What does it mean to say that “human labour is a social substance”?

This is in reference to the first paragraph of chapter 3 section 3 of Capital Vol 1.

I understand the concept of value being something social (i.e. value guides what the exchange value of a commodity is during trading. Trading being a social activity). However, I don’t know what Marx means by saying labour being a social substance. Does he just mean that labour is something that acts as a function of society? Or is it something deeper than that?

Thank you

  • @TheoryNoobOP
    1•4 years ago

    So after talking with some people about it and thinking about it for a while, this is kind of my conclusion:

    Human labour is considered a social substance because it is the underlying activity that allows commodities to be recognised socially. This is because for a commodity to be recognised socially, it has to have a use-value. To have a use-value recognised, it has to have useful labour put into it.

    Or something like that. Feel free to improve this interpretation :sunrise over mountains: