| This question <100|100> overall <99|102> Tokolosh: <1386|254>. |
| Question 133: Since productivity is a quality of useful labor, one might not expect it to play a great role in capitalism. But it does. Why? |
| [100] Tokolosh: Quality of productivity. In terms of useful labor, increased productivity has the effect of decreasing the units of useful labor used to determine the use value of a product. Essentially if one becomes more productive, or in other words efficient at the task, the final labor value is less than it would be had the productivity level been much lower. In these terms productivity would not play a role in capitalism. |
| However, capitalism is exchange value driven. If capitalist A's laborer produces a widget faster than capitalist B's laborer can, then capitalist A has higher output and the option to either undercut capitalist B in the market or maintain the status quo with regards to exchange values and therefore have more widgets to exchange with less invested useful labor. Capitalist A then has more capital which can be invested to increase his control of means of production. |
| Efficiency, or productivity levels, are king in capitalism. So despite being a quality of useful labor it is a key player in capitalist methods. |
| Hans: Let me ask this question in a different way: since capitalists are interested in profits, i.e., more surplus-value for themselves, why are they trying so hard to decrease the values of their products? |
| There is a contradiction between the more and the decrease. This is another one of these contradictions which we don't even recognize as contradictions. |
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