SOCI 2005 Lecture Notes - Lecture 7: Wage Labour, Labour Power
10 Jun 2018
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Socio-2005 May 31st Marx continue
Lecture 7
• According to Marx after feudalism comes capitalism: Weber said that capitalism
developed through religion Calvinism.
• If by labor we mean the hum power that produces necessary labor, use vale, which
satisfies human needs, or if by labor we mean its qualitative nature the use values of the
product is to be consumed by me, then we can talk about the concept labor as common to
all human societies, not historically specific. production of something of use value, a
value for me to consume it, this kind of labor has existed throughout all of history. Not to
be consumed by you, but sold for its value, the price of the product that you produce.
Marx how is the exchange value calculated. Production process
Historically significant to the capitalist system:
• The kind of labor that produces use value is something that is everywhere, however if by
labor we refer to wage labor, then we have exchange value, rather use vale. It’s the
qualitative nature of the product which is important when we produce for ourselves, but
under capitalism labor is interested in the quantitative nature of labor.
• The concept of abstract labor (under capitalism) unlike that of useful labor, in capitalism
labor becomes abstract, a particular social form under which capitalism exists, the labor
which creates exchange value, according to Marx is social but not in the general sense but
in a very particular sense. The abstraction of labor, from its multiple concrete form, is a
process that really takes place when and only when commodities are exchanged, and it is
this feature of modern bourgeois society which alone make an abstract concept of labor
possible. Labor becomes for the benefit of capital. Are the wages of the laborer’s enough
for them? The answer is no.
• Labor power: capacity of human power to produce
• Labor time: the process spent in the process of production.
• Capital: the labor theory of value where he declares that value is the product of actual
labor, labor that produces value, capital, exchange capital, use value. Only labor
generates capital. Under capitalism we produce both use vale and exchange value. Taken
to market and to exchange for money. And is sold for a much higher price than it was
made. There is a ratio. between what the capitalist spends in the production process, and
what he later sells it for. The difference what it cost to produce the item and what it was
sold for is referred to as surplus. C + L = C+
Capital + labor (the laborer’s work on the raw material) + surplus labor
Necessary labor + surplus = sole in the markets to make money
There is no such thing as self-valorizing capital
The abstract labor that produces exchange values, Marx argues this abstraction is violent, it
obliterates the fact that they are historically specific. But the capitalists lead to think otherwise
These abstractions are fetishized.
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Document Summary
Lecture 7: according to marx after feudalism comes capitalism: weber said that capitalism developed through religion calvinism. Not to be consumed by you, but sold for its value, the price of the product that you produce. Historically significant to the capitalist system: the kind of labor that produces use value is something that is everywhere, however if by labor we refer to wage labor, then we have exchange value, rather use vale. Under capitalism we produce both use vale and exchange value. Taken to market and to exchange for money. And is sold for a much higher price than it was made. There is a ratio. between what the capitalist spends in the production process, and what he later sells it for. The difference what it cost to produce the item and what it was sold for is referred to as surplus. Capital + labor (the laborer"s work on the raw material) + surplus labor.
