Commodity Fetishism

Commodity Fetishism Free Online Research Papers In 1867 Karl Marx published perhaps one of his most important works on political economy and capitalism titled â€Å"Capital†. In this work Marx chooses to introduce the fetishism of commodities in the first chapter. Based on this placement it is easy to see that he considered it an important part of his theoretical framework. By adding â€Å"and the Secret Thereof† to â€Å"The Fetishism of Commodities† Marx (in Appelrouth and Edles 2008:62) hints at the mystical nature of commodities and the unseen power they have over us. In reviewing Marx’s writing three key concepts emerge, each connected to the others. These three key concepts are the theory of value, the theory of commodity fetishism, and the concept of alienation. The first part of this essay will examine the theory of commodity fetishism. Marx defines a commodity as â€Å"†¦an object outside us, a thing that by its properties satisfies human wants of some sort or another,† (Marx in Appelrouth and Edles 2008:59). He goes on to broaden the definition by excluding considerations of the nature of such wants by stating, â€Å"The nature of such wants†¦ makes no difference,† and further â€Å"Neither are we here concerned to know how the object satisfies these wants,† (Ibid.). Marx later qualifies this statement by stating that â€Å"A thing can be useful, and the product of human labour, without being a commodity,† (Ibid.:61). Rather than being contradictory Marx means by this passage to indicate that an object must be useful to others rather than simply to yourself. The usefulness of an object creates a â€Å"use-value† but depends on the unique situation of each individual and is therefore incapable of being compared directly. Being of use to others is one way to create a type of value known as â€Å"exchange-value†. Use-value and exchange-value are the two factors of a commodity that Marx assigns. In assigning use-value and exchange value and examining the interplay between the two Marx develops his theory of commodity fetishism. To understand the term â€Å"commodity fetishism† you must look past the current usage of the term â€Å"fetish†. Fetish now commonly refers to an obsession or disproportionate pleasure, often in a sexual context. While that definition may apply somewhat to Marx’s theory it is more instructive to consider it in historical context. In Marx’s time â€Å"fetish† usually referred to religion. It is clear to me that Marx specifically intended the term â€Å"fetishism† as a critique of capitalist beliefs. This is exemplified by the passage: â€Å"There is a physical relation between physical things. But it is different with commodities. †¦ In order, therefore, to find an analogy, we must have recourse to the mist-enveloped regions of the religious world,† (Ibid.:63) Through this passage we may beg in to grasp the nut of Marx’s commodity fetishism concept. The main thrust of the commodity fetishism concept is that the exchange-value (what makes something a commodity) doesn’t relate in proportion to the use-value. The use-value is inherent in the object, while the exchange-value is entirely a product of society and most particularly of capitalist society. The difference between natural and inherent properties vs. societal properties and the role, or lack thereof, of nature in exchange-value is shown succiently when Marx points out that â€Å"Since exchange value is a definite social manner of expressing the amount of labour bestowed upon an object, Nature has no more to do with it, than it has in fixing the course of exchange,† (Ibid.:65). It is the nature of and disconnect between the different types of value assigned to objects that create commodity fetishism. Marx points to the source of this being capitalism and the related social constructs that underlie the obfuscation of (wo)man’s direct relation to fellow (wo)man. Marx most clearly points this out near the end of his section on commodity fetishism when he writes, â€Å"What confirms them in this view, is the peculiar circumstance that the use value of objects is realized without exchange, by means of a direct relation between the objects and man, while, on the other hand, their value is realized only by exchange, that is, by means of a social process,† (Ibid.:65-66). In examining the prevalence of the fetishism of commodities in capitalistic societies it is easy to see that commodity fetishism is an inescapable product of the production of commodities, which is the main goal of capitalistic societies. Current trends in the post-industrial era serve to create increasing commodity fetishism as people become more and more disconnected from the relationship of their labor to the labor of others. Consolidation of mass media and the increasing number of ways that advertising is thrust into our lives further enhance the illusion of exchange-value being innate in a product. It becomes increasingly hard to see how the (use) value of products could be the same as a more heavily marketed product with a higher exchange value. Examples of commodity fetishism abound in everyday life. I consider myself to be a very utilitarian and frugal person, therefore drawn strongly towards a use-value oriented manner of consumption, yet I can still find examples in my life of commodity fetishism. One example would be watching new movies. New movies obviously have no greater use-value to me than older movies that I haven’t yet seen, but the hype, advertising, and inflated exchange-value often cause me to choose to see a new release even though they are mostly lower quality than those that have stood the test of time. Another example, also in the field of entertainment, would be computer games. New games at the height of their exchange-value, often with expensive hardware requirements, are no better than slightly older games at a fraction of the cost. While introspection can sometimes be tough, it’s easy to see wanton consumer fetishism in others. Some people I know would never even consider buying a generic cereal, even after being shown that it’s the same cereal produced in the same mill. Another example is the consumption of beer in America. The vast majority of beer produced and consumed in America is heavily advertised, but of poor quality. Yet people see nothing inherently queer about pounding down large quantities of tasteless, watered-down swill. Earlier I mentioned alienation as another key point in Marxist theory. One effect of consumer fetishism is to increasingly cause relations amongst people to take the form of relationships between objects. Thus a person’s relationship to the product of their labor is transformed to the relationship of the product of their labor to other commodities, thereby isolating them from their creative value as a human being. This is a component of alienation, which is the topic of the next section. Bibliography Appelrouth, Scott and Laura Desfor Edles. 2008. Classical and Contemporary Sociological Theory. Los Angeles, CA: Pine Forge Press Marshall, Gordon. 1998. A Dictionary of Sociology. Oxford University Press Research Papers on Commodity FetishismDefinition of Export QuotasOpen Architechture a white paperEffects of Television Violence on ChildrenResearch Process Part OneThree Concepts of PsychodynamicCapital PunishmentMind TravelComparison: Letter from Birmingham and CritoBionic Assembly System: A New Concept of SelfCanaanite Influence on the Early Israelite Religion

