This question <327|85> overall <47|50> Snowman: <607|138>.  
  Exam Question 54: Why must every individual commodity be considered as an average sample of its kind?   
  [48] Snowman: Average value of a commodity   The value of any product according to Marx “is determined by the quantity of labor used to produce it.” The reason that he uses this determinant for deriving the value of products is it is the only factor of production that is inherent in all commodities, and therefor by measuring the quantity of that factor in any one commodity we can compare its value to any other commodity. The relative value then is the quantity of labor used to produce a product. The value of a given product is not any one individuals labor but instead the labor hour is determined as a whole based on the average labor hour for the entire society. The labor hour is then merely the average time it takes to produce a commodity in a society.   
  Because a commodity's value is determined by the average amount of labor hours that is required in its production, and labor hours are an average of society, it is required to consider any one commodity as generic, or representative of all the commodities of its kind. That is to determine the value based on the average labor in production we must assume that which is being produced is representative of a group of products identical to one another. For example to know the value of a hammer one must assume that we are comparing an average hammer and its value to some other product and its value. This is a requirement that ensures apples are compared with apples and not oranges, as with the hammer its value would reflect the amount of labour used to produce it and all the hammers that are identical to it, but would not require that it represent the features of a hammer with different features, though it may accidently. So when given the value of hammer “A” that all hammers identical to “A” would have the same value and use value based on the average of the labor hours used to produce all “A” like hammers, and as such any on of the “A” like hammers is an “average sample of its kind.”   
  Hans: Although this was labeled a Review Question, it was not an easy Question. Market relations seem so simple, but there is a lot implied in them. It is difficult to distil the abstract principle out of this, but you did a commendable job working yourself towards this.   
 
 
 
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