Commodity fetishism

A. Hussain

pp. 85-86

in: John Eatwell, Murray Milgate, Peter Newman (eds), Marxian economics, Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan, 1990

Abstract

This term is used by Marx to characterize the perception of social relations under the sway of commodity exchange. It is under capitalism that fetishism of commodities assumes its most comprehensive form. In Capital, the notion is developed initially with reference to commodity exchange between atomistic self-employed producers. The principal characteristic of such an economy is that each economic agent produces goods which he himself does not consume, and, in turn, consumes goods which he has not produced. For Marx, the important feature is that the mutual interdependence of economic agents is established ex post when they come to exchange their products rather than ex ante when they embark on production. Marx draws attention to the contrast between the coordination of production decisons through the "invisible hand" of the market, and that through a production plan.

Cited authors

Marx Karl