By Sam Hillen | March 30 2021 |
Why are people so obsessed with flaunting wealth? Why do we try so hard to express it in our jewelry, watches, clothing brands, and sneakers? Take a diamond necklace: it is a pretty easy target for an analysis like this. It really has no use. It does not do anything on its own, it cannot be used as a currency, it does not have much resale value, it is not even that rare of a stone, so why is it a near universal symbol of wealth? How about clothing? A perfunctory look at Nike’s lineup of clothing reveals it is pretty basic and boring without any unique or defining features. Without the logo it is just a shirt made of cotton, spandex or polyester by the hands of child labourers paid cents on the dollar. The same could be said for Gucci, Adidas, Lululemon, nearly all name brand clothing. Sneakers are pretty much the same story. These things that we buy, commodities, have little to no real value without the logo.
This concept, developed by Karl Marx, is known as ‘commodity fetishism.’ Marx used his theory to illustrate how value is not derived from commodities themselves, but instead from the labour expended in the production process. We can further develop the definition of commodity fetishism to explain expensive taste - what is expensive taste? Really, it's the idea that a commodity has an intrinsic, non-physical quality itself that buyers want and will pay extra for. Nowhere is this phenomenon more present than in high school and universities.
Obviously the idea of a commodity’s metaphysical property is not true. A pair of sweats without the Nike logo is not physically better than one without it. Instead, it is the social relationships between people that dictate the commodity’s higher value. You might think that this is perfectly logical and it is, to the extent that it is a phenomenon that will be ever present in most market driven societies. But when you really think about what’s going on, there is a huge paradox at play that corporations are able to exploit to their benefit at the expense of the consumer: the commodity has X value. Why? Because it is a status symbol. Why is it a status symbol? Because it has X value. This cyclic process is often kick started by capitalist manipulation of supply and demand. Again, an excellent example is the diamond company De Beers which was able to successfully monopolize the diamond industry and limit the supply of the stones, thereby skyrocketing their price. Their ‘a diamond is forever’ campaign worked to convince the general population through advertising that diamonds were the symbol of love and commitment, and that you needed a $5000 piece of carbon, gold, and silver to be married.
All this is to say that looking at commodities and spending decisions with a critical eye will help to demystify what that commodity truly is to you. There is nothing wrong with having expensive taste; buy what makes you happy. But understanding commodities and how they impact our lives is an important step in working towards real socioeconomic change and will reduce economic inequality.
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