Capitalization scholarship often treats capital as a living thing embodied in commodities.

Evidence

1. Current science and technology studies analyses of the bio-economy have engaged with the concept of capitalization in certain ways. For example, a number of scholars have theorized the capitalization of life, vitality, biology, hope, and so on. (e.g., Waldby 2000; Rose 2007; Kent 2012; Sunder Rajan 2012; Martin 2015). However, it is not always clear how this concept is being deployed, analytically speaking, by these scholars. It seems to be used in the sense of describing the transformation of something (e.g., life, tissue, etc.) into capital, although this then tends to treat capital (and value) as a ‘‘living thing’’ embodied in the commodity form; this is evidenced by the development of concepts like ‘‘lively capital’’ (Sunder Rajan 2012). — Kean Birch, Rethinking Value in the Bio-economy, 121

Categorization

• DEFINE: Distinguishes the ‘capitalization’ concept as used in STS bio-economy scholarship from a market-maker definition of value.
• XREF: Connects to the reader’s assetization debate — this framing of capitalization-as-embodied-lively-capital is precisely what assetization theory challenges.

Related

• Capitalization builds the thing being valued at the same time it appraises that thing (similarity 0.85)
• Value in the bio-economy is better theorized through assetization than commodification. (similarity 0.84)
• Value is not inherent in things but achieved through capitalization practices. (similarity 0.84)
• Analyzing bio-economy value requires focusing on assets rather than commodities (similarity 0.83)
• Value in the bio-economy is produced through valuation practices, not intrinsic to biological matter. (similarity 0.82)
• Understanding value as assetization requires analyzing political economy, not just applying STS to finance. (similarity 0.81)
• Bio-economy valuation practices are not peculiar to that sector. (similarity 0.81)
• Assetization supersedes commodification and marketization as the key analysis of financialized capitalism. (similarity 0.80)
• Understanding value requires studying the assets underpinning firm valuation, not commodity production. (similarity 0.80)
• Assetization remains an unrecognized analytical entry point in financialization research (similarity 0.79)
• Assetization better captures financialized capitalism than commodification or marketization concepts. (similarity 0.78)
• Value in the bio-economy is managed through asset governance, not product sales. (similarity 0.78)