In “Capital,” chapter 1, by Karl Marx,  Marx examines commodities, the work put into making them,  their use value, and their value. He first examines commodities and their meanings. He takes a look at nature and how, for example, wood is turned into a table to gain value and while it is still wood,  is only seen as a commodity in table form.  That is what man does to nature to create commodities. They make a use value for things of nature. He then goes on to say that the value of these commodities are not only because of their use value, but the product of labor put into them. He writes “In all states of society, the labor-time that it costs to produce the means of subsistence, must necessarily be an object of interest to mankind, though not of equal interest in different stages of development.”  He explains that the time and labor put into a product increases its perceived quality and value. Also, the type of labor that is put into products increase these areas in the same way. This is detrimental to the worker, Marx says, because their value is then “stamped upon the product of that labor” and are seen as valuable by the products of their labor. Mark’s called this fetishism which is attached to products of labor.  the production of commodities create the value of commodities, and thus workers, in society.

This of course still exists in our society today, but it also has changed a bit too. For example, when we look at things like Etsy or flea markets or any place we where we are going to buy something that is “handmade,” we value it much more than if we were to get the same thing made in a factory. Even if both products look the same, we are drawn to the ones where we know the time and labor that has been put into making it. It’s the same way with art.  Oftentimes when looking at a very expensive piece of art people talk about how it took this person five years to create this, which is why it is so good, same with music. But it is also different in our society today because a lot of high-priced, high valued commodities are mass produced in factories where a small amount of time and work has specifically been put into the product you are getting. For example, the brand new iPhones, Macs, or anything of that nature which are very expensive and very desired are not something where someone has set down and put in a lot of work to create the exact product you’re getting. You are getting something from a factory assembly line. In a way, it goes against Marx’s idea that the more produced something is, the less valuable it is . He has the idea that when everyone wants it or has it and it’s mass-produced it loses value, but in our society it’s the opposite. The more popular and used things such as an iPhone, which most people have, are still very high priced and we value them and look at them as a special commodity. But the workers who make these items are still under the same idea that Marx talks about of alienation of work. Most people still work way more than what they should to survive. They’re alienated from their jobs and from society as well, solely to make money. For the most part, Marx’s idea still exist widely in our society.