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Commodity Fetishism In Consumer Culture

1584 Words7 Pages

This sociological study will analyze the problem of commodity fetishism in American consumer culture. Karl Marx’s theory of commodity fetishism is a major problem in the United States due to the inability of consumers to see the intrinsic value of a commodity. American consumer culture tends to become trapped in the “magical qualities” of a product, which makes them unable to understand the object as it was made by a laborer. This abstraction of the commodity is part of Marx’s analysis of capitalist products that is separated from the labor and become valuable objects in and of themselves. This is an important sociological perspective on commodities, which creates an irrational consumer culture in the American marketplace. The illusion of product …show more content…

In 21st century America, it is important to understand these aspects of commodity fetishism that creates the problem of distorted consumerist practices that have become common in the marketplace. Sociologically, the “magical” process of abstracting the value of a product is critical to understanding why many Americans blindly follow a consumerist culture in this form of capitalist economy. Commodity fetishism describes many of the key problems with the valuation of products that trick Americans into over-consuming in a Marxist …show more content…

Marx’s theory of commodity fetishism defines the abstraction of a product’s true value with a “magical” presentation of product through advertising and institutional brand name policies. The dominance of the bourgeoisie/capitalist owner classes illustrates the power of commodity fetishism that promotes products to the proletariat/consumer in the marketplace. The fetish qualities of product detract from the physicality of the production process, which is then diluted through advertising promotions for the unwary consumer. This type of promotion is a great problem for consumers, since many of them may tricked into buying a faulty or unhealthy product through brand-name trickery. More so, consumers may become addicted to their desires in the purchasing of a product, which only alienates them from better products that may actually improve their lives. Marx’s theory of commodity fetishism defines the dangers of a capitalist society that is controlled a by a small group of bourgeoisie owners that seek profit through a narrow selection of products. More so, consumers are often unaware of the dangers of these products and the addictive properties of a commodity that dominate their lives. In this manner, a sociological analysis of Karl Marx’s commodity fetishism has been analyzed within the problematic issues of an American consumer

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