What is "decommodification"

Decommodification is the strength of social entitlements and citizens' degree of immunization from market dependency.

Decommodification is the process of viewing utilities as an entitlement, rather than as a commodity that must be paid or traded for. In effect, a decommodified product removes itself from the market, and can be associated with welfarism. An example of decommodification would be the removal of tolls from a toll road or the internet before becoming mostly supported by private ISPs.

Decommodification has been identified as a strategy for sustainable consumption that acts one level up on the institutional context of consumption in Western societies as compared to strategies such as eco-efficiency and eco-sufficiency. Thus, while the eco-efficiency strategy targets the product and the eco-sufficiency strategy targets the person (the consumer as decision-maker), the decommodification strategy targets the institutional context in which consumption takes place. It aims to decrease the influence of commodities and to limit the effect of commercialisation.