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I chose this photo because it is an excellent way to illustrate cooperation versus completion at Texas A&M. We are a school, obviously, known for its exceptional school spirit and the immense volume in our stadium, thanks to this united idea of 'the 12th man.' But within all of this, we all also compete every moment. The players compete for time on the field, and the fans compete in a ticket pull system for the 'best' seats.

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This photo I took at the football game shows commodity fetishism because when the people sitting in the stands think of college football, they think of the thrill and entertainment that comes with it. This includes food, drinks, cheers, songs, and an entire half time performance to keep us entertained and engaged. This often leads to the human labor like coaching, concessions, cleaning, the band and so many other little factors that people work hard on to give the crowd an entertaining game

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Commodity Fetishism is seen in how there is a social relation of commodities beyond their use value. The pack of Doritos and the Capri Sun are not merely juice and corn chips but are objects of social significance. They have ascribed symbols like water splashes and fire which bring out religious connotations. The symbols on the packaging bring out the memories of advertising which are portrayed on television. The food isn't merely treated as a means of physical sustenance but as a experience which can be had.

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This photo of my roommate taking notes in math class. It shows Marx’s idea of alienation. The act of writing notes can feel repetitive, where students are just copying information instead of fully connecting with the material. It reflects how people can become separated from the meaning of their work, focusing more on the task than the learning itself.

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historical materialism explains relation of production, and how workers and institutions can relate to one another in that process. In a society for computational biology, the students produce data analysis and from a society like this also create a relation to other students (workers). The existence of this society creates a collaborative culture for students the students pursuing this.

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Class structure is defined as the structure of people groups dependent on weath, success, and job. Class struggle is the inability to move up and out of your specific group.

Football game seating can relate to this struggle. For example, there are all different types of seating, vip box seating, student section, nose bleeds, standing room only. Even people who didn’t get a ticket who chose to watch outside the stadium. As a student at A&M it is almost impossible to get access to vip box ticket unless I know someone important, or am someone important. The closer to the field the more expensive the ticket, which the further, harder to see seats are cheaper. The people willing to spend the money sit closer and the people who either don’t want to or simply can’t afford it will sit further away. Resembling class structure and struggle.

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At first glance, the stadium show appears to be nothing more than entertainment and mass fervor, with fans cheering, donning team jerseys, and waving towels as if the game were merely for their amusement. But all this vision suppresses the humongous network of labor and capital that makes the event possible: the years of training on the part of athletes, trainers' labor and stadium staff, ticketing and security systems, corporate sponsorships, advertising, merchandise sales, and even public or student monies subsidizing it. The social and economic relations underlying the game are therefore rendered invisible, and the event is fetishized — perceived as an autonomous object of enjoyment, rather than the culmination of a complex system of labor and exchange.

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Alienation means that under capitalism works become alienated, or separated from their product, people, and their own potential to have individual thoughts. The bus depicts this because the bus driver is only thought of by students as someone who drives the bus rather than who they are as a person and their interests. They are separated from their product, because what they "make," driving the bus, is not something tangible. Finally they are separated from people because during their shift most people just enter and exit the bus, never interacting with the driver. This is almost as if they are not even there.

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I chose this because, naturally, we are cooperative, which can be seen from the stands. Everyone is working together to support the 12th man and allow for a strong community while the team is working as one whole to make the plays right. However, we are competing over the best seats due to wanting the best view while the team is competing for the win. This shows that even while we are working together there is still someone that we are going against to ensure our cooperation.

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The MSC is more than just bricks and glass. It represents the hours of work put in by construction crews, architects, custodians, and staff. Marx would claim its value doesn’t come from the materials or location, but from the human labor that went into building and maintaining it.

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Commodity Fetishism states that the labor behind the commodity has been obscured by the entertainment and symbolic meaning of the outcome of the labor. In this case, its football. Football at Kyle Field is a majorly important event as thousands if not hundreds of thousands gather wearing their symbolic shirts or jerseys to represent their favorite college football team. Material wear is not the only thing that represents fetishism. There is also the stadium and the football players. Countless hours were put into building the stadium in which people take for granted and use for their own entertainment purposes. As for football players, they continuously work day after day to ensure they are able to play at their best ability regardless of the risk of injury just for our entertainment.

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The Quiet Floor Evans Library can be used as a parallel to the categorization of different workers in big corporations. The library is a big place that if not separated and organized: floors, types of desks, genre book sections - it would not work as productively as it does. When we look as big corporations/franchises and how they get broken into from one big entity into smaller, more efficient ones (a corporate ladder) we look at the embodiment of alienated labor and the estrangement of workers from their own labor under capitalism.

