In this capitalist society, we lead our life purchasing a plethora of economic goods in exchange for money. We buy tangible goods such as iPhones, Ford cars, Nike t-shirts, and McDonald's hamburgers and intangible services and knowledge like mobile and internet service, medical care, and education. It seems that we can get any goods or services in the markets using our free will and paying our money. In Marxist political theory, the goods and services we utilize in exchange for money are called "commodities." In markets, objects become commodities when their property, or temporal control, is transferred between the individual or collective actors, and a process that crystallizes the commodity's value into a price. For example, if the air we breathe was captured and sold as a can of oxygen, it would be commodified by extending it a legal title that could be assigned to other individuals, separating it from the seller, and monetizing it with an exchange-value.

Though there is a lot of diversity in how things turn into commodities, researchers have noticed some commonalities that mark each commodification process.

1. Privatization

The first characteristic of commodification is privatization. Privatization is to assign a legal title to the entity conferring ownership to an individual or a collective, such as a corporation. Privatization sets the stage for that entity to be traded in a marketplace. Suppose the entity previously existed in the public sphere. In that case, the privatization process indicates a profound change in the relationship that the titleholder and others come to have with the newly privatized entity. For instance, this transformation produces drastic changes in social relations, access, use, and disposal rights associated with the entity.

Neoliberalism has immensely contributed to the emergence of markets as the most preferred platform for negotiating social relations in advanced capitalist societies. Therefore, the privatization of entities in the public sphere has tremendously accelerated in the neoliberal era. So much so that even privatization of governmental functions has become increasingly noncontroversial in such societies. Thus, public education is currently under grave threat of being privatized in the United States and many other advanced capitalist societies.

2. Prioritization of Exchange-Value over Use-Value

Marx distinguished between the 'use-value' and the 'exchange-value' of the commodity. Use-value is the direct utility that one receives from the item's consumption, inextricably tied to the commodity's physical properties. The use-value of a commodity depends on the needs and wants of the people who consume it.

In contrast, exchange-value is the objectified value realized when an item is traded in the market, valued in terms of prices, using money. Whereas consuming the benefit of a good generates its use-value, it is a return on investment that produces the exchange value.

The second feature of commodification is the prioritization of exchange-value over use-value. Usually, when a market system allocates a commodity, its exchange-value becomes more important than its use-value.

The prioritizing of exchange-value over use-value can lead to ever-increasing production and consumption. Whereas usage based on use-value is limited to what one can use and need, the possibilities of exchange are unlimited due to the desire to accumulate profits and show off to others. Prioritizing use-value produces more ecologically sustainable relations with the nonhuman world. Therefore, commodification's second feature prioritizes exchange value, which is directly culpable for the ecological catastrophes caused by capitalist neoliberal societies worldwide.

3. Externalization of Labor and Dehumanization

Commodification's third element is labor's externalization, coupled with the dehumanization of the working class. Externalizing the laborer's product means their work becomes an external object that exists independently and alien to them

The market transaction physically and morally separates the worker from the commodity her or his labor produced, resulting in alienation. Legal and material boundaries further externalized the commodity from the worker. Goods become detached from their creators to exchange them for monetary value individually. Externalizing commodities from their creators effectively hides the private labor and all the accompanying social relations that produced the product, which is also not considered in market valuation. As a result of externalization, we begin to treat commodities as if their value was inherent in the objects themselves, rather than in the real labor expended to produce the item. The separation of commodity producers and commodity consumers, where the commodity consumers cannot 'see' what is 'contained' in the physical form of the commodities they purchase, estranges and dehumanizes workers' relationships with the fruits of their labor. Marx argued this was an element of commodity fetishism, the false perception that economic relations mediated through the market, not social relationships among people, produce an item's value. As a result, the subjective, abstract aspects of economic value appear as objective, real things, which people believe represent intrinsic value.

The externalization of goods for their producers dehumanizes laborers, obscures production's social conditions, and falsely positions exchange as the generator of value.

In capitalist societies, neoliberal policies and discourse increasingly function to commodify education, a service traditionally considered a public good outside of the market. Commodification occurs both inside and outside of public school. The process alters the entire education system, including the conceptualization of knowledge, teaching, and students. The market-oriented approach to education regards education as a commodity, students, and parents as consumers, teachers as sellers, and school as markets. Thus commodification is a multi-scalar phenomenon that dramatically reworks the terms of education. Schools once considered public goods that should be equally available to all citizens, morph into markets where parents and students compete to access the highest quality knowledge.

Commodification of Learning

Society increasingly perceives education as a private good that students must obtain to become qualified workers and move up the socio-economic ladder. As a result, other goals associated with learning, such as developing the whole child or preparing citizens for a democratic society, become less critical. Economism then defines the purpose and potential of education. The market-infused approach to education regards knowledge as a commodity and school as a marketplace where knowledge is exchanged based on monetized value.

The increasing emphasis on STEM education (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) is an example. In 2009, to gain international competitiveness in science and technology, the Obama administration initiated an educational reform emphasizing STEM education. In 2010, the Obama administration secured more than $1.2 billion federal budget and partnered with the largest technology companies in America, including Apple, Facebook, Google, AT&T, and Microsoft. Now, the Trump administration released a report detailing the White House’s five-year-vision on boosting STEM education. Furthermore, U.S. corporations invest $350 billion annually into STEM education.

The extreme government emphasis on STEM education to enhance economic competitiveness and corporate actors' profusion within education signals an underlying neoliberal agenda.

The market-infused approach to education treats knowledge as a commodity whose value is measured by comparing the investment of acquiring a degree with the possibility of economic profit the degree affords. Instead of learning to become an engaged citizen or carrier of culturally valued knowledge, students and parents are encouraged to focus mostly on increasing students’ human, social, economic, or academic capital. Human capital is an intangible asset produced through education, training, intelligence, skills, and health, creating a financial value out of a worker's experience and skills. Academic capital refers to an individual's education and educational background that can help them gain a more advantageous spot in society.

This displacement of knowledge's use-value for exchange-value narrows schools' mission to strictly job training as if they were primarily vocational centers.

For example, many politicians recommend funding state universities based on the job placement rates of their graduates. Meanwhile, K-12 students study hard to enter into Ivy League universities, medical or laws which guarantee high human, social, economic, or academic capital after graduation.

4.Commodified Students

Issue of Accountability

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