Reification or The Anxiety of Late Capitalism

Reification is the process by which an idea is transformed into a thing. A useful metaphor for the effects of capitalism on society, it offers a materialist or physical explanation for a wide range of ideological phenomena from branding and national identity, to racial and sexual prejudice, to recent concepts like spin and globalization. At a time when such phenomena define our world to an unprecedented degree, the concept of reification ought to enjoy greater currency than ever. Yet recent thinkers have expressed deep reservations about the concept and the term has become marginalized in the humanities and social sciences. Eschewing this trend, Timothy Bewes opens up a new formulation of the theory, claiming that, in this highly reflective age of late capitalism, reification itself is inseparable from the anxiety people feel towards it. Drawing upon work by Lukacs, Kierkegaard, Proust, and Melville, among others, he outlines a theory that promises to close the gap between politics and truth, art and experience, and philosophy and real life.

Timothy Bewes currently teaches at Brown University