reification
Americannoun
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the act of treating something abstract, such as an idea, relation, system, quality, etc., as if it were a concrete object.
Defining “home” as if it were just a roof over one’s head, instead of the center of a web of relationships, leads in turn to the reification of homelessness.
-
the act of treating a person as a thing; objectification.
The conference dealt with the issue of prostitution and the reification and trafficking of women.
Etymology
Origin of reification
First recorded in 1845–50; equivalent Latin rē(s) “thing” + -i- ( def. ) + -fication ( def. ), perhaps formed by analogy with deification ( def. )
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Everything is rated according to its monetary value and turned into an object of consumption — nothing appears to escape its regressive spiral of commodification, social atomization, and reification.
From Salon
It wasn’t silly, either; hope springs eternal from the human breast, and what’s a market if not the reification of people’s hopes and desires?
From The Verge
The third strategy of division you discuss is reification — in this case, meaning treating people like objects.
From Salon
The reification of science into practical, problem-solving medicines and technologies drives economies and lifts up humanity.
From Nature
Dangerous demagogues use reification to position opposition as less than human, thereby denying their standing to criticize or object.
From Salon
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
