Introduction to the Special Issue on Commoditization

Abstract

The environmental consequences of the overconsumption of natural resources are increasingly recognized. This article introduces the theme of this special issue of Bulletin of Science, Technology & Society: commoditization as a mechanism driving societies to overdevelop the economy of market goods and services and the relations of economic exchange; and underdevelop the economy of care and connection and the relations of community and ecosystems. The origins of the author’s development of a theory commoditization are described and traced to questions arising from experience at the 1992 Earth Summit. The traits associated with commodities are contrasted with those nonmarket goods that are inherently difficult to commoditize. The presence or absence of these traits defines “commodity potential.” A Darwinian-like selection pressure is described that privileges those things with high commodity potential. In the competition for the resources of development—energy and material resources and, human attention, ingenuity, and labor—those things with high commodity potential will always outcompete those with low commodity potential. The effects of this commoditization mechanism are explored in the articles in this special issue.