Karl Marx, “The Fetishism of the Commodity and its Secret” (1867), excerpt from Capital, Vol. 1

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Marx argues that commodities are the key distinguishing feature of the capitalist economy. In a capitalist society, production has mastery over people, rather than the other way around. Economists forget the source of the value of commodities, which is human labor. They fail to see that only capitalist production treats goods in a this way and doesn’t take into account the real social relations. He also states that religion merely reflects the real world.

Marx and I have a love/hate relationship. Well, since he’s dead, it’s a very one-sided relationship at this point. However, he does communicate through his writings to me, so I will continue in this vain. I always struggle with what he is really saying. I think that it is mostly to do with the time period in which he was writing, as well as reading translated text. I think I understand his thesis, but it seems like I am reading in medias res. Perhaps it’s because this is a chapter of a larger book, as well as a larger argument. With that being said, I think I understand most of his argument. Whether I was able to provide a convincing summary remains to be seen. It’s difficult for me to look critically inside this issue having grown up surrounded by commodities. I still have a materialistic life as compared to the rest of the world that are in desolate poverty. I get pissed when my Internet goes down… I should be more pissed that I am not doing as much as I could to combat homelessness and the rising divisions of class world wide. These views, thoughts and contemplations make me feel like a stellar example of the WASP stereotype. Awesome.