Marxs' conception of man's powers and of what is required for their
realization provides the basis for his claim that man's activity (work,
creativity) must be done with and for others, and, consequently, that
he is a social being. Marx says that by 'social' he means 'the coopera-
tion of several individuals, no matter under what conditions, in what
manner, and to what end'. ¹ This cooperation may be active, con-
scious and purposeful, as in production, or it may be passive, un-
conscious and without apparent purpose, as in using a language
which other people understand. 'Cooperation', then, covers all the
forms in and through which man relates to his fellows; but Marx
also uses it in a narrow sense where it refers to joint activity aimed at
achieving mutually accepted ends.

'Society', the last in Marx's trio of all-group expressions, is
defined as 'the sum of the relations in which . . . individuals stand to
one another'. ² These relations are sometimes treated as existing
externally to man, as when Marx calls society (the actual forms taken
by cooperation) 'the product of man's reciprocal activities'; and
sometimes as lying within man himself, as when he says, 'Society
itself, that is man himself in his social relations'. ³ And as people are
seen related to each other not only directly but through their objects,
the term 'society' at the limits of its definition covers both man and
the world he inhabits.

According to Marx, people are invariably in a close relationship
with one another because 'their needs -- therefore their nature --
and the manner of satisfying them creates between them reciprocal
links (sexual relations, exchange, division of labor)'. ⁴ So much is this
the case, he maintains, that 'the history of an individual in particular
cannot be separated from the history of preceding or contemporary
individuals'. ⁵ It is man's need for other men and what they can do to
aid him in the realization of his powers, whatever their condition,
that holds civil society together in all periods. This glue binding

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