| This question <54|30> overall <6|8> Rollingrock: <6|12>. |
| Question 68: What is the difference between labor and labor power? |
| [7] Rollingrock: Labor vs. Labor Power Marx defines labor power as follow: Labor power, or labor capacity, the aggregate of those mental and physical capabilities existing in the physical form, the living personality, of a human being, capabilities which he sets in motion whenever he produces a use value of any kind. |
| Clearly, labor power exists in any productive human society, not simply in capitalism. |
| Labor is, first of all, a process between man and nature, a process by which man, through his own actions, mediates, regulates and controls the metabolism between himself and nature. Labor, like labor power, is not peculiar to capitalism. |
| Thus, according to Marx, labor is an intentional activity. This distinguishes it from animal behaviour and non-intentional human activity. Work in the household, for example, is still labor, even if it is neither “abstract labor”, nor carried out within capitalist relations. Labor is a human characteristic, it is not a characteristic of a specific mode of production. |
| Hans: Well written, but there is a puzzle. You stress that labor power exists in all societies. Doesn't that mean that “abstract labor” exists in all societies too? “Abstract labor” is nothing but the expenditure of human labor power. Doesn't household work use up human labor power? |
| I think you are too risk-averse. Try some of the harder questions, I think you will get better grades this way. |
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