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I was really confused by the title, because doesn't "commodify" mean "to make saleable", like commercialize? Hasn't tech made billions? I think the author is t
by solardev 3y ago
I was really confused by the title, because doesn't "commodify" mean "to make saleable", like commercialize? Hasn't tech made billions?
I think the author is talking about "commoditization", eg genericizing tech work so that any replaceable employee can do it.
From
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commoditization https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commoditization:
> This is not to be confused with commodification, which is the concept of objects or services being assigned an exchange value which they did not previously possess by their being produced and presented for sale, as opposed to personal use. One way to summarize the difference is that commoditization is about proprietary things becoming generic, whereas commodification is about nonsaleable things becoming saleable. In social sciences, particularly anthropology, the term is used interchangeably with commodification to describe the process of making commodities out of anything that was not available for trade previously.
Am I being pedantic? I thought the two had different meanings?
Edit: Ah, but wait... from Wiktionary instead: https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/commodification https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/commodification
> Sometimes used interchangeably with commodification
Guess it's just a common mixup.
- mikepurvis 3y agoI've always heard the term used in the sense that the author is using it. Oil is a commodity because there are many producers of it and it doesn't matter which one you get it from since they're all making the same thing.
- solardev 3y agoWhich term? Commodotize? Aren't we in agreement with the author then, that tech work isn't quite the same as oil or burgers (ie it hasn't been commodotized, even though it's been commodifed?) Or are you saying the two words mean the same thing?
- radicalbyte 3y agoThe work many were doing 30 years ago - making shitty PHP websites - has been completely commodotized to the point where as a dev many of us don't touch it. Why would we now that business people have enough literacy to click something which looks pretty together with Wix or that other website-as-a-service which funds 95% of podcasts :-) Or hire a designer / commodity PHP-shop to make them a Wordpress.
- solardev 3y agoSo you're saying commidified creativity commititized art, leading to commodified podcasts commoditizing web design? Got it.
- Izkata 3y agoPerspective of someone who isn't really in this space: I've always seen them as the same thing, except commodification is talking about the idea in general while commoditization is taking about a specific product.
- pif 3y ago> doesn't "commodify" mean "to make saleable", like commercialize? As fas as I understand, no, it doesn't. https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/commodify https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/commodify > to turn (something, such as an intrinsic value or a work of art) into a commodity Thus, "commodify" is about "commoditization".
- solardev 3y agoApparently it depends on which dictionary you use! Thanks, English. To commercialize: https://www.dictionary.com/browse/commodification https://www.dictionary.com/browse/commodification https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/us/definition/english/commodification https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/us/definition/eng... To turn into a commodity: https://www.collinsdictionary.com/us/dictionary/english/commodify https://www.collinsdictionary.com/us/dictionary/english/comm... (and yours) Both: https://www.oxfordreference.com/display/10.1093/oi/authority.20110803095627351 https://www.oxfordreference.com/display/10.1093/oi/authority... https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/commodification https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/commo...