Abstrakte Arbeit und Anerkennung

Recent studies in Marx’s theory of value unanimously emphasize that abstract labour is a social quality of the products of labour. However, the meaning of social remains quite ambiguous. In this article, I would like to show that Marx, too, already thought of diff erent matters when he underscored the social foundation of the substance of value: (i) its connection to the socially necessary labour time, (ii) its connection to social needs, and (iii) the historicality of the commodityproducing society. I think we ought to take Marx’s argument a step further. His theory of value would be more persuasive still if the aforementioned meanings of social were complemented by yet another one: (iv) social recognition. Concludingly, I shall discuss if or to what extent this proposition might be substantiated by refl ections on recognition in Marx’s Capital itself. 82 Abstrakte Arbeit und Anerkennung