ABSTRACT
This chapter argues that money can be viewed as a social relation of power only if it is contextualised within the wider dynamics of capital accumulation. It distinguishes between economism with which Marxian theory is conventionally but incorrectly charged, and a historical materialist method of deconstruction. The chapter aims at demystifying money as an economic category or thing by drawing on the tools of historical materialism. This chapter explains how inequality and exploitation become distorted in the illusions of equality, freedom and democracy that define capitalist society, or what Marx refers to as the community of money. It discusses how Marx's concept of historical materialism moves people's understanding of money beyond economism. The chapter demonstrates that a rigorous understanding of the social power that inherent to money in capitalism must be understood in the sphere of production, as opposed to the realm of exchange.
