Abstract

The structures and processes that provide a context favorable to commoditization are sedimented into our lives so that they become taken-for-granted and apparently unproblematic aspects of the cultural scenery. Language, economic “realities,” our styles of thought and categorization, education, the infrastructure we inhabit, and subjectivity itself have all been shaped in ways that make commoditization seem inevitable and even natural. Consequently, the more noticeable excesses of commoditization are the symptoms of a much more pervasive colonization of the world and our own lives. This article explores some of the historical and contemporary factors involved in a system of commoditizing pressures that is deeply woven into the fabric of industrial society.