| This question <25|186> overall <173|177> MichaelM: <152|201>. |
| Question 54: The use-value of a commodity is the utility one gets from using it; the exchange-value is the utility one gets from using those things one can trade the commodity for. Right or wrong? |
| [174] MichaelM: Right and Wrong. Marx says in his book Capital, Volume 1, Chapter 1 that “the utility of a thing makes it a use value” and that “this property of a commodity is independent of the amount of labour required to appropriate its useful qualities.” He also states that “a thing can be a use value, without having value. This is the case whenever its utility to man is not due to labour. Such are air, virgin soil, natural meadows, etc. A thing can be useful, and the product of human labour, without being a commodity. Whoever directly satisfies his wants with the produce of his own labour, creates, indeed, use values, but not commodities. In order to produce the latter, he must not only produce use values, but use values for others, social use values.” |
| One can see by Marx's explanation that the use-value of a commodity IS the utility one gets from using it regardless of the labor involved and as long as the use-value of the commodity has a generally accepted utility for others in society, and not just for the producer. |
| Marx seemed to think that the exchange-value of a commodity represented its owner's purchasing power or what other commodities it would exchange for. This can be thought of as a value or price of the commodity. This value or price of the commodity could then be used to trade this commodity for another commodity that would obviously provide some kind of utility to the new owner. So, in a round about way, an exchange-value can be thought of as the utility one would get from using those things one can trade the commodity for. However, this is not what Marx was trying to get across when he was describing his theories about the exchange-value of a commodity. He was more focused on the kind of value that the exchange-value represented. |
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