As Bay Area residents, we are affected by changing technologies on a unique variety of personal and social levels. The way that ‘new technologies’ are reshaping our experiences of work and creative culture are manifold. This prompt asks that you develop a critical, Marxist analysis of ‘the iPhone.’ Along the way, make sure to provide your reader with a sense that you understand how a critical understanding of this specific commodity provides an opportunity to think about localized class relations, or how its presence (broadly defined) in the Bay Area, works to keep certain class hierarchies in place. Your answer should demonstrate that you understand what Marx thinks a commodity ‘is,’ and how class relations
reproduce themselves. You can and should think creatively in formulating your response to this prompt. For help on how to get started writing a ‘marxist analysis,’ please see: https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/722/05/