User:Mitsuo500/Commodification

12/19 removed holidays sections flagged for plagiarism.. sent Ian a question;Hello, I'm new to editing Wikipedia, and went through WikiEdu training this semester and editing the Commodification article was a Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment, between 21 August 2023 and 15 December 2023.

The question is, does moving sections within the article, Alphabetizing the Examples section, cause the Wikipedia bots to flag sections as plagiarism? No changes, but reorganizing the structure for clarity. If this is the case, please undo any removals.

12/18/23 sections strikethrough removed from live article flagged for possible plagiarism

12/17 Removed three section from live article flagged for plagiarism.. not by me.

12/16 7:30a moved all edits to live. Waiting to see if any Undo's happen. Will comment on Commodification Talk page that edits have been completed.

12/16 moving edits to live, complicated to integrate my changes into the live article, focusing on not deleting relevant section that are currently live while cutting and pasting section from this sandbox.

12/13 will submit assignment as complete.

12/12 Final checks to article draft and will add Reflective essay notes here to explain additions, changes, citations and what I have learned by becoming an editor of Wikipedia articles. This skill has opened my eyes to the type of information that is provided by wikipedia, and I can not evaluate wikipedia articles critically before using information provided there. Throughout the assignment I have posted a blog here on actions and discoveries completed to improve the Commodification article.

12/11 Last class meeting, submission of article due this week. Finishing up Communications study section, Last edits complete.. next read-through will be the final draft

12/10 added hyperlinks.

12/9 Self-Commodification section complete

12/9/23 correct citation: Rosenberry, Jack; Vicker, Lauren A. (25 August 2021). Applied Mass Communication Theory: A Guide for Media Practitioners (3 ed.). New York: Routledge. doi:10.4324/9781003121695. ISBN 978-1-003-12169-5. S2CID 241008444.

12/7/23 Continuing to polish work... start working on reflective essay, making sure main editing points are covered in finishing Commodification article.

12/6/23 Planning to add a paragraph: Section on Commodification of Culture as a theory, under the History section.. more of a distinction of Commodification of Culture as the process of making goods and services into something for profit, versus Commodification of Culture as a theory.

12/4/23 Add to bibliography: Bakker, K. (2005). Neoliberalizing Nature? Market Environmentalism in Water Supply in England and Wales. Annals of the Association of American Geographers, 95(3), 542–565. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8306.2005.00474.x

12/2/23 Working on peer review suggestions.. added NYE and Easter images for Holiday Commodification. Updated caption for bell hooks, per peer review. A few more review suggestions to be completed. Article feels in good shape...

11/29 Peer review notes to work on : Clarify Commodification of Culture sentence, add Scholars (Dr.King note), Combine Media and Advertising commodification. Opportunities and Criticism of Commodification - (possibly a distinction or clarification in Commodification of Culture section) (Possibly a section under History of Wins/Opportunities pros/cons of Commodification). Change lead/concepts to coincide with examples in article (add love, patriotism subsection, remove sport, language).

11/27 Bolding sections worked on for Peer Review.

11/21 Lead and History section moved from this sandbox to live article.. See Also links moved from sandbox to live article. Added See Also: Commodification of nature, Commodification of water to History section

11/20 starting to move sections from here to the live article.. the cut and pasted section did not keep the font size from here to the live article.. I had to re-edit the section I moved to correct font size to "Paragraph" instead of Heading size.

11/20 removed Aspects section.. removed toponymic section. added Media and Self-commodification examples.

11/20 removed an un-cited section from public goods to the Commodification article. paragraph of bottled water seemed biased and without reference. Added St. Patricks day picture to holidays section.

11/13 adding code for aligning pictures in a row

11/11 clean up and added notes for future work in Commodification of Culture section.

11/9 After meeting with Dr. King.. will reorganize structure to have Commodification of Culture section, with Baron & Davis reference and Robert Shepard article references.

11/7/23 Minor Edits to Internet, Tourism, Holidays for clarity

11/7/23 Organization fixes, added section, moved Marx paragraph under history, added Marx images.

11/6/23 Class discussion or Wikipedia assignment. Examples from Dr.King: Models of Communication, Social Identity Theory, Cognitive Dissonance, Maslow's hierarchy of needs. Tips for completing assignment: Search Library articles for Meta-analysis of topic, for organization: find book chapter and use organization as a guide. Common section for organization: Lead, History, Components (Aspects), Examples, Applications. To do: create a second sandbox with original Commodification wiki article with no changes from 10/30/23.. then peer reviewers can see changes I've made on Commodification sandbox.

10/23 Understanding drafting changes in the sandbox.

10/21/23 Starting to edit Commodification. I will look up some references this week.

