>>804014>>804005>You could grind up every commodity in the world and not find one particle of "value.">It also doesnt even exist in this physical realm.Absolute retardation. Value does exist in this material realm, even though it doesn't comprise of a physical substance. The relations between physical substances are also material, even though they are not physical. They surely don't exist in an ideal realm, because they can be observed in material reality. Exchange value is a measure of the socially necessary labour time that went into creating a commodity, emphasis on socially necessary because it embodies within itself the very real physical labour of workers who were organized to create or reconfigure it. The transformation of that commodity from raw materials and/or other commodities into a new one itself embodies a value addition, because it brought a change in the relations of the commodity's constituent components. And this value addition exists materially, despite not being a physical substance.
For example, a piece of steel can be made into a hammer. A set amount of labour, commodities and capital (wood, fuel, furnace, anvil etc.) went into the transformation. You can't physically search for the particles of value added, because they are embodied within the new relations between the physical components of the commodity (the steel's shape and material properties have been changed through forging and annealing, changing the configuration of its crystalline microstructure).
TL;DR Value is embodied within the transformation of raw materials to commodities. It is material even though it is not a physical substance.