Hi everyone here are a few questions i devised whilst engrossed in this weeks (confusuing, but slightly rewarding) reading.

 

1) Marx argues "A use value, or useful article, therefore has value only because abstract human labour is objectified or materialized in it." (129)

"in order to produce a commodity, the labour time which is necessary on an average. or in the words is socially necessary." (129)

If this is the case an value is representative of the human labour time or as he terms it "socially necessary labour time" that went into making the commodity, how does this fit into a capitalist mode of production?  Who determines what is socially necessary? What is the link between time and capitalism?

2) How does Marx's analysis of value and commodity fit into more contemporary times? He explains that "The value of a commodity would therefore remain constant if the labour-time required for its production also remained constant. But the latter changes with every variation in the productivity of labour." (130) This is true, if we look historically with the development of technology the price of commodities have dropped, that is in line with overall inflation, however how would Marx explain branding or market placement. Why if Gucci make a coat in the same factory as H & M using the same materials and the same machinery, why are they allowed to charge a far higher exchange value than H & M even if the the commodity's labour time and productivity are the same? I suppose in a way this could be linked somewhat to the this concept of "socially necessary" mentioned before?

3) How reliable is Marx's analysis of value or of the commodity without directly taking into account the role of the employees financial drain (such as wage or employee benefits) in relation to a business? Marx also chooses to ignore supply and demand, does his whole theory not collapse without it taking it into consideration? For example surely his term "use value" is directly linked to the idea that if more people find a use with a commodity and production is small, surely value would massively increase?

4) What is the distinction between value and material wealth? Pages 133-134 are good place to look :)

5) When comparing simple and complex labour Marx encounters a problem, he has trouble reducing the measurement between the both and simply settles on labelling all labour as simple labour. He says "In the interests of simplification, we shall henceforth view every form of labour power directly as simple labour power; by this we shall be saving ourselves the trouble of making the reduction." (135) What do you think of this apparently laziness on Marx's part not to investigate a problem with his own theory? Or is this simply his attempt at trying to simplify this considerably hard econmical problem for the reader? 

6) Marx devises a "money form" and states that there is one "universal commodity" historically this has shifted from gold into the paper money we know today, could there be an equivilant though? With the rise of virtual currencies and other developments around the world could there be another future universal commodity? 

 

BONUS QUESTION - Would you consider yourself a marxist? ;)