1

What does money do, to a person?

There is the idea of commodity fetishism, but I guess this is more to do with the economy than e.g. individual bourgeoisie.

Can anyone offer a brief overview of competing philosophical thinking on this topic?

|improve this question

closed as off-topic by Eliran, Mark Andrews, Geoffrey Thomas♦ Nov 25 '18 at 10:16

This question appears to be off-topic. The users who voted to close gave this specific reason:

  • "While this question may be related to philosophy or occur in a philosophical context, the question itself doesn't seem to be about philosophy, and is therefore not a good fit for our site." – Eliran, Mark Andrews, Geoffrey Thomas
If this question can be reworded to fit the rules in the help center, please edit the question.

  • Money is used to convince others to do what you want them to do. – EternalPropagation Nov 24 '18 at 20:29
  • it's not off topic ffs – user35983 Nov 25 '18 at 16:28
  • are you seriously saying no pjhilosopher has ever asked this? – user35983 Nov 25 '18 at 16:28
-1

Commodity fetishism mystifies the real relations amongst people. This holds as true for the bourgeois as it does for the proletarian. While some mystification will be mistaking millions of suffering workers for a share portfolio, others will be more pertinent. Objects will stand in for emotional relations. For example, a dishwasher and servant will replace collective household reproductive activity, changing or stripping interpersonal interactions amongst a family. For example, instead of modifying his sexual relations a man will buy a car. For example, instead of inspecting her character and pleasure a woman will purchase a dream home.

It goes further, the very relationships of proletarian and bourgeois enslave real people into the position of being or managing social property. Hate your job and life? It may be that the commodity relationship is the intervening cause.

The problem with this is that it posits a “species-being,” an inhering human nature. (Cf: Althusser.). While a “scientific” “mature Marx” might overcome this, there’s no prediction regarding “happiness” available from such a position. Only the social distribution of power.

This answer only applies to money in value-form societies.

|improve this answer
  • Commodification actually de-mystifies the real relations between individuals/groups. Feel free to edit your answer. – EternalPropagation Nov 25 '18 at 17:41
  • The object stands between the social relationship and mystifies the embodied past labour. – Samuel Russell Nov 25 '18 at 23:55
  • Commodification actually communicates past labor and creates an objective measure of a social relationship. Feel free to edit your answer. – EternalPropagation Nov 26 '18 at 12:10
  • Wage slaves ain't commodities. Feel free to reread volume 1. – Samuel Russell Nov 26 '18 at 13:14
  • Individuals are free to buy/sell laborhours. That doesn't mean individuals are commodified, just that their inputs/outputs are. For an example of a commodified individual, google "publicly traded person." Again, please edit your answer with the appropriate corrections. – EternalPropagation Nov 26 '18 at 15:12