| This question <98|98> overall <97|100> Charlie: <21|120>. |
| Question 91: Take those things which we found out from the analysis of value, and describe how the linen itself tells them to us. Can the coat tell us a similar story? |
| [98] Charlie: The story of Commodities Linen begins its story with the worth of itself. This value of linen is purely the worth that it has innate to its qualities and character, independent from social relevance, exchange value, or abstract labor value. Linen proceeds to tell its story of value through the abstract labor poured into the production of linen. |
| Only abstract labor transforms the value to the good. Without abstract labor the good has no use-value whatsoever. Through labor, a good reaps its use-value. The linen has use-value because there has been abstract labor time poured into it, and “they are useful object and carriers of value.” Moreover, linen emerges from private production with use-value alone. This use-value is born into the commodity. It does not change when it is transfered into society, it simply has use-value because it has abstract labor time poured into it. Only through the interaction with other commodities in the market can the linen tell its exchange value. |
| Linen displays its exchange value in the relation to other commodities. Linen is unable to hold any exchange value in the absence of another commodity. Linen directly tells its exchange value in relation to other commodities. Moreover, the amount of labor time that is put into the coat versus the labor time put into the production of other commodities. Linen is used in the production of other commodities, for example, a coat. |
| Even though the linen is transformed into a coat, it does not loose its value, the value is merely held within the coat and “the coat is a ‘carrier of value’.” Therefore, the coat carries an accumulation of the abstract labor value from the production of the material and the finished product, the coat. |
| The coat may tell a similar story as well. For instance, if the coat was to be made into a suit and sold not as a coat alone, but as a suit. It would not loose its value as being a coat but the suit would carry its value of the coat, the pants, the vest, and all other commodities that are used in making the suit. |
| Hans: You picked a difficult Question, but your answer shows several points of confusion. It seems you are reading the material, but not closely enough. |
| Linen begins its story with the worth of itself. This value of linen is purely the worth that it has innate to its qualities and character, independent from social relevance, exchange value, or abstract labor value. |
| Do you mean its use value? |
| Now you seem to be talking about a different kind of value, one which is no longer independent of abstract labor: |
| Linen proceeds to tell its story of value through the abstract labor poured into the production of linen. |
| Only abstract labor transforms the value to the good. |
| I guess you mean “transfers”. |
| In what follows you should replace abstract labor by “concrete useful labor.” The good's use value does not come from abstract labor but from concrete useful labor: |
| Without abstract labor the good has no use-value whatsoever. Through labor, a good reaps its use-value. The linen has use-value because there has been abstract labor time poured into it, and “they are useful object and carriers of value.” Moreover, linen emerges from private production with use-value alone. This use-value is born into the commodity. It does not change when it is transfered into society, it simply has use-value because it has abstract labor time poured into it. |
| Now you are going over from use value to exchange value: |
| Only through the interaction with other commodities in the market can the linen tell its exchange value. Linen displays its exchange value in the relation to other commodities. Linen is unable to hold any exchange value in the absence of another commodity. Linen directly tells its exchange value in relation to other commodities. |
| You can even say the exchange value is the relation of the linen to other commodities. And the Question was: what does the linen tell us by having these exchange relations with other commodities. Are you aware of the relationship between exchange value and value? |
| Now you are making the error which I warned against in the Study Guide and in my message [90]. This is completely off and this costed you a lot of points. |
| Moreover, the amount of labor time that is put into the coat versus the labor time put into the production of other commodities. Linen is used in the production of other commodities, for example, a coat. |
| Even though the linen is transformed into a coat, it does not loose its value, the value is merely held within the coat and “the coat is a ‘carrier of value’.” Therefore, the coat carries an accumulation of the abstract labor value from the production of the material and the finished product, the coat. |
| The coat may tell a similar story as well. For instance, if the coat was to be made into a suit and sold not as a coat alone, but as a suit. It would not loose its value as being a coat but the suit would carry its value of the coat, the pants, the vest, and all other commodities that are used in making the suit. |
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