Karl Marx-Commodity Fetish?

[Julie]

Why is it that Karl Marx objects the idea of the Commodity Fetish?

[The Gadfly]

Commodity fetishism is the transformation of human relations whereby social relationships are mediated by objects whose value is derived from the exchange of money and commodities in the market. So, for Marx, objects in the market are believed to have real value; this valuation replaces subjective aspects of economic value.

This is a significant concept for Marx because the valuation of objects works to mask or obscure the true nature of human relations of production between the worker and the capitalist.

So in a capitalist society, the relations between people (who works for whom, who makes what, the effort involved in making a product etc) are percieved as economic relations among objects where the value of a commodity is determined by comparing it to another commodity. Thus, the real exploitative relationships involved in the production of commodities (between worker and capitalist) is hidden from view and beyond consideration.