拜物教(fetishism)是一种原始宗教。信仰拜物教的人们以为某种人造物品有超自然能力，继而把它当作神来崇拜。在原始社会中，原始人由于对自然现象缺乏理解，以为许多物体如石块、木片、树枝、弓箭等具有灵性，并赋之以神秘的、超自然的性质，以及支配人类命运的力量。马克思借用拜物教这个名词，发明了商品拜物教一词，出现在《资本论》中。

A fetish (derived from the French fétiche; which comes from the Portuguese feitiço; and this in turn from Latin facticius, "artificial" and facere, "to make") is an object believed to have supernatural powers, or in particular, a man-made object that has power over others. Essentially, fetishism is the emic attribution of inherent value or powers to an object.