The City as “Dissonant” Fetish: Urban (Re)production, Gentrification, and the Conceptual Limits of Commodity Fetishism

This article exposes important conceptual limits to urban commodification in theorizing urban (re)production. We interrogate the concept of commodity fetishism—the process through which commodities come to be seen as performing the social and economic relations of their production in the marketplace—and argue that efforts to commodify the city for consumption generally produce a “dissonant fetish.” We examine urban commodity fetishism among gentrifiers in Atlanta, Georgia. Understanding the city as a dissonant fetish has the potential to reframe geographical attention to dynamics of gentrification and urban development more broadly. Key Words: commodification, fetishization, gentrification, urban development, urban (re)production.