Postone reads Marx’s core capitalist form as commodification, not labor relations

Evidence

We draw here on a radical reinterpretation of Marx offered by the late Moishe Postone. This reinterpretation reads Marx as proposing that the fundamental social form of capitalism is not labor relations but rather the commodification that underlies, for example, the transformation of everyday work into labor relations. We say “for example” because on this reading of Marx, other transformations through commodification are possible, and not only in the domain of work. Marx himself seemed to envisage just such a broadening of commodification when he wrote that “as capitalist production i.e. capital develops the general laws governing the commodity evolve in proportion.” As already noted, Marx discusses how the materials workers use in the labor process themselves acquire exchange value as commodities, and so, for example, seeds and manure become commodities under capitalism, even though before capitalism they were just part of the normal cycle of land use. — Nick Couldry & Ulises A. Mejias, The Costs of Connection, 145

Categorization

• DEFINE: Names the theoretical ancestry (Postone’s Marx) that lets data colonialism extend commodification beyond work — precise frame needed by the reader.
• XREF: This is the theoretical bridge enabling data-colonialism to claim continuity with Marx rather than a rupture into pure surveillance. — connects to: Marx’s critique of classical economics targets the form, not the content — Fredric Jameson, Marxism and Form, 374; Marx explains capital better than class and class contradiction is not master key

Broader Connections

• Marx’s critique of classical economics targets the form, not the content #expands (0.85) — Fredric Jameson, Marxism and Form, 374
• Marx explains capital better than class and class contradiction is not master key #corroborates (0.75)