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Aggie Park falls under commodity fetishism, because it is something that we enjoy due to the labor of others. We might not see it, but someone tends to the trees. someone picks up trash, someone takes care of the lawns and makes the park look great. While someone does all of this work, we get to enjoy it without having to worry about the upkeep, or the amount of work it takes to care for Aggie Park. We get to use Aggie Park for tailgates before games, events for our organizations, walking, studying, or simply admiring the way it looks.

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This picture can symbolize Marx's concept of Alienation. He describes this concept of the segregation between the workers from their labor, the product the workers create, and their co workers. This picture can symbolize the detachment between the workers and their labor. This picture is very isolating so I believe its a good representation of alienation.

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This picture was taken at the A&M Football game to depict Marx's commodity fetishism. The significance of this does not rely on the people who run the entire thing. Instead it is significant in the way that people love the idea of college football and will buy into that so much without thinking about the other people who are the ones who essentially make that football game happen. This is how commodity fetishism was shown.

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Karl Marx's idea of commodity fetishism was that consumers tend to fetishize the goods and the exchange value over the production and labor behind those goods. Here we have a picture of kyle field filled with fans in the stands to watch the A&M football game, but some people obsess over the players and the team. This can be an example of commodity fetishism because while the game is bought out by students and fans, people begin to try to control and obsess over the players and coaches, disregarding their humanity and identity outside of being a coach and football player.

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Commodity Fetishism

This vending machine is a clear example of Marx’s idea of commodity fetishism. When we look at the drinks inside, we mostly notice the bright logos and packaging — Pepsi, Gatorade, Aquafina — and think of them as cool, ready-to-grab products. What we don’t see are the people who picked the ingredients, worked in the factories, or delivered the bottles. All that labor is hidden, and the products look like they exist on their own. Marx’s point was that commodities start to feel like they have value and power by themselves, even though they only exist because of human work. This machine on campus makes that really obvious: we’re drawn to the brand, not the workers behind it.

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The concept that I chose from Marx‘s theory is commodity. Commodity is a product of human labor offered for general sale on the market. This definition fits my example of textbooks because textbooks are made from labor and sold to the market which in this case is students.

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A representation of how the labor force (workers) is utilized to keep things moving, while the institution profits from it. Education nowadays seems more like a business than a right, making more money for those who own it.

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This picture depicts the Commodity Fetishism expressed throughout Karl Marx’s readings. While we can visualize numerous amounts of fans finding entertainment and commodity at the game. This depicts the capitalism and how the players are used for entertainment, disregarding the fact that they can be harmed during the game. The Commodity Fetishism can be visualized through the economic advantage the school and the stadium profit through this entertainment, from their workers (players), and their fans paying money.

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Commodity - Product of human labor offered for general sale on the market. Commodity fetishism is where the market masks the human and social relationships embedded in a product. By purchasing this drink, one often ignores the labor and exploitation that went into making it. Instead many people focus on its price and taste.

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According to Marx, capitalism is a complex yet necessary system in society. This fridge of energy drinks is the perfect example of capitalism. Energy drink companies sell their commodities and exploit their workers by selling the drinks for more than it cost to produce them in order to maximize profits. Many college students regularly buy energy drinks, so the few companies financially benefit at the expense of many college students.

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The picture was taken over the weekend at the football game and depicts what Marx would call Commodity Fetishism. Football games are a huge source of entertainment, especially in Aggieland, and require a huge production. We as consumers only see the game for what it is, a football game, and we don't see the labor that was put in by the workers of Kyle Field to put on the game. That detaches us from the labor itself. Furthermore, we don't see the players as laborers, we see them as pure entertainment. This ignores the hard work and dedication they display in order to give us a good game.

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Alienation is defined as the "estrangement of individuals from what makes them human." This image of the Aggie Band represents alienation. Members in the band follow strict scripts: they do not get to choose their outfits, their music, or their marching patterns. This limits freedom of expression, resulting in a lack of individuality. The final product of the band's performance does not belong to them (the producers), but instead, to the ticket holders (the consumers).

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This image of of the Aggieland water tower shows Marx theory of commodity fetishism. Commodity fetishism is the theory that an object's worth comes from the object itself, rather than from the people who made it. In this photo we see the Aggieland water tower, but digging deeper into this photo we unfold so much more. We seek the campus that the tower is visible from and the countless students, facility, and staff as a whole that make Aggieland AGGIELAND! We often times overlook the lifestyle and work that is put into this commodity allowing us to overlook the unequal labor behind what makes the term Aggieland have such power.

