Publication (142 pages).

Karl Marx opens Capital Volume One [1867] with a description
of the commodity as “an object outside us, a thing that by
its properties satisfies human wants of some sort or another”.
The commodity and commodity exchange became the focus of
Marx’s work, providing a theory of the growing economic system
and its complications and contradictions. The shift from
early to late industrialization raised production levels and increased
commodity exchange, creating a new level of affluence
in everyday life. People were inclined to buy commodities that
went beyond basic subsistence due to new levels of wealth. Although
Marx identifies commodities by use and exchange-values
that include standard labour amounts and working time,
the commodity today is known for its allure and potential satisfaction
stemming from human need or want. Modern consumer
culture is thus characterized by the existence of commodities
in everyday life.
The commodity
As commodities developed and profits increased, the onset of
higher levels of wealth and consumption led to the development
of luxury goods. Purchased with excess wealth, luxury
items immediately became items of status that indicated
class position, authority, and respectability.
Thorstein Veblen wrote about conspicuous consumption
and wealth emulation at the turn of the
century. He believed the luxury commodity contributed
to rising levels of material accumulation
due to its use as a tool of status display. Veblen
used the term ‘pecuniary emulation’ to describe
the process of continually buying objects that were
newer or more expensive that what your peers or
neighbours had; this was in attempt to solidify or
improve status (Veblen 2003:17). The commodity
today is still known for its link with ideas of status
Status
and wealth; initially introduced
as a sign of upper class
status, the multiple classes
of modernity still use commodities
as signals of their
membership in a group, or
to try to initiate membership
in a different group. Indeed,
pecuniary emulation
was only the beginning of a
longstanding association of
objects and status.
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