The Fetishism of Coffee in America

1123 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Alienation at the workplace

There are many essentials that are fetishized by Americans; one of those things is coffee. It is no secret that there is a big demand for coffee with many specialty coffee shops springing up, such as Starbucks, Peet’s and Coffee Bean. Oftentimes, the consumer loses sight of where things come from and how they are produced. A key component of production is the producer. The consumer does not pay enough attention to the ethical treatment and wages of the producer. This paper discusses Karl Marx’s premise on Fetishism of Commodities and its direct relation to the production of coffee, focusing on the value of the coffee bean as well as how that directly impacts the farmer and his family.

As industrialization evolved people worked long days to produce everyday essentials. Marx labels everyday essentials “things,” which have ordinary use but also turn out to be commodities. Marx in turn defined a commodity as a thing that, although not a necessity, brings gratification to a person (Marx in Desfor Edles and Appelrouth 2012:69).

As a consequence of the commoditization of material things, the owners of the means of production demand more labor from the worker. In “Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts of 1844,” Marx introduces the idea that the worker became distanced, or alienated, from the work being produced because the products being manufactured meant nothing to them; it is not a craft that holds any meaning. A person is alienated because there is no input in the outcome of the product (Marx in Desfor Edles and Appelrouth 2012:41). In addition, with alienating work, the worker does not create one entire product from beginning to end and rarely has any contact with another worker while on the production line (Marx in Desfor Edles ...

... middle of paper ...

...-operative handling distribution of coffee (Kolk 2013:327-28). Fair trade also allows consumers to consider the type of product being purchased by informing them of the fair and ethical practices behind the coffee beans (Kolk 2013:334). By supporting fair trade coffee the consumer can feel a sense of contribution in supporting the farmers’ livelihood.

Works Cited

Desfor Edles, Laura and Scott Appelrouth. 2010. “Karl Marx (1818-1883).” Pp. 41-46 and 68-73 in Sociological Theory in the Classical Era. Thousand Oaks, CA: Pine Forge Press.

Kolk, Ans. 2013. “Mainstreaming Sustainable Coffee.” Sustainable Development. 21(5):324-337. doi:10.1002/sd.507

Ponte, Stefano. 2002. “The `Latte Revolution'? Regulation, Markets and Consumption In the Global Coffee Chain.” World Development. 30(7):1099-1122.

Starbucks. 2013. http://www.starbucks.com/about-us/our-heritage

Show More
Related

  • The Communist Manifesto, by Karl Marx

    872 Words  | 2 Pages

    Under the oppression of the bourgeoisie, the proletariats, who composed the mass majority, only owned one resource—their labor. However, the bourgeoisie could not continue to exist without the instruments of production. Since the common worker lived only so long as they could find work, and could only work so long as their labor increases capital, they continued to be oppressed by the bourgeoisie, who controlled the capitalist society by exploiting the labor provided by the proletariats. People sell their laboring-power to a buyer, not to satisfy the per...

    Read More

  • Karl Marx's Summary Of Capital, By Karl Marx

    792 Words  | 2 Pages

    In Karl Marx’s Capital he analyses the intricacies of capitalism and its effects on the social relations between people and products. Marx’s chapters “Commodity of Fetishism” and “Working Days” in particular parse through and deconstruct the complex model of a commodity and its crucial role in capitalism. In order to do this, Marx introduces the notion of a use-value as the base foundation of a commodity. Marx then further relates this idea to exchange-value of a commodity. The exchange-value is incredibly important, as it is the driving force behind capitalism. In the first chapter Marx examines how commodities, once in the marketplace seemingly adopt innate value wherein the consumer does not equate the objects value with the human labour expended, but rather that the item

    Read More

  • Why The Ideas Of Karl Marx Were So Radical To Society

    744 Words  | 2 Pages

    Marx had rather extreme views on the extent to which nature in his time had become humanized as a result of human labor. He commented, “Even the objects of the simplest, “sensuous certainty” are only given to him through social development, industry and commercial intercourse. ”[2] "Throughout their labor, humans shape their own material environment, thereby transforming the very nature of human existence in the process. ”[3] One always seemed to know their role in society.

