'''Fetishism''' most generally refers to the belief that natural objects have supernatural powers, or that something created by people has power over people. The concept was coined by Charles de Brosses in 1757 and was originally developedused in the 18th century by French and German scholars to characterize the earliest stages in the evolution of religion. In the 19th century [[Karl Marx]] appropriated the term to describe "commodity fetishism" as an important component of capitalism. Later [[Sigmund Freud]] appropriated the concept to describe a form of [[paraphilia]] where the object of affection is an inanimate object or a specific part of a person.