Lead:
Commodification in a capitalist system is the action and process of transforming goods, services, ideas, nature, personal information, people or animals into commodities. A commodity at its most basic according to Arjun Appadurai, are goods, services, materials intended for exchange or have economic value.

A commodity is a material good such as a barrel of oil, or a bushel of wheat, that has an economic value no matter who produces it. [R & V textbook]

Concepts that have been argued as being commodified include broad items such as the body, intimacy, public goods , animals and holidays . [Moved  from previous Examples section]

'Mass Media is increasingly shown as the driving force of commodification as seen in, the commodification of culture. American culture, is an example of this form of commodification, where the daily actions of a society are co-opted by elite organizations, repackaged, distributed within its borders and abroad, for profit. Media, including advertising, film, television, radio, social-media, and pop music are a leading force for disruption.' [added to lead 12/11/23]

See Also: Commodification of nature, Commodification of water [ADDED Links]

Terminology
The earliest use of the word commodification dates from 1975. Use of the concept of commodification became common with the rise of critical discourse analysis in semiotics.

The terms commodification and commoditization are sometimes used synonymously, [Slight edit here for clarity] to describe the process of making commodities out of goods, services, and ideas; compare anthropology usage.

However, other authors distinguish them, with commodification used in social contexts to mean that a non-commercial good has become commercial, typically with connotations of "corrupted by commerce", while commoditization is used in business contexts to mean when the market for an existing product has become a commodity market, where products are interchangeable and there is heavy price competition. In a quip: "Microprocessors are commoditized. Love is commodified." [Very minor editing of text for clarity]

'Intangible, non-produced items (love, water, air, Hawaii) are commodified, Produced items (wheat, salt, IBM chips) are commoditized. The Surowiecki article Commoditization Conundrum, speaks of raw materials as a commodity- "production meets demand and the commodity value is stabilized to lowest price market will bear. Morton salt is priced higher than other salt companies', but the market pays for convenience. The lesson of Morton's success, is that even the most mundane and undifferentiated of products can be made into something unique with the right marketing strategy. Salt is salt is salt, except when it comes in a blue canister with a little girl with an umbrella on it and the promise that rain won't damage its pourability." '

In Marxist Theory [ADDED Karl Marx Image]
The Marxist understanding of commodity is distinct from its meaning in business. Commodity played a key role throughout Karl Marx's work; he considered it a cell-form of capitalism and a key starting point for an analysis of this politico-economic system. Marx extensively criticized the social impact of commodification under the name commodity fetishism and alienation.

Prior to being turned into a commodity, an object has a "specific individual use value". After becoming a commodity, that same object has a different value: the amount for which it can be exchanged for another commodity. According to Marx, this new value of the commodity is derived from the time taken to produce the good, and other considerations are obsolete, including morality, environmental impact, and aesthetic appeal.

Marx claimed that everything would eventually be commodified: "the things which until then had been communicated, but never exchanged, given, but never sold, acquired, but never bought – virtue, love, conscience – all at last enter into commerce."

Mass Communications studies
Restated below: "According to this viewpoint, media are industries specializing in the production and distribution of cultural commodities. As with other modern industries, they have grown at the expense of small local producers, and the consequences of their displacement have been and continue to be disruptive to people’s lives."[ this main take-away is to be re-stated and added, from B&D 12/10/23]

Media, as a culture industry, is apparent from the rise of mass communications to monetize a populace for profit. Research in critical cultural studies of media effects identify, commodification of culture, as a recent large contributing force for disruption of a society by mass media. An example is the display of American culture, to the population within its borders, 'and abroad. The commodity being sold is America, but mediated to show only the most exciting, dramatic, attention-getting, emotion-rousing aspects. Media corporations are expert at analyzing, selecting interesting, appealing bits and pieces of the culture, repackaging and enhancing content for a wide audience. The quest for large viewership creates an image that does not show boring, unpleasant, or minority aspects of America. The distribution of the alternate form of the culture, for profit, causes misconceptions and stereotyping along with disruption of the original folk culture. Within the United States the commodification of culture is the mediated view of American society accepted as the culture and even advanced by the culture depicted; the example given is hip-hop and rap music artists stars "selling out". The United states, with media corporations less prone to governmental interference, is successful at spreading American culture worldwide.'

'Critical cultural research reveal consequences for the lifting of bits of culture, remolding for a mass audience, then selling the alternate view. A few of repercussions of commodification of culture: Only selected, majority cultural practices are shown leaving out other important minority cultures which are overlooked and/or ignored, As in Hollywood movies, only selected most exciting, dramatic, emotional aspects are presented while removing unpleasant, controversial or the boring. The success of marketing a culture entails distributing as much content as possible to the largest audience, causing disruption of everyday life. Elite media industries are ignorant or deny effects of mass marketing, by avoidance or by explaining that media has limited effects. There are many types of disruptions, some subtle, many obvious, including, propagation of misconceptions, loss of sense of place, a major focus on entertainment, loss of childhood, cultivation, and a disruptions of social conventions.'

