Repairing Our Way out of Commodity Fetishism

An : [[article]]

Found at : https://wether.smol.pub/repairing-our-way-out-of-commodity-fetishism

Hat tip : [[Panda]]

[[Repair]]. [[Marxism]]. [[Commodity fetishism]].

the desire for new things is essential to the continuation of the capitalist system

[[The desire for new things is essential to the continuation of the capitalist system]].

[[Commodity fetishism disconnects us from where objects come from]].

[[Repair reconnects us to the materiality of objects]].

[[When we repair something, we think about its history and provenance]].

There are all kinds of immediately obvious reasons to repair instead of replace. It saves money, it minimises waste, and it can be very satisfying. But on a far deeper level it also undercuts one of the core myths of the capitalist system.

[[Repair undercuts commodity fetishism]].

[[Repair is anti-capitalist praxis]].

[[compost.party]] is a nice example of re-embedding the internet in tangible places and forms.

The decision to repair instead of replace is to forgo commodity value and to embrace non-capitalist, sentimental and/or practical values