Re: Reification/commodification

cfran who-is-at micron.net
Tue, 17 Sep 96 14:03 MDT

So reification is the consequence of commodification? And commodification is
the consequence of capital accumulation and the social relations therein? I
have been working under the impression that commodification is a socially
manifested form of the mind's "fetish" for reification (and vice versa).
But, that reification (as the general function of tending to see
abstractions or relations as objects) is a necessary component of the
individual's dual nature of content/process, form/function, sign/signified,
etc. nature. Is seeing an object as a commodity the same as seeing a fellow
subject as a commodity?

Paul Dillon writes:
>Thus reification is a social process that objectifies consciousness for the
>subject itself, not an individual process that objectifies subjective
>qualities of consciousness.

Are not the implications of Vygotsky's work precisely that the external
"class determined" roles and identities become, through experience,
psychologically internalized and hence a source of subjective perception,
representation and development?

Isn't it the case that sociocultural interpretations of mental phenomena do
not systematically distingusih between "psychological" (as in-the-head
private phenomena)and social (economic relations, power, etc)frameworks?




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Chris Francovich
Alternative Educational Services
Boise, Idaho
email: cfran who-is-at micron.net
http://netnow.micron.net/~cfran
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