MARX’S CONCEPT OF MONEY
Money is one of the most significant social facts linking all people today and Marx is
widely acknowledged as the nineteenth-century thinker with the single greatest impact on
social developments in the twentieth century. This study links the two in an examination
of Marx’s unique commodity theory of money.
Anitra Nelson places Marx’s theory of money within the wider context of his
philosophical and political as well as economic thought. In particular, she links Marx’s
concept of money with some of his other key concepts, such as ‘alienation’ and ‘abstract
labour’. Offering a comprehensive survey of Marx’s writings on money, Nelson
concludes by reviewing commentaries and contro-versies on the subject since his time.
Marx’s Concept of Money benefits from a broad interdisciplinary approach, examining
an economic concept from historical, sociological, philosophical and political
perspectives. This much-needed work makes an important scholarly contribution to the
recently rekindled debate around Marx’s theories of value and money.
Anitra Nelson is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at RMIT University, Melbourne,
Australia, investigating models for ecologically sustainable development and the
difficulties of pricing the environment. She researched her PhD in the Philosophy
Department at La Trobe University after gradu-ating with first class honours in History
and Latin American Studies from the same university. She has taught Sociology,
Anthropology, Political Studies and Latin American History through film.
CONTENTS
Preface vii
Acknowledgements x
Abbreviations xi
1 Introduction: The context of Marx’s ‘money’ in brief 1
2 An alienation theory of money 4
3 Monetary system, credit system, crisis 19
4 The Grundrisse 35
5 A Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy 68
6 Money and the advance of capital 101
7 The money commodity, commodity fetishism and scientific dialectics 132
8 Conclusion: Marxian responses to Marx’s ‘money’ 162
Notes 181
Bibliography 206
Index 219