A critical reexamination of the supposedly causal relations between market and democracy should take into account the theory of fetichism of commodities. The form taken by commodities in order to circulate conceals contents, consubstantiated in value, resulting from relations which are historically diverse from their formal manifestation in the market. Thus, it conceals historical times that are different from the market time. In poor societies, it is in this movement that capital extracts surplus which are, in fact, tribute, thus establishing a kind of violence opposed to the equalitarianism proclaimed by the commodity’s fetichism. The commodity thus produced and the market do not accomplish their supposed civilizatory mission, as they actually impoverish the possibility of citizenship. Basically, in the relation between market and democracy, it is essential to consider the real social relations which define the contents of the political process because there are situations (and societies) in which the possibilities professed by the commodities equalitarian exterior form are in contradiction with the oppressive reality of political and social inequalities.
commodity; fetichism of commodities; equalitarianism; tribute; violence; inequality; citizenship