물상화와 <자본론>I의 이론 구조

Abstract

The aim of this article is to explain theoretical structure of Book I of Capital from the viewpoint of theory of reification. First, this article reveals the theoretical structure of Part One of Book I of Capital, which consists of three dimensions: reification in Chapter 1 “The Commodity”, personification of reified things in Chapter 2 “The process of exchange”, and institution or law in Chapter 3 “Money, or the Circulation of Commodities”. Within society based on private labor, reification necessarily emerges. Further, within reified social relations, personification of reified things inevitably occurs, and the logic of reified thing subsumes and transforms the personality of carrier of reified thing. However, since the logic of reified thing can never make this personality conform to itself completely, the reified thing can’t function fully without regulations by various institutions and laws. Second, this article discusses the whole of Book I of Capital as developments of reification. In Part Three “The Production of Absolute Surplus-Value” and Four “The Production of Relative Surplus-Value”, Marx deals with the reification of process of production that wage labor generates. Here, the relation between producer and means of production is inverted. In Part Seven “The Process of Accumulation of Capital”, Marx handles the reification of process of reproduction that wage labor reproduces, in which the worker exists to satisfy the need of the existing values for valorization. Finally, this article argues about the crucial role of class struggle in transforming the capitalist mode of production.