| This question <98|158> overall <99|101> Thugtorious: <83|101>. (graded A) |
| Question 83: The value of the product is determined by the socially necessary labor-time. What are the implications of this for a capitalist supervising his employees? |
| [100] Thugtorious: Response to Geo. I think Geo is on the right track with this response [98]. However, the question itself contains many different aspects of Marx's doctrine; some of which we have yet to experience within this class. Geo is correct in saying that a supervisor, within capitalistic production, has two options if he wants to add to his profits vis-à-vis the laborer: 1) Increase the work day, and/or 2) increase the intensity of work. Marx argued, as with Smith and other free market economists, wages would be paid out at the market clearing level: subsistence level. Due to an ever increasing number of workers in the workforce, a “reserve army of the unemployed” would amass, and they would bid the wages down to subsistence. The difference between the subsistence wage and the value of the commodity is looked at as surplus value. Being that capital is only the product of past labor, exploited labor is the only way of obtaining profits from production. That is my understanding of the argument thus far. I might be jumping too far ahead in Kapital, and I might have this argument completely wrong. So, the implications for a capitalist supervisor are to crack the proverbial whip and exploit his employees. If they cannot stand the strain or intensity of production, they are easily replaceable. |
| So, back to Geo's answer. I do not necessarily follow when you say: “The capitalist supervisor can do this until society becomes aware that the necessary time to produce the good is less than before and therefore of less value.” I do not know if you are referring to the concept of “class consciousness” or some other form of knowledge that will be gained by the consumers. In my opinion, being the case that capitalists have a vice-like grip on the means of production, this “cycle” really never turns in favor of the worker. The CEO's and other rich individuals keep accumulating gross amounts of money, while millions of people still pay for products that are valued in the market well above their social necessary labor time. Maybe I am missing a crucial part of the argument, but I do not see how society will somehow “learn” anything more than they already know (which is that capitalists are making money from production), and then act upon this knowledge to change the status quo. Unless, you are alluding to “class consciousness,” of which I am not well versed. |
| Hans: You are describing the essence of Marx's explanation of exploitation. This will be done in much more detail later in volume One of Capital, but this is something that needs to be said several times in different words. |
|
|
|||||