ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses some of the most emotionally charged concepts in the English language: racism, sexism, and oppression. It proposes a way of understanding the links between commoditization and oppression. Commoditization creates a hierarchy of value where what is most readily marketable receives the largest share of society’s resources. The origins of oppression lie in the history of conquest and enslavement and in the commoditization of money. Conquest and imperialism hastened the commoditization of money, while commoditization enhanced the power and mobility of conquerors. The poverty of rural and indigenous people, although too often abject and devastating, is also mythologized as a direct result of the confusions of commoditization. The lands and resources of indigenous people were colonized during the period of expropriation and wealth accumulation known as colonialism and imperialism. In a commoditized economy only the well-to-do have the privilege of utilizing their skills in the noncommoditized sectors of the economy, as leisure time or volunteer activity.
