What is "commodity fetishism"? A textual analysis of the fourth section of the first chapter of Marx's Capital
Keywords:
commodity fetishism, consciousness, Marx, valueAbstract
This article offers a detailed comment on the fourth section of the first chapter of Marx's Capital, in order to determine and specify what exactly is the so-called "commodity fetishism". It is shown that in that section Marx is not dealing mainly with the misunderstanding of the commodity–form nor with the "reification" of social relations inherent of that form. Instead, the article claims that, for Marx, fetishism is a form of consciousness —arousing from the private character of labour— that mediates the very constitution of the commodity as such. In this sense, it is argued that value is not simply a form of social relation but, more precisely, an exteriorized and objectified form of consciousness through which the commodity producers organise social production.
Downloads
References
Arthur, Chris (2013): "The Practical Truth of Abstract Labour", en Riccardo Bellofiore, Guido Starosta y Peter Thomas (eds.) In Marx's laboratory: Critical interpretations of the Grundrisse, Leiden: Brill, pp. 101-120.
https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004252592_006
Backhaus, Hans-Georg (1969): "On the Dialectics of the Value-Form", Thesis Eleven 1 (1), pp. 99-120, 1980.
https://doi.org/10.1177/072551368000100108
Bellofiore, Riccardo (2014): "Lost in Translation? Once Again on the Marx-Hegel Connection", en Fred Moseley y Tony Smith (eds.) Marx's capital and Hegel's logic: a reexamination, Chicago, IL: Haymarket Books, pp. 164-188.
https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004270022_009
Cohen, Gerald (1978): La teoría de la historia de Karl Marx: una defensa, Madrid: Pablo Iglesias, 1986.
Ehrbar, Hans (2010): Annotations to Karl Marx's "Capital", http://www.econ.utah.edu/~ehrbar/akmc.pdf.
Elster, Jon (1985): Making sense of Marx, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Geras, Norman (1971): "Essence and Appearance: Aspects of Fetishism in Marx's Capital", New Left Review 65 (1), pp. 69-85.
Heinrich, Michael (2004): An introduction to the three volumes of Karl Marx's Capital, New York: Monthly Review, 2012.
Iñigo Carrera, Juan (2003): El capital. Razón histórica, sujeto revolucionario y conciencia, Buenos Aires: Imago Mundi, 2013.
Iñigo Carrera, Juan (2007): Conocer El Capital Hoy: Usar Criticamente El Capital, Buenos Aires: Imago Mundi.
Kautsky, Karl (1886): La doctrina económica de Carlos Marx, Buenos Aires: Lautaro, 1946.
Kicillof, Axel y Guido Starosta (2007): "On Materiality and Social Form: A Political Critique of Rubin's Value-Form Theory", Historical Materialism 15 (3), pp. 9-43.
https://doi.org/10.1163/156920607X225852
Marx, Karl (1857): Contribución a la crítica de la economía política, México: Siglo XXI, 2000.
Marx, Karl (1867): "La Mercancía" (primera edición del capítulo primero de El Capital), en El Capital: Crítica de La Economía Política, Tomo I / Vol. 3, México: Siglo Veintiuno, 2000, pp. 971-1016.
Marx, Karl (1873a): El Capital: Crítica de La Economía Política, 2da. ed., Tomo I / Vol. 1, México: Siglo Veintiuno, 1999.
Marx, Karl (1873b): El Capital: Crítica de La Economía Política, 2da. ed., Tomo I / Vol. 2, México: Siglo Veintiuno, 2001.
Marx, Karl (1879-1880): Notas marginales al "Tratado de Economía Política" de Adolph Wagner, Mexico: Pasado y Presente, 1982.
Postone, Moishe (1993): Time, labor, and social domination: a reinterpretation of Marx's critical theory, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511570926
Reichelt, Helmut (2001): "Marx's Critique of Economic Categories: Reflections on the Problem of Validity in the Dialectical Method of Presentation in Capital", Historical Materialism 15 (4), pp. 3-52, 2007.
https://doi.org/10.1163/156920607X245823
Rosental, M., and P. Ludin (1939): Diccionario Filosófico. Montevideo: Ediciones Pueblos Unidos, 1965.
Rubin, Isaak (1928): Ensayos Sobre La Teoría Marxista Del Valor, México: Pasado y Presente, 1974.
Schulz, Guido (2012): "Marx's Distinction between the Fetish Character of the Commodity and Fetishism", Studies in Social & Political Thought 20, pp. 25-45.
Sohn-Rethel, Alfred: (1970): Trabajo intelectual y trabajo manual: critica de la epistemología, Bogota: El Viejo Topo, 1979.
Starosta, Guido (2008). "The Commodity-Form and the Dialectical Method: On the Structure of Marx's Exposition in Chapter 1 of Capital", Science & Society 72 (3), pp. 295-318.
https://doi.org/10.1521/siso.2008.72.3.295
Starosta, Guido (en prensa): "The Role and Place of Commodity Fetishism in Marx's Systematic-Dialectical Exposition in Capital", Historical Materialism.
Starosta, Guido (2016): Marx's Capital, method and revolutionary subjectivity, Leiden: Brill.
