ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the different aspects of the exploration in order to expose how Karl Marx analyzed and explained the advent of consumer culture before it was evident. It argues that Marx did not see consumption as a separate phenomenon, but as a moment in the whole cycle of political economy. A modernist economist and philosopher, it can be argued that Marx was the producer of the most insightful analysis of capitalism. Marx theorized that capitalism and capital production and accumulation begin with simple commodity production. In Capital, Marx identified the tendencies in capitalism if and when relations of capital were unchecked and all was left to market forces. Working class people are deprived of their rights and dignity and capitalists are privileged beyond their contribution to humanity. This condition is parallel to and facilitates another significant outcome of the capitalist mode of relations of production, one that is more directly related to consumer culture: commodity fetishism.