    Read More

  • Theory of Alienation: Marx and Nietzsche

    2372 Words  | 5 Pages

    Marx’s theory of alienation is the process by which social organized productive powers are experienced as external or alien forces that dominate the humans that create them. He believes that production is man’s act on nature and on himself. Man’s relationship with nature is his relationship with his tools, or means of production. Man’s relationship with himself is fundamentally his relationship to others. Since production is a social concept to Marx, man’s relationship with other men is the relations of production. Marx’s theory of alienation specifically identifies the problems that he observed within a capitalist society. He noted that workers lost determination by losing the right to be sovereign over their own lives. In a capitalist society, the workers, or Proletariats, do not have control over their productions, their relationship with other producers, or the value or ownership of their production. Even though he identifies the workers as autonomous and self-realizing, the Bourgeoisie dictates their goals and actions to them. Since the bourgeoisie privately owns the means of production, the workers’ product accumulates surplus only for the interest of profit, or capital. Marx is unhappy with this system because he believes that the means of production should be communally owned and that production should be social. Marx believes that under capitalism, man is alienated in four different ways. First, he says that man, as producers, is alienated from the goods that he produces, or the object. Second, man is alienated from the activity of labor to where...

    Read More

  • Estrangement In Esstranged Labor

    1319 Words  | 3 Pages

    Marx’s idea of the estrangement of man from the product of his labor described the suffering of countless hours or work by the laborer, contributing to the production of a product that he could not afford with the wages he made. He helped to produce a product that only those wealthier than he could afford. As the society around him became more object-oriented, he became increasingly more alienated. In the lager, one factor that distanced the laborer from his product was that he no longer worked for a wage, but for survival. In a description of his fellow worker, Levi wrote, “He seems to think that his present situation is like outside, where it is honest and logical to work, as well as being of advantage, because according to what everyone says, the more one works the more one earns and eats.” Levi pitied his fellow worker for his naivety, as the Lager was not a place of labor for prosperity, but strictly a place of labor by force. One worked in order to live, focusing more on the uncertainty of their next meal, day, or even breath than the product of their l...

    Read More

  • The Communist Manifesto and The Jungle

    1007 Words  | 3 Pages

    Before the industrialization movement began, there was more of a blend between the classes, and now there is a distinct separation between the bourgeoisie and the proletariat. Because of the industrialization of the countries, the replacement of manual labor with the use of machinery and the division of labor, the work of the proletarian has become homogeneous. It does not contain the individuality or charm of the laborer as handmade goods do. The worker instead becomes part of the machine and is reduced to performing menial, repetitive tasks. Thus, the workman's pay rate reflects his work, and is reduced to minimum amount needed to barely sustain them. Therefore, as the skill needed to perform the job reduced, so does the amount of the wages. Also, as industrialization increases, so does drudge and toil. The worker become, in the eyes of the bourgeois in control, a part of the machine and as expendable and as easily replaced as any part of the machine. This is in the forms of prolonged work hours, amount of work done in a certain time, or by the increase of the speed of the machinery, which wears down and drains the workers.

    Read More

  • Analysis of the Main Strengths and Weaknesses of Marx’s Sociological Thought

    1663 Words  | 4 Pages

    To Marx, history d... ... middle of paper ... ... 67 Jon Elster, Making sense of Marx, Cambridge University press 1985 C.Slaughter, Marxism and the class struggle, New Park Publications LTD 1975 Tony Bilton, Kevin Bonnett, Pip Jones etc.. Introductory Sociology 4th edition, Palgrave Macmillan 2002 Gregor McLennan, The Story of Sociology Ken Morrison, Marx Durkheim Weber, Sage publications LTD 1995 Fulcher&Scott, Sociology 2nd edition, Oxford university press 2003 --------------------------------------------------------------------- [1] German Ideology, pp.8-13 [2] Karl Marx: Selected Writings in Sociology and Social Philosophy, p.150, Pelican books 1963 [3] ibid, p107 [4] Karl Marx: Selected Writings in Sociology and Social Philosophy, p.177, Pelican books 1963 [5] Essential writings of Karl Marx; p176; Panther Books Ltd ,1967

    Read More

  • Marxism

    772 Words  | 2 Pages

    Marx, and later Marxists, believed that the labourer is alienated from the product of his labour because of the disproportionate gain that the capitalist gains from the product as compared to the labourer. The labourer has no input over the design of the product, nor do they have any control over how it is produced. Both the manual labourer—say an assembly line worker, and the intellectual labourer—say an engineer, are controlled by the capitalist and are alienated from the end product of their labour. Labour undergoes a commodification at the hands of the capitalist for the maximization of profit. From this aspect of alienation, coupled with the other two, Marxists derive the idea of alienated labour.

