Turning from political economy in a narrow sense, it is apparent that the commodity-producing form constitutes the most effective possible veil over … - Paul Sweezy

Society is more than a number of individuals. It is a number of individuals among whom certain definite and more or less stable relations exist.

Discussions of methodology in economics, as in other fields, are likely to be tiresome and unrewarding. Nevertheless, to avoid the problem altogether is to risk serious misunderstanding.

In possessing use value a commodity is in no way peculiar. Objects of human consumption in every age and in every form of society likewise possess use value. Use value is an expression of a certain relation between the consumer and the object consumed. Political economy, on the other hand, is a social science of the relations between people.