reify
REE-uh-fy
/ˈriː.ɪ.faɪ/
To treat an abstract idea, concept, or relationship as if it were a concrete, physical thing.
In Marxist theory (via György Lukács), reification occurs when social relationships between people take on the form of objective things or market laws beyond human control.
The story behind the word. Constructed directly from Latin 'res' (a physical thing) and '-fy' (to make), 'reify' literally means 'thing-ify.' Hungarian philosopher György Lukács popularized reification in 1923 to show how capitalist economies make subjective human labor feel like unchangeable physical laws of nature.
Word relationships
- objectify: 'Objectify' often means treating a person as a physical object, while 'reify' means treating an abstract concept as a real concrete thing.
- personify: 'Personify' gives human traits to non-humans, whereas 'reify' gives concrete reality to abstract concepts.
- abstract: Abstracting moves concrete details into generalized mental concepts, the exact reverse of reification.
Commonly confused with
- ratify: Ratify means formally approving a legal treaty or agreement; reify means making an abstract concept seem like a concrete object.
Word family
- reification (noun): The act of treating an abstraction as a physical thing.
Collocations
- reify abstract concepts
- tendency to reify
- reify social class
- reify economic structures
Example sentences
- "To say 'the market decided to raise prices' is to reify market forces as if they were a living person." Sociological analysis of economic terminology.
- "Bureaucracies can reify abstract rules into rigid, unquestionable procedures divorced from their original purpose." Philosophical treatise on human consciousness.
Memory hook
RE-IFY: To THING-ify (res = thing). Turning a concept into a thing. Turning an abstract idea into a solid thing.
When not to use
Do not use when making a simple tangible prototype of a physical machine.
Fun facts
- When people talk about 'Mother Nature being angry', they are engaging in a poetic form of reification!
Related words
Explore more words
commodify, objectification, conceptualize, abstract, anthropomorphic, materiality
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