Abstract
This article investigates Karl Marx’ reflection on the reification of social relations in the economic and political development of the capitalist system according to the notion of reification (Verdinglichung) established in Book III of The Capital. This is an attempt to resurge the subject in the current sociological-legal debate which is being developed in many places of the world. We consider the concept of reification as a concept-diagnosis, or at least an indispensable element for the diagnosis of a historical epoch. This is due, in fact, to the fact that such a debate deals with a phenomenon related to the forms of consciousness and the sets of social practices inspired by it, which can make unique a certain historical time. Such a thematic field has been abandoned for years, at least since the 1980s, by the social and legal sciences. It must be said, however, that this topic was central to the German, Austrian and Latin American debate in the 1920s and 1930s. Thus, this paper starts from this historical need to propose an update of the concept of reification, which can be updated for modern times, providing Law a precious ontological tool to explain its phenomenal forms of modernity.
Keywords:
Karl Marx; Law; Verdinglichung; Reification; Social Relations; Legal Relations