    Read More

  • Rousseau's Theory Of Alienation

    1222 Words  | 3 Pages

    Marx’s theory of alienation describes the separation of things that naturally belong together. For Marx, alienation is experienced in four forms. These include alienation from ones self, alienation from the work process, alienation from the product and alienation from other people. Workers are alienated from themselves because they are forced to sell their labor for a wage. Workers are alienated from the process because they don’t own the means of production. Workers are alienated from the product because the product of labor belongs to the capitalists. Workers do not own what they produce. Workers are alienated from other people because in a capitalist economy workers see each other as competition for jobs. Thus for Marx, labor is simply a means to an end.

    Read More

  • Karl Marx on Estranged Labor

    1357 Words  | 3 Pages

    Marx explains the condition. of estranged labour as the result of man participating in an institution alien to his nature. It is my interpretation that man is alienated from his labour because he is not the reaper. of what he sows. Because he is never the recipient of his efforts, the labourer lacks identity with what he creates.

    Read More

  • What Is The Concept Of Commodity Fetishism In 'Wings'?

    2377 Words  | 5 Pages

    A commodity looks simple enough, says the pro-capitalist economist. Most such economists say a commodity is any object with a use value that somebody wants and is willing to pay for, and its monetary value is determined by supply and demand. Nothing drives such a common sense economist more to distraction than reading Karl Marx who says a commodity is “a very queer thing, abounding in metaphysical subtleties and theological niceties.” What did Marx mean? Economics is a science, a mathematical science, what has it got to do with metaphysics and theology?

    Read More

  • Coffee Supply And Demand

    927 Words  | 2 Pages

    Besides the high demand and cost for gasoline these days, coffee is considered the second most traded commodity on worldwide markets next to oil. "Coffee is grown in more than 50 countries in a band around the equator and provides a living for more than 20 million farmers. Altogether, up to 100 million people worldwide are involved in the growing, processing, trading and retailing of the product" (Spilling the Beans…, ). In 2001, coffee farmers and plantations produced over 15 billion pounds of coffee while the world market only bought 13 billion pounds. The overproduction in the coffee industry is not a usual thing and is one of the major reasons why prices vary throughout the industry.

    Read More

  • The Political Philosophy of Karl Marx

    2291 Words  | 5 Pages

    Karl Marx had very strong viewpoints in regards to capitalism, making him a great candidate for this assignment. People constantly debate over whether his ideologies held any grain of truth to them. I believe that although not everything Marx predicted in his writings has come true (yet), he was definitely right on about a lot of issues. As a matter of fact, his teachings can definitely be applied to today’s society. This paper will give a summary of Marx’s political philosophy. It will also discuss a contemporary issue: the current economic crisis— and how Marx believed racism played a crucial a role in it. Finally, through the lens he has developed, I will explain how Marx would analyze this issue and how one can argue that it spurred the current movement known as Occupy Wall Street.

    Read More

  • Marxism Politcial Economy

    2246 Words  | 5 Pages

    Sayer, Derek (1979). Marx's Method Ideology, Science & Critque in Capital. 2nd ed. Brighton: The Harvester Press Limited. 44-45.

    Read More

  • The Sociological Contribution of Karl Marx to an Understanding of Contemporary Society

    909 Words  | 2 Pages

    The Sociological Contribution of Karl Marx to an Understanding of Contemporary Society. This essay will discuss how the Karl Marx contributed his knowledge to the understanding of contemporary society. Karl Marx is often referred to. as the ‘intellectual father of modern day Marxist economics’.

    Read More

More about The Fetishism of Coffee in America

Open Document