Term: reification

reification: n.  the process of making something into an object. thingifying it.

reify: v.  to make something into an object/thing. to thingify.


Where the term comes from:

Marx, as interpreted by Hungarian literary critic  Lukács (Loo - cotch!), who says "reification" is a kind of "alienation" (Marxist term).  In Marxism, alienation is pretty much anything that screws over the working class and makes them "alienated."  For Lukacs, reification, a.k.a. thingification screws over people in capitalist societies by making everything connected to money and profit.  Refication turns things like "friendship," and "personal relationships" into concrete, financially-motivated connections that have similarities to other, more tangible systems of trade.  It makes things that should be beyond economic influence part of it, as an economic, capitalist profit-linked "thing."

Why its used:

Because "to thingify" doesn't sound cool or intelligent in English.  In German, it apparently does though -- Verdinglichung literally means "turning into a thing."

"Reification" as a term also has applications in computer science and statistics, but let's not get into that now!

Use it in a sentence!:

The reification of her Ohioan cultural identity in the marketplace undermined its intense, inherent personal meaning for Sally.

In the novels of Jane Austen, the reification of Regency-era British romance sheds lights on the economic concerns of the aristocracy.