Commodification of Culture [Previous 'Examples' section re-ordered for clarity]
'A critique of elites in modern societies using media to select aspects of a local culture, repackage and redistribute the alternate view of that culture for profit. Current research include books by: S. Jhally, H.M. Enzensberger , S. Gunster and J. Tunstall. Controversy and disruption occurs when this alternate view is seen as untruthful to the culture that is depicted. Disruptions include misconceptions, sameness, and a focus on entertainment.'

Animal commodification
Commodification of animals is one of the earliest forms of commodification, which can be traced back to the time when domestication of animals began. It includes animal slavery in all forms, including use of animals for food, medicine, fashion and cosmetics, medical research, labor and transport, entertainment, wildlife trade, companionship, and so forth. Scholars say that the commodification of nonhuman animals in food systems is directly linked to capitalist systems that prioritize "monopolistically inclined financial interests" over the well-being of humans, nonhumans, and the environment. Over 200 billion land and aquatic animals are killed every year to provide humans with animal products for consumption, which many scholars and activists have described as an "animal holocaust". The extensive use of land and other resources for the production of meat instead of grain for human consumption is a leading cause of malnutrition, hunger, and famine around the world.

Holidays [UNCHANGED except I have added images, added NYE and Easter images peer review suggestion 12/2/23]
Many holidays such as Christmas, Halloween or Valentine's Day have been argued as having become commodified. The commodification of a holiday refers to making celebrations necessarily commercial and based on material goods, like gift giving, elaborate decorations, trick or treating, and card giving. Modern celebrations of many holidays are now more related to the commercial practices and profitable tactics than they are to the holidays' origins. For some holidays, like Halloween, there are arguments that the commodification of the original holiday turned it into the celebrations that people now love. The commodification of other holidays, like Christmas, sparks arguments about undoing the commercialization and getting back to the intended spirit of the holiday. [Removed six images below 12/19/23]

Human commodification
Commodification of humans have been discussed in various context, from slavery to surrogacy. Auctions of cricket players by Indian Premier League, Big Bash League and others is also discussed to be a case of human commodification. Virginity auctions are a further example of self-commodification. Human commodity is a term used in case of human organ trade, paid surrogacy (also known as commodification of the womb), and human trafficking. According to Gøsta Esping-Andersen, people are commodified or 'turned into objects' when selling their labour on the market to an employer. [Removed for possible plagiarism 12/17/23]

Indigenous cultures [edit caption for bell hooks, review note]
American author and feminist bell hooks described the cultural commodification of race and difference as the dominant culture "eating the other". To hooks, cultural expressions of Otherness, even revolutionary ones, are sold to the dominant culture for their enjoyment. And any messages of social change are not marketed for their messages but used as a mechanism for the dominant ones to acquire a piece of the "primitive". Any interests in past historical culture almost always have a modern twist. According to Mariana Torgovnick: "What is clear now is that the West's fascination with the primitive has to do with its own crises in identity, with its own need to clearly demarcate subject and object even while flirting with other ways of experiencing the universe." hooks states that marginalized groups are seduced by this concept because of "the promise of recognition and reconciliation". "When the dominant culture demands that the Other be offered as sign that progressive political change is taking place, that the American Dream can indeed be inclusive of difference, it invites a resurgence of essentialist cultural nationalism." Commodification of indigenous cultures refers to "areas in the life of a community which prior to its penetration by tourism have not been within the domain of economic relations regulated by criteria of market exchange” (Cohen 1988, 372). An example of this type of cultural commodification can be described through viewing the perspective of Hawaiian cultural change since the 1950s. A Hawaiian Luau, which was once a traditional performance reserved for community members and local people, but through the rise of tourism, this tradition has lost part of its cultural meaning and is now mostly a "for profit" performance. [Strikethrough section removed for possible plagiarism 12/17/23]

Love
'Examples of profiting from the Love concept are the myriad "The Bacholorette" and "The Bachelor" television shows, and the increase in luxury hotels catering to singles during Valentines weekends. '

Media, Internet and Online Communities
Digital commodification occurs when, a business or corporation uses information from an online community without their knowledge, for profit. The commodification of information allows a higher authority to make money rather than a collaborative system of free thoughts. Corporations such as Google, Apple, Facebook, Netflix, and Amazon accelerate and concentrate the commodification of online communities. Digital tracking, like cookies, have further commodified the use of the internet, giving each click, view, or stream, monetary value, even if it is an interaction with free content.

