Alienation and fetishism in Karl Marx’s critique of political economy

Abstract

This paper explores the connection between the concepts of alienation and commodity fetishism in the work of Karl Marx and their role in his critique of political economy. It analyses the different types of alienation present in his early work, linking them to the issue of fetishism in his mature work, and shows how the notion of alienation is subsumed by his theory of fetishism. In its conclusion, the paper attempts to establish the fundamental characteristics of commodity fetishism and the manner in which this concept expresses a radical criticism of modernity. Finally, the paper demonstrates that the critique of modernity and its modes of socialization, as Marx understood it, required engagement with and criticism of political economists, given that the modern mechanisms of alienation and fetishism are fundamentally grounded upon economic practices.