| This question <112|114> overall <112|114> Hans: <111|116>. |
| Question 100: Coat and linen are qualitatively different use-values. Are they exchanged because their use-values are different, or because the labors in them are different? |
| [113] Hans: How voluntary is our market participation? Iblindone's answer [112] gives a good overview of the mainstream economics approach to the exchange process via absolute advantage. Individuals can decide whether to trade or not, and they trade only if it is to their advantage. Marx's approach is different. In his theory, it is not up to the individual whether they exchange or not. Individuals cannot produce alone. They need society because they need produced use-values. Society has an elaborate market system ready for them, which the individuals must engage in if they do not want to starve. |
| The emphasis of Marx's analysis is the structure of this market, i.e., how prices are determined and which things are on the market (not only goods but also wage-labor and interest-bearing assets). This structure is not determined by individual preferences but by the underlying organization of social production. A Marxist would say: as long as the individuals do not really have a choice, individual preferences cannot explain much. The individuals are embedded in a web of social relations which they have not created. You cannot start with the individual to understand these social relations, but you have to understand the logic of these relations in their own right. (For capitalist social relations, a good starting point is not the individual but the commodity.) |
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