Discussion Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Discussion - Assignment Example The benefits of maximizing health and safety for the workforce as well as the organization include improved productivity of workers, improved psychological and emotional well-being of workers, and their increased motivation. The beneficial effects of maximizing the health and safety of the workforce become evident in terms of achievement of organizational goals, expansion and growth of business, and increased profitability for all. Organizations can promote the health, fitness, and psychological adaptation of their employees in a variety of ways. For example, the organization should disallow smoking in the office. This would not only keep other employees safe, but would also discourage the smokers from smoking which might drive them out of this habit. The organizations should provide the workforce with only healthy meals as snacks and for lunch. Workers would only drink soft-drinks if they would be available at the cafeteria. Organizations can substantially control their workers’ eating and drinking habits by carefully deciding the menu. The psychological adaptation of workers can be increased with thoughtful design of jobs, leadership approaches, organizational culture, and organizational policies. Generally, organizations should try to develop and foster a culture wherein employees think of the organization as their second home, and where they live and work together like a family, where seniors should be respected and juniors should be loved, and where leaders work in close collaboration with the followers rather than maintaining distance from them. Major sources of stress for me at work include but are not limited to overburden of work, lack of sufficient resources, unrealistic expectations of the boss, lack of a cooperative team, and racism and bullying. I have observed that many people feel stressed on jobs because of these or

E-Marketing Review for Easy Jet Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4000 words

