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Freedom as Fetish

Freedom as Fetish Recent Marxist political theory has foregrounded freedom as normative commitment. This paper re-stages the break between slavery and capitalism through which slavery's natural bondage is supposedly superseded by the compulsions of market dependency. Capitalist social practices depend upon our freedom whilst inculcating a system in which domination and freedom are interdependent. But this interdependence leads to a double-bind: if freedom is reducible to social practices, we acquiesce to unfreedom; if not, we appeal to an ahistorical essence. I consider whether the double-bind can be diffused by exploring freedom's fetish character as a real phenomenon enacted in practice because we are implicated in the commodity as both free and passive object to be exchanged. But I suggest that slavery is not then excisable but remains as fetish character internal to the freedom of the worker as presupposition: freedom for the worker is guaranteed by the practical enaction of slavery's impossible negation. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Political Theology Taylor & Francis

Freedom as Fetish

Trafford, Tia
Political Theology , Volume OnlineFirst: 19 – Sep 5, 2025
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References (9)

Publisher
Taylor & Francis
Copyright
© 2025 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group
ISSN
1462-317X
eISSN
1743-1719
DOI
10.1080/1462317X.2025.2555107
Publisher site
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Abstract

Recent Marxist political theory has foregrounded freedom as normative commitment. This paper re-stages the break between slavery and capitalism through which slavery's natural bondage is supposedly superseded by the compulsions of market dependency. Capitalist social practices depend upon our freedom whilst inculcating a system in which domination and freedom are interdependent. But this interdependence leads to a double-bind: if freedom is reducible to social practices, we acquiesce to unfreedom; if not, we appeal to an ahistorical essence. I consider whether the double-bind can be diffused by exploring freedom's fetish character as a real phenomenon enacted in practice because we are implicated in the commodity as both free and passive object to be exchanged. But I suggest that slavery is not then excisable but remains as fetish character internal to the freedom of the worker as presupposition: freedom for the worker is guaranteed by the practical enaction of slavery's impossible negation.

Journal

Political Theology – Taylor & Francis

Published: Sep 5, 2025

Keywords: Marxism; political theory; capitalism; slavery; freedom; fetish; Lukács; Afropessimism

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