Alienation means the forgetting of. the real origin of ideas or generalities, but it also means inversion of the 'real' relationship between individuality and community. The splitting up of the real community of individuals is followed by a projection or transposition of the social relation onto an external 'thing', a third term. Only, in the one case, that thing is an 'idol', na abstract representation which seems to exist all on its own in the ethereal realm of ideas (Freedom, Justice, Humanity, Law), whereas in the other it is a 'fetish', a material thing which seems to belong to the earth, to nature, while exerting an irresistible power over individuals (the commodity and, above all, money).