E-Marketing Review for Easy Jet - Case Study Example Up to date, the family remains a major shareholder in the airline which is now referred as easyJet PLC. The founder also owns a group of other companies which own the brand name easy although there is not cross-shareholding between the easyJet and other easyGroup which is the licensee company. Although the group operates separately, there are some cross marketing agreement that are shared between the airline and the other groups. The airline operates from Hangar 89 at Luton Airport. But contrary to other airline which have their headquarter reflecting their status in the market easy Jet has a simple headquarter which is a bright orange building which represent it low-cost ethos. Since April 1998, the company became some of the airlines which embrace the use of internet in selling it seats. Currently it is estimated that 95% of all the seats in the company are sold over the internet which has made one of the leading internet retailer in the European market. Marketing can be defined as a management process that is responsible for identify and satisfying what the customer requires which is done for a profit. There have been many ways in which marketing has been carried out but the news strategies have been through the use of e-tools like the internet. It has been used to do research on to know what exactly does customer needs. It has as also been able to anticipate the demands for digital service and therefore have a good resource allocation. E-tools have helped to satisfy customer demands as they find a range of products at on location. The use of information and communication technology to achieve the above objective of market is referred to as e-marketing or digital marketing. Background EasyJet was has been one of the most successful airline in the world. The company was founded by Stelio Haje-Ionnou who was a son of a Greek shipping tycoon. This company was set up in 1994. it as set up as a low cost airline which was looking to undercut other traditional carriers like British Airways in order to have a lean operation. In order to come up with such an operation, the founder had decided on single sales channel to survive in the market and therefore he settled on the phone as the most appropriate. This was considered a ground breaking but the founder insisted on having direct selling methods to the consumers. Although he had refuted the user of the internet at that time he kept a close eye when the trials for the sites were going on. What ensued was as stead rise in calls that were being made per week and quickly the company grew oft of space to handle the customers. Therefore the owner decided it was either the company decides to sell over the internet or build a new call centre. This turned to be a success story of e-marketing of the company. (Miles 2006, P. 2) Company Overview It has been recorded that easyJet is one of the most refuted British tour operators which has been successful in cutting a niche on the market. It has been able to cut competitive price edge which has been attributed to strict management of the cost by bypassing intermediary agencies that increased the cost of management. The company has also been able to successfully use non-saturated airports which have been on of its cost cutting measure that it has taken. The company has successfully offered freights to Great Britain,

