| This question <197|229> overall <216|218> Melanie: <86|218>. graded B |
| Question 89: Why is labor measured here by labor-time, and not by counting how many movements were made, or by the drops of sweat of the laborer, or by the discomfort of the laborer? |
| [217] Melanie: Marx uses labor-time to measure labor because labor-time is the only thing all the different kinds of labor have in common. It would be difficult to measure labor using something such as “drops of sweat of the laborer”. In fact, some types of labor may not involve sweat at all. The only measurable similarity found in all types of labor is, thus, labor-time. |
| Hans [2002fa:25] quoted Marx who wrote in Contribution, 271:2/o: “variations in the duration of labor are the only possible difference that can occur if the quality of labor is assumed to be given.” |
| Hans: Your first few words “Marx uses labor-time to measure labor” start you on the wrong foot. Marx does not decide how to best measure labor, but he is trying to find out how in a commodity society the quantity of value is determined. His theory says that the labor that makes up value is measured by labor-time. The question asked you to explain why it is labor-time and not some other measurement of labor. |
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