'Mass media is shown to be commodified as seen by the Hollywood blockbuster film and sequels, television sitcoms and spinoffs, pop music including Spotify, Boy bands, J-Pop and K-Pop. All sectors focused on quantity rather than quality. '

Public goods
Public goods are goods for which users cannot be barred from accessing or using them, for failing to pay for them. However, such goods can also be commodified by value addition in the form of products or services or both. [Removed 12/17 for possible plagiarism]

Public goods like air and water  can be subjected to commodification.

See Also: Commodification of water [ADDED Links]

Even Public goods like air and water can be subjected to commodification. Following are some of the examples of the commodification of some of the public goods:

Oxygen: People do not have to pay for the oxygen we breathe; however, oxygen is commodified by filling it in cans and selling for various usages by people who can not access it from nature, e.g., patients, divers, mountain hikers, etc.

Water: All living beings can access freely available water in nature; however, we need to pay for the commodified water when it is processed and supplied at our homes or offices as tapped water or bottled as purified or mineral water.

Knowledge: All living beings learn from nature either by observation or because of various needs like hunger or threats. The knowledge from parents, elders, and other people is also an example of free public goods. However, the examples of commodified knowledge are books, educational institutions, and various commercial training courses.

Love and Relationships: Even love and relationships are commodified by dating apps or matchmaking companies or apps. [removed section for no citation]

Commoditizing natural resources enables the dichotomy of human versus nature that exacerbates unequal access to resources. The commoditization of water often uses images from nature to promote their brand while implying that bottled water was safer, cleaner, and overall better than tap water. Imagery of natural springs and mountains creates an idea of bottled water as a commodity associated with nature while being cleaner and more accessible. The water bottles have advertising and commercialized ways of promotion, despite the necessity of it as a resource for life. Public water has become conceptualized as dirty and unsafe, which makes it seem less of an issue when water sources are actually unsafe for consumers. Corporations are more trusted than the government regulation of public water. The distrust and acceptance of public water sources as unclean has in turn, allowed further commoditization of natural resources, a vicious cycle that enables itself. This is an issue, as the privatization and commodification of natural resources affects all humans, who rely on natural resources to live and especially harms marginalized communities who do not have access to the same level of commodities. The idea of water, which is a common natural resource which can be sourced from a multitude of sources and which is replenished by rainfall, has become commodified through the pollution of waterways. As such, bottled water is increasingly seen as a safer, more reliable and accessible option. Commodification overall creates an environment in which natural resources and human necessities are placed within the market to be advertised, creating a sense of fetishization. [Removed opinionated section]

Self-Commodification
'Personal information through Social Networking Sites (SNS's), such as music purchases, how we identify, and user profiles are aggregated and sold to corporations and businesses for micro targeting, advertising and marketing. '

Social Media Influencers are also a recent examples of self-commodification. 'A travel blogger is an instance of a mediated micro-celebrity, the social-media influencer, targeting a niche audience interested in visiting exotic locale. Social Media networks expand the reach of this focused audience to make influencing a profitable profession.They commodify themselves by offering online journals, advice, thoughts, experiences along with photographs and videos, then make money by, selling books, self-branding, blog subscriptions, and advertorials. Trust and an increased audience are built by expressing a conversational style, a seeming ly real experience by a real person, allowing users connect to the blogger as a friendly voice offering advice on travel choices.'

Subcultures
Various subcultures have been argued to as having become commodified, for example the goth subculture, the biker subculture,  the tattoo subculture, the witchcraft subculture, and others.

Tourism
Tourism has been analyzed in the context of commodification in the context of transforming local cultures and heritage into marketable goods. ''' This is related to but distinct from the commodification of indigenous cultures. Rather than commodifying indigenous practices [non neutral statement, removed]''' The commodification of tourism removes local culture from the foreground, replacing it with profitability from non-residents. This may be in the form of entertainment, souvenirs, food markets, or others. Tourism leads, in part, to the commodification of indigenous cultures as people return from visits with partial ideas and representations of the culture.

Pros and Cons of tourism: '''Positive aspects include renewed interest in the culture, strengthening bonds of the heritage of the local group and, material benefits. Negative aspects to the local culture include building a consumer culture, and increases in capitalist values, new diseases, drug addiction, crime, pollution and prostitution.  [Section added from Robert Shepard article]'''

See also [Added Globalization and Commodity (Marxism) links]

 * Big data
 * Commercialization
 * Commercialization of love
 * Commodification of animals
 * Decommodification
 * Deregulation
 * Exchange value
 * Human commodity auctions
 * Privatization
 * Value-form
 * Globalization
 * Commodity (Marxism)References