Fetishism and narcissism – the base of capitalism?
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17533/udea.ef.n62a09Keywords:
narcissism, capitalism, commodity fetishism, consumerism, MarxismAbstract
This article tries to resume Karl Marx’ concept of “commodity fetishism”, not just as a phenomenon of conscience, but as being the real heart of capitalist society based on abstract labor and value, money and commodity. This concept is often misunderstood, as well as the concept of “narcissism”. Following Freud and Christopher Lasch, the article underlines the sociological side of narcissism and how this pathology is the psychological counterpart to commodity fetishism, forming thus the typical subjectivity of consumerism.
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References
Freud, S. (1957). On narcissism: An introduction. In J. Strachey (Ed. & Trans.), The standard edition of the complete psychological works of Sigmund Freud (Vol. 14, pp. 73-102). London: Hogarth Press.
Jappe, A. (2017a). Les Aventures de la marchandise. Pour une critique de la valeur. Paris: La Découverte.
Jappe, A. (2017b). La Société autophage. Capitalisme, démesure et autodestruction. Paris: La Découverte.
Lasch, C. (1979). The Culture of Narcissism: American Life in an Age of Diminishing Expectations. New York: Norton.
Lasch, C. (1984). The Minimal Self: Psychic Survival in Troubled Times. New York: Norton.
Lukács, G. (1983). History and Class Consciousness.London: Merlin Press.
Marx, K. (1976). Capital: A Critique of Political Economy, vol. 1. (B. Fowkes, Trad.). London: Penguin.
Marx, K. (1991). Capital, vol. 3. (D. Fernbach, Trad.). London: Penguin.
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