First, the critique of money, from the 1844 Manuscripts, is
perhaps best read as a critique of commodification: the fact
that more and more of the things we value are turned into
commodities to be bought and sold in the marketplace. Selling
children for adoption over the internet is a prominent
recent example, but other examples abound. Top-class amateur
sport barely exists any more, while stories about football
clubs appear on the business pages every day. Education is
increasingly driven by issues about financial resources and
accounting. An enormous army of people are employed to
care for the infant children and elderly parents of others.
‘Value’ now almost means ‘price’, or even ‘bargain price’.
Less and less is given out of love, an instinctive sense of duty,
or goodwill, and more and more is sold or exchanged for
economic advantage