Status Updates From حالة ما بعد الحداثة: بحث في...

The conditions of labor and life, the states of mind of the producers, are all hidden to us as we exchange one object (money) for another (the commodity). All traces of exploitation are obliterated in the object (there are no finger marks of exploitation in the daily bread). The concept of fetishism explains how under conditions of capitalist modernization we can be so dependent on 'others' whose lives remain opaque.

'Processes are of the essence,' she argued, and it is upon the social processes of interaction that we should focus. And when we look at these in 'healthy' city environments, we find an intricate system of organized rather than disorganized complexity, a vitality and energy of social interaction that depend crucially upon diversity, intricacy, and the capacity to handle the unexpected in controlled but creative ways.