| This question <27|29> overall <27|29> Dwightschrute: <1330|71>. |
| Question 80: Marx says that as use-values commodities do not contain an atom of value. Would he also say that the labor process does not contain an atom of abstract labor? |
| [28] Dwightschrute: Marx would not be able to say that the Labor Process is devoid of abstract labor. All Labor Processes are dependent upon the use value of labors. This is only the case if the Labor Process is a useful process. It is necessary to understand that Abstract Labor itself refers to the expenditure of human labor-power and that this expenditure gives the use-value that is associated with the labor process. If the quality of labor is of a higher caliber then the use value of the labor process will increase. The relationship between a commodity is different from that of a labor process in that it is possible to separate the values of a commodity in that a commodity has a use value and a exchange value whereas the Labor Process is dependent upon the use-value of labors. |
| Hans: You say “abstract labor refers to the expenditure of human labor-power.” Here is a more precise formulation: “whenever Marx refers to the labor process as the expenditure of human labor-power, he calls is abstract labor.” In other words, every labor process is several things at the same time. On the one hand, it is the process by which a new product is formed. This aspect of it is called, by Marx, “useful labor.” On the other hand, a human being must be involved in this process, and for that human being this process requires concentration and exertion, the expenditure of this human's life force. This aspect is called, by Marx, “abstract labor.” |
| With this clarification I hope you can see now that your next sentence “this expenditure gives the use-value that is associated with the labor process” is incorrect. You were probably thinking: “every labor process is the expenditure of human labor-power, and every labor process results in a use-value, therefore the use-value can be associated with the expenditure of labor-power.” Marx would disagree here. He would say: “every labor process is also the expenditure of human labor-power, but it is more than that, it is primarily the performance of useful labor. The use-value comes from this primary aspect, not from the fact that the labor process is expenditure of human labor-power.” |
| If you think this is unnecessary hairsplitting please go to your next sentence: “If the quality of labor is of a higher caliber then the use value of the labor process will increase.” I.e., the more skills and effort the worker puts into the product, the better the product. Can you see that there is a missing link in this argumentation? The quality of the product comes from the physical process producing the product. If the worker is more skilled and puts in more effort, he may be able to produce a better product, but the product does not come from the skills and effort, the product comes from what the worker does with his skills and efforts. |
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