The Critique of Commodification

The chapter traces the intellectual history of the term “commodification” and presents major arguments against commodification from different strands of literature. Commodification was introduced into academic discourse in the 1970s by Marxist scholars who analyzed the transformation of culture, the emergence and spread of capitalism, as well as the nature of the welfare state. The term was then picked up by non-Marxist academics in various disciplines, usually to criticize certain kinds of monetary exchange or specific markets rather than capitalism per se. The chapter identifies three major strands of literature with distinctive arguments against commodification: the moral, pragmatic, and materialist critiques. It argues that only the materialist critique is able to see that commodification threatens the livelihood of people and the environment. After discussing differences between the three approaches, the chapter points to an important commonality: all critics of commodification believe that commodification has gone too far in recent decades.