| This question <209-4|98> overall <73|75> Belle: <582|119>. |
| Exam Question 207: The difference between the Money form and the General equivalent form is small; nevertheless it has important implications. Elaborate. |
| [74] Belle: local to global. The step from General equivalent to that of money is simply acceptance across a broad range of societies. This is important in its implications because of the fact that throughout Marx's previous arguments, especially in expanding on the Expanded value form which give rise to the General equivalent, he mentions how common the change in exchange values is on the market due to changes in the needs. Thus, the social relation for the consumer to the need of the goods is in a constant state of variability due to changes in their perception of the use value of the product to be exchanged for. |
| This variability in the perception of needed use value for the consumer creates a difficult environment to gain a general acceptance of a single commodity as a standard for currency/money. |
| Another fact in this acceptance of a single commodity is access to such a commodity. For example, if a single commodity is found relatively easily in one community yet is impossible to find in another, the community with the most of that resource would have such a competitive advantage as to force the community lacking such a resource to reject it its acceptance in its own interest. |
| Hans: The step is small, i.e., it is easy to understand. All that is required is that the same general equivalent is chosen always and everywhere. But you showed that in practice this small step is not a trivial thing to do. And even at Marx's time, some countries were on the gold standard and others on the silver standard because of these practical difficulties. |
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