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commodity fetishism

#marxism #philosophy
上 (new) / tended February 19 2025 / planted February 18 2025

marx’s definition

Marx introduces the notion of commodity fetishism quite early in Capital.

technology

The material objects underlying the technologies with which we interact present themselves as commodities, products of social labor:

The problem comes when we fetishize technology by only seeing the object in front of us without considering any of the broader networks of social, political, and economic relationships that the object is embedded within. In other words, all the things that are behind what technology gets made, why it’s made, where it’s made, who it’s made for, and all the consequences that follow from its being made.

Sadowski, The Mechanic and the Luddite, page 4

Sadowski asks here a series of basic questions about the processes that hide behind the physical device (for instance, an iPhone), which I think are worth thinking about.

what gets made

why it’s made

where it’s made

who it’s made for

the consequences

alienation

This is here to test out backlinks.