Explain Commodity fetishism.

Commodity fetishism, a concept introduced by Karl Marx in his critique of political economy, refers to the phenomenon where social relationships among people are obscured, and commodities appear to have intrinsic value independent of human labor. Marx argued that in capitalist societies, commodities are imbued with a mystical quality, leading people to attribute almost magical powers to them.

The term "fetishism" does not refer to the conventional understanding of fetish but rather to the distortion of social relations. Marx argued that commodities gain a fetish-like status as people fetishize the market value and ignore the social relations of production behind them. In other words, the value of a commodity is often disconnected from the labor that went into producing it and the social relationships embedded in the production process.

Commodity fetishism contributes to the mystification of capitalism, creating a situation where people focus on the materiality of commodities rather than understanding the social and economic relations that underpin their production. Marx used this concept to highlight how capitalism can obscure the exploitative nature of the labor process and alienate individuals from the social context of their economic activities.