CS351 Lecture Notes - Lecture 8: Fetishism, Simone De Beauvoir, Richard Dyer
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The fetishism of the commodity (from week 3) It is absolutely clear that, by his activity, man changes the forms of the materials of nature in such a way as to make them useful for him. The form of wood, for instance, is altered if a table is made out of it. Nevertheless, the table continues to be wood, an ordinary, sensuous thing. But as soon as it emerges as a commodity, it changes into a thing which transcends sensuousness marx p. 122. As soon as men start to work for each other in any way, their labour also assumes a social form marx p. 122. For marx, the works partly control the ownership of production: help in decisions etc. Problem marx had was when workers were alienated from their work: hired on the basis that the workers were disposable, company made more then workers wouldn"t, power structures work or starve to death.