Choicepoint and Sony, an Ethical Analysis Essay Example for Free

Choicepoint and Sony, an Ethical Analysis Essay Ethics refers to what comes off as right or wrong to an individual’s conscience .The internet age has brought about new ethical issues, not only for an individual but for the society as well as it has eased anonymous manipulation and distribution of information, creating new and easier paths for committing crimes like piracy, identity theft, infringement of an individual’s privacy etc. In this paper we will be analyzing the Choice-point case and the ‘Sony data breach ‘case from an ethical point of view. (Laudon Laudon, 2010, p.128) Background: The ChoicePoint Data breach: On September 27 of 2004, ChoicePoint,a company that aggregates and stores personal information, suspected that some of its small business customers were involved in suspicious activities and informed the police. (Paine, Phillips, 2008)On February of 2005, ChoicePoint only notified those residents of California whose data had been leaked to the illegal customers, since a certain law in California requires it. A protest from the public, however, forced the company to notify the details of the breach to the other involved parties residing in the other states. The swindlers who scammed ChoicePoint had created over 50 accounts with previously stolen identities over the course of a year or even longer. (Pantesco, 2006) Look more:  the issues concerning identity theft essay Changes in business practices (Otto, Anton Baumer, 2007): ChoicePoint made numerous changes after the 2004-2005 data breach. The company closed the 50 fake accounts and made a policy to refuse any faxed business licenses in the future .The Company formed a new policy, that all nongovernmental organizations need to be re-credentialed in order to do business with it, and increased its procedures in verifying the identity of the company. More stringent and better business policies in ensuring the safety of their customer’s data, for e.g. partial masking of social security numbers were employed. The company continued its investigations of its databases for further indications of foul play and brought in outsiders to assess and rectify their practices. The Sony Data Breach: The Sony data breach was a result of an intrusion from an outsider party, causing an outage in the PlayStation Network and Qriocity’s services between 17th April 2011 and 19th April, 2011.A confirmation from Sony revealed that pieces of personal information had been stolen from each and every 77 million accounts. This breach resulted in Sony shutting off the PlayStation Network for 23 days. (Hirai, 2011) Sony stated that the chairman of the company had submitted explanations wanted by United States House subcommittee regarding the attack and that they were taking some measures to prevent further breaches. When questioned about the delay in making the breach public, Sony explained that they’d sought help from outside officials to conduct an investigation in order to comprehend the nature and magnitude of the incident; and hence forensic analysis and investigation had caused the delay since they wanted to have all the necessary details before making the breach public. On May 14, 2011, Sony released a security patch called PlayStation 3 firmware version 3.61 requiring users to change their password upon signing into their account in the PlayStation Network. (Seybold, 2011) Compensation: In compensation for this outage, Sony announced hosting of special events for their users. Sony wanted to appreciate the loyalty of the customers who stuck to using Play Station network and didn’t look for other alternatives. Hence Sony announced an extension of free 30 days of its various services for its existing users. Also, few of their games in the PlayStation network were made free, though these games are available only in some regions or countries. In addition to that Sony also offered one year’s worth of â€Å"free identity theft protection’ to all of its customers. (Wesley, 2011) Ethical Analysis According to Culnan and Williams (2009, p.679),the two aspects of morality that are principal to the relationship between information aggregators and information providers are vulnerability and avoiding harm. Aspect of Vulnerability Analysis: Since the customer gives away his data in exchange for something in return, he loses control on how that information would be used in the future.(Culnan Williams, 2009, p. 681) The firm that is aggregating the data has the duty to exercise caution in protecting the consumer’s vulnerability, not only for the sake of the customer but also to build its own reputation. However, in the cases of both ChoicePoint and Sony breach, the consumers were vulnerable. Individuals whose data ChoicePoint and Sony stored lacked knowledge about the risks posed by Choice Point’s credentialing procedures or the way personal information was stored by Sony. Aspect of â€Å"Do No Harm† Analysis: Most ethicists are of the opinion that data aggregators have the minimum duty of doing no harm whenever there is an issue concerning information privacy rights (DeGeorge 2006; Goodpaster 1987; Marcoux 2003; Valesquez 2003 as cited in Culnan Williams, 2009), even more so when their treatment of the consumer’s sensitive personal information makes the consumers unnecessarily vulnerable. (Culnan Williams, 2009, p. 682) In both the cases of ChoicePoint and Sony Data breach however, the ‘DO NO Harm’ principle was violated and moral responsibility was clearly absent in the behavior of the officials of these firms. (Culnan Williams, 2009, p. 682)ChoicePoint’s questionable intentions in delaying the notification of the breach to the public and the fact that ChoicePoint only bothered to search records that were leaked within 15 months to the date of the search ,until pressurized, were criticized heavily.( Evers, 2005)Further investigations revealed that ChoicePoint had been subjected to a similar scam in 2002.( Paine, Phillips, 2008) The fact that ChoicePoint could be duped so easily within two years proved that ChoicePoint hadn’t done anything to improve its practices since the last breach. Similarly, Sony also had a delay in notifying the users of PlayStation network about the breach. The public disputed Sony’s reason for its delay by speculating that, if Sony judged the situation to be so grave that it felt the need to shut down its PlayStation network, then they should have warned the public without any delay as well. Moreover, Sony failed to give any concrete reports regarding the breach and merely stated that they cannot rule out the possibility of a ‘username or password ‘leak. One more thing to be noted is that the fiends could have possibly gotten information like email addresses and first names of the customers who had consented to receiving information about new deals or products from Sony or its partners.Now, there is a pretty good chance that the fiends might send emails in the format of a Sony webpage template and extract valuable information from those customers. Hence this breach indirectly paved the way for more unintentional breaches in the future. (Eddy, 2011) According to, (Laudon Laudon, 2010,p.135),the basic Concepts of ethics are as follows: Responsibility: where the individual or the organization should accept the duties, costs and obligations for the decisions that it made. Accountability: where the organization should be aware of what decision is taken by whom. If it is impossible to find out who was responsible for what action then that organization is basically incapable of ethical analysis. Liability: this basically extends the concept of responsibility to legal actions where the affected individuals should be able to get compensation for their damages. Analysis : In my opinion, both ChoicePoint and Sony showed half-hearted ethics on these incidents as a whole. While Choicepoint did inform officials about the breach as soon as it found out, yet it only felt necessary to inform the public because of the California law. The people in the other states were notified because of public outcry. Also limiting the search results for leaked records to only 15 months prior to the date of the search just because it was necessary by the law was another mistake on ChoicePoint’s part. Thus ChoicePoint violated the ethical concepts of responsibility and accountability yet they seemed to have understood their mistake when they were making changes in their policies and practices after the 2004-2005 breach, and were willing to take corrective actions. But it is debatable whether ChoicePoint’s corrective measures were taken to save its own business or whether it genuinely cared for the affected individuals. Similarly, though Sony did do necessary investigations, it failed to concretely identify which parties had been affected or what kind of information have been stolen. Similar to ChoicePoint, there was a delay in notifying the public regarding the breach. Hence, there is a dearth of responsibility and accountability from Sony’s side as well .The compensations given can similarly be argued to be a ploy for keeping itself in the market. While, ChoicePoint and Sony offered free credit monitoring and free identity theft protection respectively for one year, they disregarded the possibility that the thieves might lie low and take advantage of the stolen information after the passage of a year. Hence these companies showed half-heartedness in being ethically liable as well.

