---
id: reification
title: reification
type: concept
tags: [social-ecology]
created: 2026-06-22
---

# reification

## Core idea
 Turning an abstract idea into a concrete thing. Georg Lukács's theory of reification is the process by which capitalist society transforms human relations, social actions, and consciousness into independent, thing-like objects. It extends Karl Marx’s commodity fetishism across all areas of life, causing people to view social structures as fixed natural laws rather than human creations.

## Links