commodification

[ kuh-mod-uh-fi-key-shuhn ]

noun

1. the act or fact of turning something into an item that can be bought and sold:

   The commodification of water means that access is available only to those who can pay.

2. the act or fact of exploiting a person or thing for profit:

   Some of the tourism to developing countries risks becoming a commodification of culture and poverty.

Word History and Origins

Origin of commodification¹

commod(ity) ( def ) + -i- ( def ) + -fication ( def )

Example Sentences

We find ourselves evaluating ourselves like products, and that commodification is soulless.

From Los Angeles Times

The commodification of Los Angeles and Hollywood, and the rising population, has made the city an expensive place to live.

From Los Angeles Times

Repurposing fabric — from tattered blankets, frayed rags, stained clothes — is a central ethos of the community’s quilting practice, which resists commodification.

From Seattle Times

But it’s also largely a grim parable about the terrors of consumer culture, including the commodification and appropriation of Black people.

From New York Times

"Miss World" confronts the toxic standards of beauty and the commodification of femininity, exposing the internalized self-loathing experienced by many women with lines like “Now I’ve made my bed, I’ll die in it.”

From Salon