| This question <48|91> overall <84|86> Hans: <84|87>. |
| Exam Question 54: Why must every individual commodity be considered as an average sample of its kind? |
| [85] Hans: The commodity as Mr. Average Snowman's [48] starts with a misunderstanding which I want to clear up right away. It is not true that labor is the source of value because labor |
| is the only factor of production that is inherent in all commodities |
| One can find many other things like this, for instance electricity is used for almost every production process, and if you look at direct and indirect inputs, there are many so-called “basic” goods which enter every product directly or indirectly. It is a social question, not a technological question, that labor is singled out by this society among all other inputs. |
| But now let us go to Question 54. Snowman explains correctly what it means to be considered an average sample of its kind; not only the labor content, but also the use value is considered average (and if it is not, you can return the good to the store). Now why is this so? Market relations are not established between idiosyncratic individual commodities, but between standardized commodity types. The commodities copy each other: if a certain commodity fetches a good price on the market, other commodity just like it come after it and want the same good price. There is no room for individuality in these abstract market relations. All labors are equalized not only with respect to intensity but also quality of output, etc. |
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