Physics of Soccer :: physics sport sports soccer football

What makes the ball curve: Soccer players can make the ball curve by applying a Force, kicking, to the ball that is not in the center of the ball itself. When the ball is struck on the side by a player the ball spins while it is moving forward. In the case of the picture below, the soccer ball was struck on the right side of the ball and is spinning counter-clockwise. What causes the ball to actually curve in the air is a difference in the pressures on either side of the soccer ball. On the left side of this soccer ball, the air is moving faster, than the right side, relative to the center of the ball. This causes a lower pressure to develop on the left side of the ball, while on the right side there is a higher pressure because the air flow is moving slower relative to the center of the ball. This difference in air pressure causes the ball to curve to the left during its flight path. This curve is known as the Magnus Effect after the physicist Gustav Magnus. The shape of the soccer ball is†¦round! But in mathematical terms, the soccer ball is usually in the shape of an Archimedean Solid. This solid has 32 faces, 12 are pentagons and 20 are hexagons. On the Apollo 17 mission astronauts played soccer with a 200 pound moon rock. Just imagine playing any sport with something that heavy†¦ouch! There are many different soccer balls in use today. Each company claims that theirs is the best one out there but in all reality soccer players only like to play with soccer balls that they are used to. In fact, the ball used for the World Cup in 2002 was supposed to be the best one ever made by Adidas but many of the players in the World Cup hated it because it was new and they weren’t used to it. When asked the question: â€Å"If you dropped a soccer ball from a height of 3 meters and assumed that the ball bounced back up to half its previous height, how long would it take the ball to come to rest?† most people would answer never because it would be continuing to bounce forever, we just wouldn’t be able to tell. However, this statement is wrong.

