Worship religion and commodity fetishism. Actuality of Walter Benjamin's thought
Working paper by Luis Martínez Andrade
This text analyses the timelessness of the revolutionary romantic critique of capitalist modernity in Walter Benjamin’s thought. One hundred years after “Capitalism as Religion” has been written (1921), we will show its importance and study the way in which the German philosopher elaborates his micrological-Marxist analysis. First, we will examine the nodal points of his romantic critique both in his books Einbahnstrasse and Passagenwerk. Then we will look at the role of fashion in the dynamics of consumption. Our interest lies in revealing the dis/continuity of Benjamin’s critique of the logic of capitalist modernity.
This article largely reproduces the paper presented by the author at the seminar from the Observatoire des écritures contemporaines françaises & francophones at the Université Paris
Nanterre, March 20, 2019 while he was a visiting postdoctoral researcher at the Collège d'études mondiales/Fondation Maison des sciences de l'homme.
Citing this document: Luis Martínez Andrade, Religion cultuelle et fétichisme de la marchandise. Actualité de la pensée de Walter Benjamin, FMSH-WP-2021-150, mars 2021.
