On human commoditization and resistance: A model based upon Buchenwald concentration camp

This inquiry proposes Kopytoff's notion of commoditization-as-process as al l emerging issue ill marketing. It documents the transformation of persons from the status of individuals to that of undifferentiated commodities, who are then used for their possessors' purposes. Data are drawn from first-pe rson accounts provided by survivors of Buchenwald concentration camp. A cen tral thesis is that willful acts of consumer behavior are a primary means b y which commoditization is resisted and selfhood maintained. The closing se ction includes a brief discussion of additional applications within the con sumer domain. (C) 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.