different between commodity vs commodification

English

Alternative forms

• commoditie (archaic)

Etymology

From Middle English commoditee, from Anglo-Norman commoditee, from Latin commodit?s.

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /k??m?d?ti/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /k??m?d?ti/

Noun

commodity (countable and uncountable, plural commodities)

1. Anything movable (a good) that is bought and sold. [from 15th c.]
   • 1995, James G. Carrier, Gifts and Commodities: Exchange and Western Capitalism Since 1700, p.122

     If a key part of shopping is the conversion of anonymous commodities into possessions, shopping is a cultural as much as an economic activity.

   • 2001, Rachel Pain, Introducing Social Geographies, p.26

     In human geography "commodities" usually refers to goods and services which are bought and sold. The simplest commodities are those produced by the production system just before they are sold.

   • 2005, William Leiss, Botterill, Jacki, Social Communication in Advertising: Consumption in the Mediated Marketplace, p.307

     • Referring to the work of Bourdieu, Zukin (2004,38) notes that shopping is much more than the purchase of commodities

2. Something useful or valuable. [from 15th c.]
   • 2008, Jan. 14th, Somerset County Gazette

     And Slade said: "It really makes me sad that football club chairmen and boards seem to have lost that most precious commodity - patience. "Sam's sacking at Newcastle had, I suppose, been on the cards for a while, but it is really ridiculous to fire a manager after such a short time.

3. (economics) Raw materials, agricultural and other primary products as objects of large-scale trading in specialized exchanges.

4. (marketing) Undifferentiated goods characterized by a low profit margin, as distinguished from branded products.

5. (Marxism) Anything which has both a use-value and an exchange-value.
6. (obsolete) Convenience; usefulness, suitability. [15th-19th c.]
7. (obsolete) Self-interest; personal convenience or advantage. [16th-19th c.]
   • , NYRB, 2001, vol.1, p.321:

     they commonly respect their own ends, commodity is the steer of all their action […].

Derived terms

• commodityism

Translations

Spanish

Noun

commodity m (plural commoditys)

1. commodity

English

Etymology

commodify +? -ification

Noun

commodification (countable and uncountable, plural commodifications)

1. The assignment of a commercial value to something previously valueless.
   • 2006 Ross Haenfler - Straight Edge: Hardcore Punk, Clean-Living Youth, and Social Change

     Subcultures tend to go through continual cycles of commodification and resistance to that commodification.

Usage notes

Sometimes used interchangeably with commoditization, sometimes distinguished to have a sense of “non-commercial good becoming commercial”; see commoditize#Usage notes.

Synonyms

• commercialization
• commoditization