Commodification

Commodification enables things to circulate in a market system of exchange, that is, in a system that values above all else the exchangeability of all things. This substitutes a different relationship between things and their creators, and between things themselves as such, than prevailed before the contractual relations and the transfers of value that enable market exchanges. This relationship presupposes individuals' rights to sell their labor and its products—labor value—and producers and consumers who are able to pay for its use value to them or others. The distinctive feature of modern capitalism was the substitution of classes for individuals and industrialists who use the laboring classes. Exchange is no longer direct barter between laborers and consumers, but is invested in, produced, and exploited by a ...