Gretchen L.

Gonzaga September 23, 2018

A Discussion Paper of Karl Marx’s Commodity Fetishism

In this paper, Marx pointed out that commodity is more valued instead of human labor. In
a capitalist society, people are obsessed with commodities, hence the term commodity fetishism.
They worshipped commodities for these objects have significant value or social power beyond
its utility forgetting the human labor that made them. For Marx, it is the labor behind the thing
that counts. Marx asserted:

“It was the analysis of the prices of commodities that alone led to the
determination of the magnitude of value, and it was the common expression
of all commodities in money that alone led to the establishment of their
characters as values.”

This means that the price equated with the commodity determines its value. Because all
commodities can be expressed with money, people set a value to these things. Money hampers
the social relations between human production and consumption. In other words, fetishism has
created false beliefs that conceal the real conditions in this world. For Marx, fetishizing is
disadvantageous because real social relationships are between/among people (producers, owners,
and etc.), not between money and commodity.

Commodity fetishism theory can be observed in big companies around the world. For
example, a crocodile skin was processed into a Hermes Birkin bag. Once it will enter the market,
the monetary value associated with this product will sever the ties from the production process.
A prospective buyer will no longer equate the worth of the product with the labor exerted in
producing the handbag. Instead, the value will be based on the price tag. Consumers only see the
other side of the product and forget the hard or dreary labor. Some companies are not driven by
producing appealing goods to their consumers but with their intentions to gain profits.
Unfortunately, many people continue to obsess about luxurious bags because they feel and look
better on it (Status symbol). Those who could not afford or follow the trendy things are looked
down, not accepted, or worst discriminated.
 If fetishism is bad, how can we emancipate from this knowing that people have to buy
goods for survival? The more we buy, the happier we are. Kidding aside, I bet Marx just wanted
us to shop things smartly because we do not question these things anymore.