Year: 2024
Type: article
Abstract: Social scientists often treat the commodity form and commodity fetishism as concepts that reduce meaning to an economic base. The paper claims that this view is misguided and, furthermore, that these concepts enable us to formulate a dynamic approach to meaning in economic life. Building on recent discussions of commodity fetishism, I outline this dynamic approach to meaning and the commodity form. This approach demands attention to three issues: (1) the distinction between interpretations‐in exchange and interpretations‐of exchange; (2) how interpretations‐of exchange relate to interpretations‐in exchange; and (3) how status hierarchies can mediate this dynamic of meaning associated with the commodity form. In explaining these issues, I draw on a range of examples that illustrate their relevance to the organization of the capitalist world. The purpose is to illustrate that we can discuss meaning and the commodity form in a non‐reductive manner, and in so doing draw distinct strands of social scientific investigation into conversation.
DOI: 10.1111/jtsb.12430
Author: Tad Skotnicki
Institution: University of North Carolina at Greensboro
Language: English
Subfield: Sociology and Political Science
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
Estimated APC paid: $3,180
OpenAlex ID: W4401655291