Question

What does it mean when culture is commodified?

What is the impact on intercultural communication?

Explain and provide an example.

Answer 1

Commodification means the transformation of relationships, formerly untainted by commerce, into commercial relationships, relationships of exchange, of buying and selling.

When a culture is commodified normally its artifacts are exploited and put on sale. This could be the basic tourist that goes to Hawaii and buys a ukulele or Hawaiian tribal mask  for example because its merely cool. Commodification of culture is the practice in which cultural experiences are produced and consumed for the market

Example of Commodification - Socialization is the process by which activity and relationships move out of a private, or in general more restricted, domain into a broader sphere of action. In particular, “socialization” is used in reference to the transformation of private businesses into public enterprises, or on the other hand, moving labour which is taking place within a closed, domestic domain into the general economic sphere. One of the most important instances of socialization has been the socialization of women’s labour. From time immemorial, women have carried out certain kinds of labour within a system of kinship relationships, and more recently, in the industrialized countries, within very small family groups. Beginning from around the time of the Second World War, domestic appliances produced by the manufacturing industry began to become effective as labour saving devices; later on, with the establishment of the “welfare state” in many countries and the growth of the service sector, women more and more found employment in the broader economy, while labour-saving devices, manufactured foodstuffs, and services like health and education began meet needs formerly met by their domestic labour. That is, the system of needs and labour, which was formerly confined to the domestic sphere, was shifted out into the broader social arena. The socialization of women’s labour was equally the feminization of the economy