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This image I took of Aggie Park clearly encapsulates Marx's idea that culture is shaped by economics and labor. What Marx would see in this image is the Aggie Spirit as a whole, but with the division of alumni donations, student athletes, and groundskeepers all working together to maintain and shape the Aggie Park experience.

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TAMU Aggie Express stores have recently added Buc-ees to on campus stores. Buc-ees is an example of a larger capitialist company that creates millions in revenue across it's locations. By adding this chain to on campus stores, even more capital will be brought in due to expanding to student's every day lives.

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Karl Marx described commodity fetishism as the process by which social relations of labor become hidden behind the products people consume. This photograph of Kyle Field during the TAMU v Auburn game represents this concept. Fans see jerseys, tickets, and food as symbols of Aggie pride and fun. What they don't see is the labor behind it. The workers who built the stadium, made the shirts, or cooked the food are all hidden behind commodity fetishism, and instead, the products seem to carry all of the value.

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I selected this picture of a Starbucks in the Texas A&M library to represent the concept of Capitalism in Marx’s theory….. This picture is a representation of how multinational corporations gain profit by incorporating into everyday student life, meeting basic needs through branded consumption.

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This picture of a football game at Kyle Field depicts commodity fetishism as it shows how people care about a commodity outside of the labor behind creating it. Entertainment and winning are more important than the struggles the players go through, such as the risk of injury or heat stroke. The fans cheer, and ads play on the screen, showing how the football game is a commodity.

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This vending machine full of electronics demonstrates Marx theory of commodity fetishism. The devices appear to hold value independent of the workers who produced them. Students often see these objects as holding value in themselves rather than recognizing the extensive human labor put into making them. This detachment highlights how capitalism hides the social relations of producing commodities and gives all the value to the commodity alone.

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This specific captured moment of a dedicated Academic Advisor represents Alienation. Marx's expresses Alienation as the act of separating individuals from their labor, the products they are developing, and their coworkers surrounding them. This individual is seen as just another employee to the public eye and is disconnected from the outcomes she expresses.

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I selected the vending machine because we get to view a variety of products that we can buy, but we do not realize the pre labor involved in growing, farming, processing, or simply putting those products into the vending machine. That is how we see this as the commodity fetishism theory. That it only takes a product with purchase value out of the machine itself and we do not see the human input that was involved in the process.

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Commodity Fetishism occurs when the social relations among laborers are hidden or ignored. Instead of seeing that the true value of a commodity comes from the labor of workers, many people in this capitalist society often believe that that commodities possess value on their own.

This picture of a Starbucks drink is an example of commodity fetishism because the branding and marketing hides the true value of the farmers that grow the beans, the workers transporting and roasting the beans, and finally the baristas who prepare the drinks. Many customers associate Starbucks with status, lifestyle, and comfort and treat this commodity as something special overlooking the unequal labor behind it.

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This starbucks cup shows Marx thoery of commodity fetishism. When you first look at it, its just a cup of coffee but the logo on the cup changes the status of the object. Customers often focus on the brand of the cup rather than the labor put into making that cup. This starbucks cup shows how the relationship with humans are hidden behind the object itself, proving Marx's theory of commodity fetishism.

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Marx believed in creating a society where there were no classes, and no separation of status. Texas A&M looks at everyone of its students, staff, and alumni as one. We are all Aggies. No matter where we come from, our social status, or where we are going, we are all united. This statue is The War Hymn Monument which signifies the singular spirit of Texas A&M. Aggies come together to sing the Aggie War Hymn and exhibit a bond of one, like Marx always wanted.

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This vending machine shows Marx's idea of commodity fetishism. The snacks look valuable just because of their price and packaging. What we don't see is the labor that went into making them. Workers had to farm, process, and ship the food before it ended up in the machine. The machine hides those social relationships and makes the products seem like they have value on their own.

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The photo of an electric car charging illustrates Marx’s concept of historical materialism, which emphasizes that history is shaped by material conditions and the ways society produces and sustains itself. The shift from fossil fuel–based transportation to electric vehicles represents a transformation in the forces of production, signaling broader changes in economic relations, labor practices, and social structures. In this way, the charging car serves as a visible example of how evolving material conditions drive historical and societal change.

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Commodity Fetishism is the belief that commodity itself has value, independent of social relations that produce the commodity. For example, when students walk into these computer labs they just view the computers as a useful tool for themselves and do not think about the social labor produced into making the computers. The social relationships between people are hidden behind the relationship with a thing.

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This picture from a volleyball game in Reed Arena reflects Marx’s theory of exploitation by showing how student-athletes invest time and risk injury without direct compensation, solely to represent the school. Meanwhile, the university charges spectators to attend these games and profits from the athletes' unpaid labor. Since the university owns the program, student-athletes must represent the school to participate. Overall, the games are marketed to spectators, who must pay to watch, which highlights the exploitation, ownership, and structures of power in this context.

