The Commodification of Everything

In Stages

1. The Parasitical Nature of Capitalism

You may have noticed me using the phrase “the commodification of everything” in previous articles to describe the all-encompassing grip capitalism has on human life and the human experience. In what is termed “late-stage capitalism”, our time has seen the restraints that were previously placed on capital post-World War II removed. Free from all restrictions, and due to its parasitical nature, capital was finally allowed to not just change the way we approach labour and wealth generation, but to infiltrate public services such as schools and hospitals, areas it had previously been denied. In essence, this new approach, commonly understood as neoliberalism, allowed the parasite to spread and infect every possible host.

Whether by design or not, this spread has gone beyond our institutions and public services, and into the human being itself. The human being, initially seen as a worker, then as a consumer, is now a product. From working to survive, to working to consume, the human being is now working, in some areas (think personal brand and “content creator”), to be consumed.

2. The Expansion of the Commodity Form into the Human Being – The Invention of the Personal Brand

Admittedly, this phenomenon of human being as product is not entirely novel. The construct of celebrity, for example, is a by-product of commodified art, such as pop music and cinema, and the utilisation of television as being primarily a tool of commodified entertainment. Indeed, the very notion of personal brand is tied into the construct of celebrity. Actors and pop stars all have a certain style or look. They are selling a specific product, even if that product is, in fact, an artistic endeavour, and even if that product is the actor or pop star themselves. Celebrities, then, are a one-person business. They create and sell the product, and the product is them. When we watch a gig, we are being sold a product. And this is another example of how capitalism pollutes any area in which it is introduced. By treating art as a means to make money and earn a living (in itself a perverse notion), the artist is at the mercy of their audience, as their audience is, essentially, a customer base.

But the commodification of the internet and of social media in the early years of our current century has further exacerbated the condition of individuals being consumed as products. Rather than becoming a product unwittingly, as I imagine is the case with pop stars and movie stars, individuals are now, as mentioned, actively seeking to become one. The very fact that personal brand is now in our vocabulary is evidence enough that this is a very real condition.

Yet the brand cannot operate without time, and because time cannot be earned without money, the brand has to ensure content is created, structured, and released in a way that attracts the largest possible paying audience. Consequently, even a labour of love becomes a job, and the individual, under these conditions, becomes a product, whose public persona is crafted with an implicit awareness of visibility and legibility within a marketplace of impressions. The boundaries between private life and public performance collapse. Introspection becomes content. Suffering becomes brand identity. Even rebellion, the fight against injustice and oppression, or so-called “anti-establishment” narratives, risk being appropriated, stylised, and circulated within a branded, or commodified, aesthetic.

3. Neoliberal Subjectivity, Manufactured Competitiveness, and a New Strain of Alienation

This commodification of human experience is facilitated by a neoliberal conception of a particular subject. Human beings, for example, are not treated as individuals living alongside one another in a society, but as competitors who are responsible for the management of their own life as if it were a business, or commodity. The urgings of educators, employment officers, and employers to “stand out from the crowd” is testament to this, and the competitive nature of simply getting a job is spoken about as if it was a natural way of life.

What emerges from this condition is not a functioning society, but instead a profoundly alienated one. The experience of disconnection from others, one's labour, community, and oneself takes on a new form, in which disaffection, loneliness, and trauma become a marketable commodity.

4. Conclusion – This Is Not Sustainable

Marx wrote that the commodity is “a very strange thing, abounding in metaphysical subtleties.” Today, those subtleties have proliferated. The commodity form no longer merely attaches to physical goods, it now attaches itself to all aspects of human experience, such as intimacy, identity, and even health. Digital platforms are the most obvious example of this shift, having become environments in which human behaviour, attention, and emotion are continuously mined and monetised.

All of this means that modern capitalism has achieved a degree of pervasiveness that no previous socio-economic system has gotten anywhere close to achieving. Its triumph is not merely economic, but ontological. What we have witnessed in our time is not simply the expansion of markets, but the conquering of human life, in all its relational, psychological, emotional, and imaginative dimensions.

If we are to find any way of combatting this perversion of human nature, and if we are to treat and eradicate the disease of capitalism, then we need to begin by understanding it. By understanding capitalism as being of a parasitical nature, we see that it is unsustainable and how, by allowing it control of all areas of human society, we are pandering to an inherently flawed notion that can only lead to catastrophe. Parasites depend on living systems to survive, but by feeding off them they weaken and ultimately destroy that system. By allowing the parasite to worm its way through human society, we have consequently put human society at risk. As with any widespread infection, the symptoms are severe and difficult to manage, let alone eradicate. Such is the urgency of our current situation.