| This question <119|107> overall <98|100> Amy: <695|133>. |
| Question 233: Which evidence prompts Marx to say, at the beginning of the Commodity Fetishism section, that the commodity is “complicated” or “mysterious”? |
| [99] Amy: The mystery behind why Marx says that the commodity is “complicated” or “mysterious.” What prompts Marx to say that the commodity is “complicated or mysterious” is that the social relations encapsulated in the commodities are not understood or controlled by the commodity owner. Marx gets evidence to support his conclusion only after an analysis of a commodity. The analysis determines that a commodity is complicated because it has many determinations, one needs the powers of abstraction to grasp them, and money can be compared to the god of commodities. Then he expands on these ideas to explain how a commodity is complicated and/or mysterious. |
| A commodity is complicated because it has many determinations, which I think means that a commodity can be anything from something that is produced and used to trade for other commodities or it can be something that is produced and sold for money. |
| Hans: Your analysis so far was good, but your last sentence took the wrong turn. “A commodity has many determinations” basically means that it has use-value and exchange-value. Your next sentence captures this better, but please note: the determinations of a commodity are not only relevant for what we do with the commodities, but also for the evolution of the commodity relations themselves, for instance the development of money out of the commodity. |
| [99] Amy: There are many different determining factors that help one decide what to do with their commodities, some of which the commodity owner are unaware of. |
| A commodity is mysterious because one needs the powers of abstraction to grasp them, meaning that when you look at a commodity, there is a lot more to it than what initially meets the eye. There are many underlying factors that have made that commodity what it is; human labor, environmental factors, different uses, etc. |
| Hans: Here you are only talking about the production of the use-value. For this use-value to be a commodity you need private production, the equalization of labor, equal rights on the market place etc. |
| [99] Amy: And there are many more possibilities of what one can do with the commodity. Take an article of clothing for example, let's say a shirt. When you first look at it you just see shirt. You notice the color, the style, possibly the material. But when you take time to analyze the shirt and think about what went into making it, or what options you have of using it, your possibilities are limitless. |
| Hans: Again you are looking too much at the use-value of the commodity and not the social relations of which the commodity is the material expression. Perhaps you could have said at this point that it is an organization of production which does not specify which use-values are necessary for the survival of society, but everything is guided by market success. |
| [99] Amy: You have to take into account that the shirt was made maybe in a factory, where they could use child labor. |
| Hans: Now you are talking. The relation between you and the producer is shrouded by the commodity, you don't know whether the gleaming thing on the shelf is produced by child labor or under other oppressive conditions. |
| [99] Amy: There are many different materials that are used to make the shirt. The fabric it is made out of, the thread used to sew it together, etc. It becomes a lot more complicated now. And the mystery comes from what you can do with the shirt. What outfits that you can come up with, different ways to embellish the shirt, other uses for the shirt other than as a clothing item, etc. Once you take all of this into consideration a commodity can be complicated and/or mysterious. |
| Hans: You have to distinguish more consciously between those properties the commodity has as a use-value, and those which come from the social relations in a commodity society. |
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