Commoditization and oppression

Commoditization is a generalized Darwinian selection pressure in economic evolution driven by profit‐ and efficiency‐seeking in the investment of key resources. By winnowing noncommodity opportunities to satisfy human needs, commoditization distorts development in ways that intensify negative social...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences 2010-01, Vol.1185 (1), p.164-178
Main Author: Manno, Jack P.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
capabilities perspective
commoditization
oppression
public goods
self-organizing systems
social theory
sustainability
Sustainable development
Citations: Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Commoditization is a generalized Darwinian selection pressure in economic evolution driven by profit‐ and efficiency‐seeking in the investment of key resources. By winnowing noncommodity opportunities to satisfy human needs, commoditization distorts development in ways that intensify negative social outcomes experienced by oppressed groups and undermines the possibility for sustainable development. When market logic dominates the investment of financial capital, energy, raw materials, human attention, labor, and creativity, market goods with traits associated with commodities are fully developed while nonmarket goods lacking those traits are systematically underdeveloped. Analysis of the traits of commodities explains the unsustainable development or maldevelopment that disproportionately affects those who are dependent on or who highly value important nonmarket relationships. Oppression theory is addressed with specific examples. A generalized form of oppression is theorized that systematically stunts the imagination and creativity required to meet contemporary environmental crises.
ISSN:0077-8923
1749-6632
DOI:10.1111/j.1749-6632.2009.05285.x