Exchange value arises from universalized exchange relations of commodity, replacing value in use as the essential determination of a commodity. Exchange value is externalized into tangible money, which, by virtue of its role and function in the social - economic sphere, further reveals a power that governs people’s consciousness and behavior. The relations between people are abstracted as relations between exchange values, which implies an invisible ruling power in capitalist society that is not directly observable. In the capitalist economic system, monetary power possesses important characteristics such as typical impersonality, pure abstractness, universal social interactivity, and deep anti-humanity. Precisely because of these characteristics of monetary power, the scattered members of society in a commodity economy are connected with each other, thus shaping an abstract social structure that serves as the precondition for everyone’s survival. In the critique of the internal paradoxes and contradictions of the abstract social structure of capitalism, the critique of Marxist political economy is committed to deconstructing this social structure, so as to achieve a thorough transformation of the form of capitalist civilization.

　　Editor: Zhong Yao  LiuTingting

　　From:Seeker.2025.No.1.