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Marx defines commodity fetishism as the way products appear to have value on their own, while hiding the labor and social relations that created them.

This photo of a Starbucks strawberry acai refresher shows that idea. When people see the drink, they often think about the logo or brand first, not the workers who grew, shipped, and prepared it. The brand makes the refresher feel valuable, while the labor behind it is hidden.

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One of Marx key concepts involves society both cooperating to survive, yet still craving competition. The cooperation pictured in this photo shows all of the Texas A&M fans who share their love for A&M, while still enjoying the competition of the football game. In a capitalist society, competition can often override cooperation. Just as much as the cooperation of fans impacts how Texas A&M benefits, whether that be financially or socially, so does the competition aspect of the event(the football game)

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Marx states that alienation happens when a human activity no longer feels like meaningful expression but instead is controlled from the outside and is reduced to survival. Students can be seen as "workers" in an academic setting. They can be alienated from their learning process when their education puts more value in things like grades, homework requirements, and job opportunities than the joy of gaining knowledge.

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Karl Marx believed that, naturally, people work together and cooperate to get the materials needed to survive. However, in a capitalist society, competition often takes over cooperation. This photo shows the Texas A&M student section, showcasing how thousands of people stand together, valuing Texas A&M's traditions, values, and chanting and yelling together. This reflects Mark's idea of cooperation vs. competition because it shows humans can come together regardless of the division that capitalism creates 

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Marx's concept of Alienation is shown here as many students wear headphones around campus. The headphones symbolize how we disconnect from each other socially; however, we're still physically in a large community with each other. This connects to Marx's idea of alienation because technology(large profit for capitalism) isolates people from human interactions.

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Marx concept of commodity fetishism can be represented by this wooden bench. It appears as a finished commodity with it's own value, but what we don't think about is the labor put in to produce it.

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Alienation is a result of capitalism, as people in our society are forced to work to survive, which strips away their humanity. Our cooperative nature has become competitive since we are seen as workers instead of humans. Here is an example of someone who works in the MSC Box Office. From an outsider's point of view, she would be labeled by her role rather than just another human.

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The administration building is like the owner/manager of the Texas A&M resources. Ties in the idea of class relations the differences between administration and the students, there is a difference in power. In this building there are a lot of power and control over the university as a whole, meanwhile the students do not obtain this sort of power.

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Marx defines commodity fetishism as the belief that the commodity itself has value that is independent of the social relations that produced the commodity. The commodities in this image are the bikes and scooters. The value is placed on the commodity itself instead of the labour that produced it.

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Commodity Fetishism- belief that the commodity has value alone. Separating its value from the people that took the time to make it. This is where name brand A&M merchandise is sold where the value comes from the logo it has rather than the labor it took to make it.

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Socialism is defined as workers taking control from the capitalists, so society’s wealth benefits everyone, not just the few. This picture shows the graduating class of 2027 working together to make a 27. This indicates students collectively sharing something that normally would be owned or controlled by just a few people.

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This is defined in our notes saying, value of a commodity reflects the amount of labor that it took to produce it. The value of labor is related to the value of work someone puts in rather than the material value of what is being produced, this is from "Commodity Fetishism" in our textbook. Everything on campus is a product of labor, the socially necessary labor gives this campus the value that it has.

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Commodity fetishism from Capital, Volume I is the social relations between people that are obscured that appear as relationships between things. In capitalism, commodities seem to have an independent power and value of their own, when in reality their value comes from the human labor that produced them. This photo shows the Texas Aggie band that Aggies all relate to and are proud of as if the value is inherent in the object itself, rather than the labor behind it.

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This image represents abundance and how labor can be exploitative. These plastic birds are most likely made in a foreign country where the workers are paid less than a dollar a day to work in terrible. As consumers, we rarely think about how much workers are alienated from the regular consumer.

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Kyle Field inside Texas A&M's football field working together as community. The students embodying 12th man during a football game doing traditions in yells, cheering, and comradery.

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Marx talks about how saturation creates competitiveness, and this is Kyle Field, which is the heart of Texas A&M’s competitive spirit.

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Starbucks worker making a $10 latte only to be paid $12 an hour is an exemplary example of exploitation. Brian Niccol, CEO of Starbucks who is estimated to have a net worth of at least 100 million US dollars exploits the labor of financially unstable college students gaining large amounts of surplus value. Starbucks, a company notorious for diminishing union attempts and strikes really encapsulate Marx's critique of capitalism. 