The influence of Marxist theory in 'The Devil and Commodity Fetishism Essay

The influence of Marxist theory in The Devil and Commodity Fetishism in South America by Michael Taussig - Essay Exampleaussig sets out the premise of his work as an attempt to deliver what are to us in the industrialized world the exotic ideas of some rural people in Colombia and Bolivia concerning the meaning of the capitalist dealings of production and exchange into which they are daily being drawn. (Taussig,1983, p 3). Therefore, he sets up the critical vantage point that people in peripheral civilizations have on capitalist economy and suggests that they may offer valuable insight into westward culture. On this basis therefore, it may be famed that Taussig appears to place the primitive people of these peripheral tribes of Bolivia and Colombia in a superior position to observe the western cultures, which in reality are the more primitive because they are based upon the system of capitalism.Marx introduces the concept of goodness fetishism in the introductory chapters of his work Das Kapital as a state of cordial relations which arise in complex capitalist market systems, where such relations are centered upon the cherish placed by people on commodities. The significance of Marxs use of the term fetishism in the stage setting of commodities lies in the fact that in Marxs day, the word was primarily used in the context of primitive religions, therefore Marxs relegation of commodities to fetishism signifies the primitive nature of the belief system which lies at the heart of modern society. Therefore, it is akin to an illusory role that Marx ascribes to private property which is often at the means of capitalist systems.Applying this, Marx argues that the work of social relations among people appears to be conditioned not by their interactions, scarce largely by commodities in the marketplace, since it is the market that appears to decide who should do what for whom. As a result, human relations conditioned by the market become so commercial that peo ple become unaware of their social relations and become alienated from their own social activity, because they are so lost in