values private

property and lives off of commodity fetishism.

Socialism has the means of production not privately owned like in capitalism but rather owned by

the community as a whole. In Marxism, socialism is a transition state between capitalism and

communism, and not a final stage for a society.

For clarification, communism does not have everybody paid the same exact wage, but rather

states that every person should have a home, access to a good school and hospital, general necessities like

water and plumbing, and access to a method of transportation. Communism also has the means of

production and property publicly owned and available, and has everyone paid according to their interests

and abilities, e.g. a neurodiverse person won’t be left out of a job because of their mental difference, a

person in a wheelchair won’t be left out of a job because they can’t walk. Publicly owned property means

no property tax, and means everyone still works at the office, but the office isn’t owned by a private

company.
Gigi Morgan Clark

Commodity Fetishism is expanding the value of material objects beyond their true or intended

value. This can sometimes be in an even godly way.

One excellent example of commodity fetishism at play is with Nike shoes, shoes that will make

you famous because of celebrity endorsements, make you be better and feel stronger because of the

representation of Achilles in the swoosh, and that they will make you jump higher when in reality they are

“just another pair of shoes.”

Commodity fetishism is even seen in Apple smartphones, people buy one iPhone and then the

Apple ecosystem pops the question “which iPhone should you buy” instead of “which smartphone should

you buy,” keeping people with iPhones not only because they are good phones but because of the way

they are presented, as a commodity that will make you cooler, smarter, and that will make you feel

professional. This, of course, is not true. iPhones are good smartphones, yes, but spec for spec, they are

nowhere near the most powerful or most secure smartphones.

In an interview with Prof. R McCorkle, I learned that in the 1970s car commercials aired with

angels, saints, and people expanding into the heavens when they entered the car being advertised.

While researching Karl Marx, I was also researching world religions and origin stories. I found a

direct correlation between the Marxist ideologies and Buddhism. Marx talks about commodity fetishism,

the value of a commodity being seen past it’s intended value; Buddhism says that life is filled with

suffering, and that this suffering is fueled by attachment to material objects, and to reach true

enlightenment you must remove all attachment to things from your life. Once you do this, the cycle of

rebirth will end and you will be an enlightened being at the level of Buddha.

In conclusion, I believe humans will always be fueled to get more and collect as much power as

possible as long as we are living in a capitalist society with capitalist ideologies, because this is what our
Gigi Morgan Clark

children are being taught. If we teach our kids not the ideology that they can be anything they want but

rather the ideology that they should only take what they need, and that excess resources should always be

given to those who have less. My course study was on complexity in world history, so I can’t answer

many questions surrounding Marxism, such as “how do you stop commodity fetishism,” or whether it is

practical to become a communist society. I can say, though, that Marxism is a set of criticisms of

capitalism and a review of history, not a socioeconomic system. Many people will say that Marxism in

theory makes sense but in practice does not, however there has never been a truly communist society, only

dictatorships that belong to the communist party and advertise as communist.

Gigi Morgan Clark

Works Cited

CYH, Volunteers. “Commodity Fetishism in Macklemore's ‘Wings.’” Check Your Head, 10 Dec. 2012,

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“Commodity Fetishism.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 27 Apr. 2021,

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commodity_fetishism.

Felluga, Dino. "Modules on Marx: On Ideology." Introductory Guide to Critical Theory. 31 Jan 2011,

Purdue U. Apr 14 - May 30 2021.

www.purdue.edu/guidetotheory/marxism/modules/marxideology.html.

The Marxist Project. “Fundamentals of Marx: Commodity Fetishism.” YouTube, YouTube, 29 Sept. 2018,

www.youtube.com/watch?v=rmjUkKAY9DI.

S, Prabhat. “Difference Between Communism and Marxism.” Difference Between Similar Terms and

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http://www.differencebetween.net/miscellaneous/difference-between-communism-and-marxism

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Rhizome. “#3 Commodity Fetishism - Understanding Capital | Rhizome.” YouTube, YouTube, 14 Feb.

2019, www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eil3uE2uReI.

Duckett, Dexter. “What Is Commodity Fetishism?” YouTube, YouTube, 26 May 2017,

www.youtube.com/watch?v=vJClNHxBWmo.

Mr Beat. “Capitalism, Socialism, and Communism Compared.” YouTube, YouTube, 16 Nov. 2018,

www.youtube.com/watch?v=zhLa6I72K_g.

Macklemore, Lewis, Ryan. “Macklemore x Ryan Lewis ‘WINGS’ Official Music Video.” YouTube,

YouTube, 20 July 2011, www.youtube.com/watch?v=gAg3uMlNyHA.

“Bourgeoisie.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 26 May 2021, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bourgeoisie.

Gigi Morgan Clark

CrashCourse World History; Green, John. “Capitalism and Socialism: Crash Course World History #33.”

YouTube, YouTube, 6 Sept. 2012, www.youtube.com/watch?v=B3u4EFTwprM.

School of Life. “POLITICAL THEORY - Karl Marx.” YouTube, YouTube, 19 Dec. 2014,

www.youtube.com/watch?v=fSQgCy_iIcc.

McCorkle, Ronald. Personal interview and conversation. May 2021.

Oxford Language Dictionary, https://languages.oup.com/google-dictionary-en/