Adorno proposed that modern consumption targets exchange-value itself.

Evidence

Writing to Benjamin about ‘Fetish-Character’, Adorno expresses his particular eagerness to hear the former’s ‘response to the theory that today exchangevalue itself is being consumed. The tension between this theory and your own concerning the buyer’s empathy with the soul of the commodity, could prove to be a very fruitful one’. — Dirk Braunstein, Adorno’s Critique of Political Economy, 447

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the broader Adorno-Benjamin exchange on the culture industry and commodity fetishism; relevant to the reader’s revisionist project of linking Adorno to the critique of political economy. — connects to: Adorno treats exchange as a principle shaping thought and feeling to the innermost being. — Dirk Braunstein, Adorno’s Critique of Political Economy, 930; Exchange itself, not utility or scarcity, creates economic value. — Georg Simmel, on individuality and social forms_…, 261

Broader Connections

• Adorno treats exchange as a principle shaping thought and feeling to the innermost being. #expands (0.85) — Dirk Braunstein, Adorno’s Critique of Political Economy, 930
• Exchange itself, not utility or scarcity, creates economic value. #expands (0.75) — Georg Simmel, on individuality and social forms_…, 261