Citation

Borgmann A. Camb. J. Econ. 2010; 34(1): 27-35.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2010, Cambridge Political Economy Society, Publisher Oxford University Press)

DOI

10.1093/cje/ben055

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Is it possible to have a wide and deep theory of technology? Commodification provides a helpful clue. It refers to the width of the economy and suggests incisive criticism. Although it is economically precise, its moral and cultural force needs explication. In that sense it refers to the detachment of a thing or practice from its context of engagement with a time, a place, and a community. Engagement is replaced by a technological machinery. The conjunction of commodity and machinery sheds light on consumption and labour and on the discontents of life in an advanced industrial society. It also suggests a disjunctive view of the future--still more commodification or a recovery of engagement.