The Political Economy of Love in Capitalism
Love requires attention, affection, and reciprocal flow — a natural cycle of giving and receiving. Capitalism can easily commodify the first two, but the third resists the market. That’s precisely why our economic system is so determined to destroy it.
While attention and affection can be bought and sold, the reciprocal flow that constitutes love — the natural rhythm of giving and receiving — can’t be commodified. Capitalists can’t monetize it, but they can undermine our capacity for it. (Bill O’Leary / Washington Post via Getty Images)
Each time I relocate to Germany, I buy a mug. This usually entails a trip to the nearest TK Maxx, where I purchase a €4, extra-large vessel for my herbal tea. The dainty European mugs found in my prefurnished lodgings just can’t hold the quantities I need. My criteria are simple: it must be large and sturdy. I don’t care what it looks like or who manufactured it. In Marxist terms, I’m concerned only with its use value.
If, however, I wished to seem fancy or fashionable, I could purchase a Hermès “H Déco Rouge No. 1” mug for €125. Drinking my ginger brew out of this lovely piece of porcelain might increase my social worth in the eyes of discerning tableware connoisseurs, but its use value remains the same: it holds my tea. Remaining in the vernacular of Marxism, the additional €121 that I could theoretically pay for the Hermès mug represents the difference in their exchange values as commodities.
When Karl Marx discusses the difference between use and exchange values, he refers to material objects that satisfy human wants and needs, only transformed into commodities when traded on a market. In 1857, he used the example of wheat, which
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