Key Arguments

• Commodities, being things, cannot themselves go to market or resist appropriation by force, so their 'guardians'—the possessors of commodities—must act for them.
• For objects to relate to each other as commodities, their guardians must relate to one another 'as persons whose will resides in those objects', agreeing not to appropriate others’ commodities except by mutual consent.
• This consent-based relation is a juridical relation in the form of contract, which 'mirrors the economic relation' and whose content is determined by that economic relation.
• Within exchange, persons 'exist for one another merely as representatives and hence owners, of commodities', i.e. their social role is defined by commodity-ownership.
• More generally, the 'characters who appear on the economic stage are merely personifications of economic relations; it is as the bearers of these economic relations that they come into contact with each other,' indicating Marx’s methodological view that legal and personal roles express economic structures.

Source Quotes

Chapter 2: The Process of Exchange Commodities cannot themselves go to market and perform exchanges in their own right. We must, therefore, have recourse to their guardians, who are the possessors of commodities. Commodities are things, and therefore lack the power to resist man.

If they are unwilling, he can use force; in other words, he can take possession of them. In order that these objects may enter into relation with each other as commodities, their guardians must place themselves in relation to one another as persons whose will resides in those objects, and must behave in such a way that each does not appropriate the commodity of the other, and alienate his own, except through an act to which both parties consent. The guardians must therefore recognize each other as owners of private property.

In order that these objects may enter into relation with each other as commodities, their guardians must place themselves in relation to one another as persons whose will resides in those objects, and must behave in such a way that each does not appropriate the commodity of the other, and alienate his own, except through an act to which both parties consent. The guardians must therefore recognize each other as owners of private property. This juridical relation, whose form is the contract, whether as part of a developed legal system or not, is a relation between two wills which mirrors the economic relation. The content of this juridical relation (or relation of two wills) is itself determined by the economic relation.

The content of this juridical relation (or relation of two wills) is itself determined by the economic relation. Here the persons exist for one another merely as representatives and hence owners, of commodities. As we proceed to develop our investigation, we shall find, in general, that the characters who appear on the economic stage are merely personifications of economic relations; it is as the bearers of these economic relations that they come into contact with each other.

Here the persons exist for one another merely as representatives and hence owners, of commodities. As we proceed to develop our investigation, we shall find, in general, that the characters who appear on the economic stage are merely personifications of economic relations; it is as the bearers of these economic relations that they come into contact with each other. What chiefly distinguishes a commodity from its owner is the fact that every other commodity counts for it only as the form of appearance of its own value.

Key Concepts

• Commodities cannot themselves go to market and perform exchanges in their own right. We must, therefore, have recourse to their guardians, who are the possessors of commodities.
• In order that these objects may enter into relation with each other as commodities, their guardians must place themselves in relation to one another as persons whose will resides in those objects
• The guardians must therefore recognize each other as owners of private property. This juridical relation, whose form is the contract, whether as part of a developed legal system or not, is a relation between two wills which mirrors the economic relation.
• Here the persons exist for one another merely as representatives and hence owners, of commodities.
• we shall find, in general, that the characters who appear on the economic stage are merely personifications of economic relations; it is as the bearers of these economic relations that they come into contact with each other.

Context

Opening of Chapter 2, where Marx derives the legal form of exchange (private property and contract) from the economic relation between commodities and outlines his method of treating agents as personifications of economic categories.