Blue Ridge Case †Activity Based Costing (ABC) Essay

1) Profitability Analysis: Blue Ridge Large Medium Small Total Sales $308,762.00 $183,744.00 $318,024.00 $810,530.00 Manufacturing Costs $112,552.70 $72,164.09 $162,864.09 $347,580.88 Sales and Administration Costs $78,303.47 $50,790.54 $156,805.99 $285,900.00 Total Costs $190,856.16 $122,954.63 $319,670.08 $633,480.88 Cost as % Sales 61.81% 66.92% 100.52% 78.16% Profit $117,905.84 $60,789.37 ($1,646.08) $177,049.12 Profit Margin 38.19% 33.08% -0.52% 21.84% Note: For detailed calculations please reference attached document. 2) Define action steps for Blue Ridge based on the analysis: The above customer profitability analysis indicates that the small customers have a negative profit margin. As this specific customer base accounts for 40% of Blue Ridges total sales volume we recommend the following action steps be taken in order to increase their profitability: * Develop an on line/electronic ordering system for customers in order to eliminate the high costs associated with entering purchase orders by Blue Ridge employees. Currently this represents 14.56% of total costs with 12.23% of total costs allocated to small customers. * Develop an electronic payment system for small customers, where payments are wired directly into Blue Ridges bank account before the order is processed and shipped. Currently credit checks for small customers represent  1% of total costs. * Study the effects on price increases for small customers. Currently, shipping costs for small customers represent 4.14% of the total costs, increasing the price for small customers could help offset the shipping costs. * Conduct a study on small customer orders to help determine if a minimum order requirement can help eliminate the costs associated with shipping without sacrificing the high volume. * Invest in new inking technology in order to help justify increases in prices. The investment should eliminate their customer complaints and increase their demand. * Determine the costs associated with investing in a higher quality towel and align with an appropriate sales strategy. * Determine if advertising costs are being properly allocated. * Study the effects of implementing an incentive program for the independent manufactures who achieve a certain sales volume. 3) Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of this customer profitability system. Did Blue Ridge define the right activities? Advantages: * The system provides managers with an insight into why differences exist in the operating incomes earned from different customers. * The system enables managers to determine profitability levels (profit contributions) of specific customer groups and highlights the costs assignable to each customer. * The system allocates costs of activities that support individual customer groups to aid in determining cost reduction strategies. * The System focuses on profit rather than turnover. * The system allocates the relevant costs associated with each customer. Disadvantages: * The system may prompt managers to make quick decision such as firing customers, instead of implementing cost cutting initiatives. * The system focuses heavily on the different types of customers rather than on the different products. * The system does not provide detailed information on the order size and frequency for each individual company within their customer group. * The system does not focus on customer behavior such as loyalty and future growth patterns. * The system does not enable managers to determine if price discounting will encourage increased purchases while minimizing profit erosion. In conclusion Blue Ridge defined the right activities; however they might want to consider conducting a product profitability analysis. This will enable them to manage the product mix more efficiently and identify future cost cutting in initiatives. In addition, we fell this would be another valuable exercise in determining weather or not going national would be profitable for Blue Ridge.

Corporate Social Responsibility And Its Legal Requirements

Introduction In today s economic and social environment, issues related to social responsibility and sustainability are gaining more and more importance, especially in the business sector (Webfinance. 2014). Business goals are inseparable from the societies and environments within which they operate. Whilst short-term economic gain can be pursued (Catalyst Consortium. 2002), the failure to account for longer-term social and environmental impacts makes those business practices unsustainable. In our current society, the Global Compact asks companies to embrace, support and enact, within their sphere of influence, a set of core values in the areas of human rights, labor standards, the environment and anti-corruption (Corporate Watch. 1996 –†¦show more content†¦2014).An example of CSR being implemented would be that business would contribute the community by giving away charity such as money or clothes. Another example would be of having an environmental clean-up in the area of the b usiness located. Business sustainability depends on organizations taking into account the social and environmental consequences of their actions and decisions whether it is today or in the future There is increasing pressure on organizations to make a POSITIVE contribution to society or reduce their NEGATIVE impact on society. Even around the world the governments are also moving towards the enforcement of certain parts of CSR. The most focused part of CSR is regards to the protection of the environment. Many businesses in the past have primarily concerned with increasing shareholders’ value. Shareholders are people who own a part of the business and share in its profits (G. Katherina. 2010). In big corporations, this could potentially include thousands of people who receive dividends and who hold shares in the business (Smallbizconnect. 2014). Legal requirements There are laws in CSR that give basic human rights to become recognised. Being a good CSR company includes respecting the human rights of those who come into contact with the corporation in any way. This might be in a direct contact (for example, employees or customers), or indirect contact (for example, workers of suppliers, or