| This question <135|135> overall <127-4|128-1> Dragon: <462|142-12>. |
| Question 238: How, why, and through what is a commodity money? |
| [128] Dragon: Commodities as Money Comprehending that money is a commodity should not be too difficult. How, why, and through what that a commodity is money is a little more complicated to understand. Here I will give my best attempt to answer this question. |
| How a commodity is money is because of its ability to be exchanged for money. Marx says that commodities are raw materials or finished goods which are produced for sale or exchange. This sale or exchange of commodities may be in the form of money. |
| Why a commodity is money is because it is a social expression of value. One major function of money is to serve as the form of appearance of the value of commodities. In commodity-producing societies, the nature of that society is reflected in the consciousness of its members. One widespread view of commodity-producing societies is the property of money to generate value and yield interest. Historically, the social mechanism of commodity-producing societies has been a deep interest in money. Because money has always been a social expression, the value of a commodity can be expressed as money. |
| Through what a commodity is money is seen through the process of exchange and the amount of labor that goes into the production of commodities. As exchange value grows and people become more dependent on exchange, so does the power of money. This relationship between money and exchange value make a commodity money. Just as the actual exchange of commodities creates exchange value, the exchange value creates money. The products of labor into commodities are transformed into money. This differentiation of a commodity into money develops because the products of labor into commodities are equated into money. |
| Labor becomes a commodity; the commodity becomes exchange value; the exchange value of commodities is represented by monetary power; monetary power arises in the form of money. This development generates the increasing power of money and the notion of a commodity as money. |
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