Chapter 3 The commodity

In Marx, a commodity is a thing brought to the market for sale at a profit where it satisfies a want rather than a need and embodies labour power and is purchased by the consumer as if it were a fetish. The term commodification did not come into usage until late in the 1970s but is now thrown around with some frequency, sometimes casually with imprecise meaning, sometimes more pointedly. Frequently it is used to indicate the shift of social activity previously conducted outside the market or commercial world generally, into the world of trade, money or exchange. Typical are these resolutions emanating from the headquarters of the ESIB, The National Unions of Students in Europe. The ESIB resolves to:Promote on an international level increased consciousness as to the current and possible future negative implications ofcommodification.Analyse in further detail the implications and consequences ofcommodificationof education as well as the manner in which ESIB may positively contribute towards ensuring that education remains a public good.Encourage student unions and decision makers in higher education to involve themselves in the discussion relating to thecommodificationof education.3