| This question <93|73> overall <71|73> Pete: <59|118>. graded A– |
| Question 57: What is the difference between mode of expression and form of appearance? |
| [72] Pete: This question is important in distinguishing raw and cooked, as it were. Marx said, “Let us take two commodities, such as a coat and 10 yards of linen, and let the value of the first be twice the value of the second.” This means that a “cooked” coat is worth twice what the “raw” linen is worth. Marx goes on to say, “the coat is a use-value that satisfies a particular need. A specific kind of productive activity is required to bring it into existence. This activity is determined by its aim, mode of operation, object, means and result”. Marx uses the term “useful labour” to encompass all of the above conditions. |
| Yes, the linen had to go through processes to become linen, that is where we get the worth. In order to make the coat useful labour is needed to cut, fit, and sew that coat and that takes added useful labor. Because the added labour is needed to create the coat it becomes more valuable. |
| The “Mode of expression” is the linen needing to be turned into something else, in this case a coat. The “form of appearance” is the linen shaped into a coat. Thus the linen itself is “raw” material and the coat is the “Form of Appearance” that the linen takes on or the “cooked” product. |
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