1. Does "Marx maintained that the commodity hid the reality of human labour, acting as a fantasmatic object to which an unquantifiable value was attributed" mean "Marx believed that objects are not known for the human labour consumed in their production, but are simply known as dreamy objects that enjoy magical powers"? The original sentence uses past verbs. Is Marx talking about the value of commodities in his era or in the era of Portuguese colonialism over the Guinea coast?
2. Does "which is merely a representative of phallic power, a symbol of value in a patriarchal culture" refer to "penis" or "phallus"? I think "penis". Am I right?
Text:
Feitico was the term given by Portuguese colonialists to the talismanic objects, for example amulets, used by peoples of the Guinea coast. It was believed that these fetish objects derived power from a deity, thereby possessing a magical quality that exceeded the objects’ materiality. In commodity fetishism, Marx maintained that the commodity hid the reality of human labour, acting as a fantasmatic object to which an unquantifiable value was attributed. In tandem with these types of fetishism, sexual fetishism also involves the over-estimation of an object and a magical belief in its power. In psychoanalytic theory, the one object capable of generating such delusional awe is the phallus, not to be equated with the penis, which is merely a representative of phallic power,
a symbol of value in a patriarchal culture.
catttt Does "Marx maintained that the commodity hid the reality of human labour, acting as a fantasmatic object to which an unquantifiable value was attributed" mean "Marx believed that objects are not known for the human labour consumed in their production, but are simply known as dreamy objects that enjoy magical powers"? Something like that, I think. catttt The original sentence uses past verbs.
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cattttDoes "Marx maintained that the commodity hid the reality of human labour, acting as a fantasmatic object to which an unquantifiable value was attributed" mean "Marx believed that objects are not known for the human labour consumed in their production, but are simply known as dreamy objects that enjoy magical powers"?
Something like that, I think.