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[26] Toma: measuring labor. When one labors in the factory it is the labor itself that is the most
important aspect to the employer. According to Marx the labor is what
determines the value of the product. He writes that the amount of labor is
what determines a more significant value of the commodity. It is not
important what happens on an individual basis to that laborer as he labors.
In an exploitative society not much attention is paid to the worker's sweat
or discomfort, as long as work is getting done. The labor is measured by
labor-time because it is that labor-time that determines the value of the
commodity. We do not concern ourselves with individual labor but the
“abstract” labor is how we determine the value. The effort put into the
production, like someone's determination or count of the laborer's
movements, is not important. The average labor time is what determines the
value. If the laborer's discomfort had to be taken in consideration then
the labor would have to be counted on an individual, concrete basis. However
Marx calculates value from the same human labor-power, which is composed of
individual labors. If attention was paid to the drops of sweat of the
laborer, or the discomfort of the laborer, or if the movements were counted,
then we would have to measure individual labors and labor times. Because
they would all be different we would not be able to add them to each other.
They are all representative of average human labor. If someone produces
twice as fast as another then the value of the commodity would double as
well. Therefore because most labor is average and because it is the easiest way
to calculate it, the individual cases are not important. The group time
spent laboring on average determines the value. |
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