Commodification (or commoditization) is the transformation of goods and services into a commodity. A commodity is anything for which there is demand but which is supplied without qualitative differentiation across a market
The word commodity has distinct meanings in business and in Marxist [1] theory. Commodification has different meanings depending on the context.
The earliest use of the word Commodification in English attested in the Oxford English Dictionary dates from 1975. The Oxford English Dictionary ( OED) published by the Oxford University Press (OUP is a comprehensive Dictionary of the English Year 1975 ( MCMLXXV) was a Common year starting on Wednesday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar.
Use of the concept of commodification became common with the rise of critical discourse analysis in semiotics. Semiotics, semiotic studies, or semiology is the study of sign processes (semiosis or signification and communication signs and Symbols both
Contents |
Business and economics
- See also: commodity
In the business world, commodification is a process that transforms the market for a unique, branded product into a market based on undifferentiated price competition. A commodity is anything for which there is demand but which is supplied without qualitative differentiation across a market While in economic terms, commodification is closely related to and often follows from the stage when a market changes from one of monopolistic competition to one of perfect competition, a product essentially becomes a commodity when the repeated changes- because of competition-outplay themselves. Monopolistic competition is a common Market form. Many markets can be considered monopolistically competitive often including the markets for Restaurants, Cereal In Neoclassical economics and Microeconomics, perfect competition describes a market in which no buyer or seller has Market power. It is essentially called a performance oversupply- which means that the market is performance saturated and any differentiation, even when being offered, is more than what the market demands. "When consumers perceive that all products are the same, their only real factor for selecting one supplier over another becomes price"[1]. Commodification can be the desired outcome of an entity in the market, or it can be an unintentional outcome that no party actively sought to achieve.
Consumers usually benefit from commodification, since perfect competition usually leads to lower prices. Branded producers often suffer under commodification, since the value of the brand (and ability to command price premiums) can be weakened.
Marxist theory
- See also: Commodity (Marxism)
In Marxist political economy, commodification takes place when economic value is assigned to something not previously considered in economic terms; for example, an idea, identity, gender [2]. In classical Political economy and especially Karl Marx 's critique of Political economy, a commodity is any good or service produced by human labour and offered as So commodification refers to the expansion of market trade to previously non-market areas, and to the treatment of things as if they were a tradeable commodity.
For instance, sex becomes a marketed commodity, something to be bought and sold rather than freely given. Human beings can be considered subject to commodification in contexts such as genetic engineering, social engineering, cloning, eugenics, social Darwinism, Fascism, mass marketing and employment. Genetic engineering, Recombinant DNA technology, genetic modification/manipulation (GM and gene splicing are terms that apply to the direct Cloning in Biology is the process of producing populations of genetically-identical individuals that occurs in nature when organisms such as Bacteria, Insects Eugenics is a social Philosophy which advocates the improvement of Human Hereditary traits through various forms of intervention Social Darwinism is a theory that competition among all individuals groups nations or ideas drives Social evolution in human societies Fascism is a totalitarian nationalist and corporatist ideology Mass Marketing is a market coverage strategy in which a firm decides to ignore market segment differences and go after the whole market with one offer Employment is a Contract between two parties, one being the employer and the other being the employee. An extreme case of Commidification is slavery, where human beings themselves become a commodity to be sold and bought. As a social-economic system slavery is a legal institution under which a Person (called "a slave" is compelled to work for another Similarly, the use of non-human animals for food, clothing, entertainment, or testing represents the commodification of other living beings. Animal products are either produced by an Animal or taken from the body of an animal Animal testing or animal research is the use of non-human Animals in scientific experimentation.
Criticism
Karl Marx extensively criticized the social impact of commodification under the name commodity fetishism and alienation. In Marxist theory Commodity Fetishism is a state of social relations said to arise in capitalist market based societies in which social relationships Marx's theory of alienation ( Entfremdung in German) as expressed in the writings of young Karl Marx, refers to the separation of things that naturally
Commodification is often criticised on the grounds that some things ought not to be for sale and ought not to be treated as if they were a tradeable commodity.
Alternative Approach
An alternative approach to the above is highlighted by Douglas Rushkoff. This approach uses the word Commodification and the neologism Commoditization to describe the two different processes between the assignment of value to a social good and the movement towards undifferentiated competition. Rushkoff's approach is closer to the common usages of the words.
Commodification (a word, 1975, origins Marxist political theory. ) is used to describe the process by which something which does not have an economic value is assigned a value and hence how market values can replace other social values. It describes a modification of relationships, formerly untainted by commerce, into commercial relationships.
Commoditization (a neologism, early 1990s, origins Business theory) is the process by which goods that have economic value and are distinguishable in terms of attributes (uniqueness or brand) end up becoming simple commodities in the eyes of the market or consumers. It is the movement of a market from differentiated to undifferentiated price competition and from monopolistic to perfect competition.
References
See also
External links
In classical Political economy and especially Karl Marx 's critique of Political economy, a commodity is any good or service produced by human labour and offered as In Political economy and especially Marxian economics, exchange value refers to one of four major attributes of a commodity, i Commercialization is the process of introducing a new product into the marketDictionary
commodification
-noun
- The assignment of a commercial value to something previously valueless.
Dapyx Software network: MP3 Explorer | Ebook Manager | Zenithic