Commodity Fetishism in Edith Wharton’s The Age of Innocence :: Edith Wharton Age Innocence Essays

Commodity Fetishism in Edith Wharton’s The Age of Innocence Commodity fetishism is a term first coined by Karl Marx in his 1867 economic treatise, Das Kapital. It takes two words, one with a historically economic bent and another with a historically religious bent, and combines them to form a critical term describing post-industrial revolution, capitalist economies. Specifically, this term was used to describe the application of special powers or ideas to products that carried no such inherent value. In Edith Wharton’s The Age of Innocence, old New York society is dissected as if the book were a study in cultural anthropology. One of the critical elements of this society is its emphasis on material items. From Parisian dresses to brand name cigars, this society is particularly interested in what a member owns. A brief examination of how commodities affect the creation an identity and social order in Wharton’s New York will be endeavored. But first, commodity fetishism will be defined more specifically before we can apply Marx’s ideas to the novel. The comprising elements of this term will be examined to create a general understanding of the economic and social ideas that went into its creation. The term â€Å"commodity† is often considered to be synonymous with a â€Å"good,† any produced item, such as refined sugar or textiles (Spickard). Although this seems a decent, basic definition, a commodity actually refers to something useful that can be turned to commercial or other advantage. The key point here is that a good fails to be a commodity when it no longer has a commercial advantage. A pile of gold is only a commodity if someone agrees to buy it. The term â€Å"fetish†, despite the prevalent sexual connotations of today, actually has a religious origin. A fetish is any object that is believed to have special or magical powers, often associated with animistic or shamanistic religions. Thus, to make something a fetish is to infuse an inanimate or material object with special powers above and beyond that of its physical self. The concept of commodity fetishism, then, was used by Marx to describe the over-appraisal of commodities in a capitalist economy. What is Marx saying? How can something be â€Å"worth† more than it’s worth? This occurs when the â€Å"use value,† the natural capacity to satisfy a human want, of something is of different worth than its â€Å"exchange value,† the social capacity to be exchangeable for other commodities (Wenning).