Commodities have become sites of self-recognition that bind individuals to society.

Evidence

The people recognize themselves in their commodities; they find their soul in their automobile, hi-fi set, split-level home, kitchen equipment. The very mechanism which ties the individual to his society has changed, and social control is anchored in the new needs which it has produced. — Herbert Marcuse, One-Dimensional Man, 124

Categorization

• XREF: Identity-through-consumption anticipates brand-persona and social-media identity work; also resonates with the ‘soul in the automobile’ theme of car-hood identity culture in the trees-as-infrastructure piece’s consumer angle. — connects to: Commodity form has totally colonized social perception — Guy Debord, The Society of the Spectacle, 55; Commodity fetishism presents social labour relations as properties of things — Dirk Braunstein, Adorno’s Critique of Political Economy, 410; Empathy with commodities is really empathy with exchange-value itself. — Dirk Braunstein, Adorno’s Critique of Political Economy, 448

Broader Connections

• Commodity fetishism presents social labour relations as properties of things #expands (0.80) — Dirk Braunstein, Adorno’s Critique of Political Economy, 410
• Empathy with commodities is really empathy with exchange-value itself. #complicates (0.75) — Dirk Braunstein, Adorno’s Critique of Political Economy, 448
• Commodity form has totally colonized social perception #complicates (0.72) — Guy Debord, The Society of the Spectacle, 55