The mystical character of commodities: the consumer society in eighteenth century England

This article argues for an alternative response to the 'consumer society' hypothesis for eighteenth-century England, which is seen to focus on large-scale development and obscure the relations between people and objects. Returning to Marx's theories regarding 'consumer fetishism' and utilising Bruno Latour's work on hybrids and the human and the non-human, the manner in which people used objects and objects used people is considered. Utilizing the courtesy books and 'it-narratives' of the eighteenth century and the later works of Jane Austen, it is argued that goods should not be seen only as commodities