Commoditizing Life

Over the last 30 years or so, the market system has been encroaching on spheres of life that earlier were thought to lie outside it. This encroachment comes at a large cost to the various cultures around the world for markets have a massive homogenizing effect. When McDonald opens a shop in a city and proceeds to drive out local eating outlets, the end result is less choice, less variety and a more homogenous and in many respects more dead cityscape. When English becomes necessary for survival, then local languages start to disappear. A whole way of thinking then vanishes and is replaced by a more homogenous type of thinking.

This is an effect of commoditizing life. Companies have a strong interest in encouraging this process because this way they can start charging for things they could not touch before. This process also plays a role in encouraging materialism. A few examples to illustrate. Kidneys for sale. The very fact that there is a market for kidneys means we have commoditized an essential part of our body. How about wombs for rent? Women are available who are willing to rent out their wombs. We have given a nice name to this: surrogate motherhood. A lovely sounding name for selling your body.