Money is a social relation

Money continues to present theoretical and conceptual difficulties for mainstream neoclassical micro- and macroeconomics. In most treatments it is ''neutral,'' as either: a symbolic ''veil'' over an underlying ''real'' economy; a special ''commodity'' with utility for the rational maximizing individual; or as part of a model of aggregate economic ''variables.'' The methodological assumptions of these approaches cannot account for the fundamental characteristics of money as a measure of value and acceptable means of payment. Many of these diffculties are resolved if money is conceptualized as a structure of social relations.