1. Two key concepts in this video are the means of production and labor. In your comment, explain how you understand the means of production and labor. Give an example of each.

Means of production are the products you use to try to sell a product. Like the camera for the video, or the microphone you use. Another means of production is privately owned capitalist production like google. Labor is the work that you put into the product. The more labor that goes into your work the more value it has.

2. Another important concept in understanding social class is value. Based on the ideas presented in Video 5.1, what is value?  What gives “value” to value, what makes something valuable? 

Value is how much labor it takes to make something under normal circumstances. Value is how much your product is worth by the labor you put into it. For example, if you have a piece of wood the if you do nothing with it the value stays the same, but if you put labor into it the value of the wood becomes different.

3. How are labor and value related? What’s the relationship/connection between the two?

They are different because labor is the work you put into something. Value is what that work is worth. They both need each other to keep the capitalist alive.

4. How do you understand the difference between labor and labor power? Hint: this is a key difference, give it your best shot based on what the video says about it, and your own ideas. We’ll clarify and develop it in our discussions, and in my video comments.

 Labor refers to the physical work one puts into a product while labor power is the capacity of an individual to perform work. It is the potential for labor that a person possesses.

5. Surplus Value: what is it? Why is it important to know about, in our study of social classes? Think about an example of surplus value?

Surplus value is the extra value produced by workers beyond what is required of them. Its capitalism at its truest form. An example of surplus value are all the unions that have been created because employees don’t get fair pay with really long hours, like Amazon or Starbuck’s. The company makes millions of the backs of the workers.

1)From my understanding means of productions is everything that is used to make goods. For me I have a little crayon business and the means of production for me are the molds i use to shape the crayons, my oven, or stove, my fridge, crayons. While labor is the physical work that is put in to making the products. So, my labor is the amount of work I put in while making the crayons time I’ve spent peeling the paper off the crayons breaking them placing them in the mold.

2) From the video Value is the amount of labor that is put into producing the product under normal circumstances. What makes something valuable is the amount of time that’s put into making a product.

3)Labor and value are related because the value of a product comes from the time that it took to make the product. If you did not put in time into making a product it will not have much value however if you took time to make a product and add some glitter or painted it the value of that product has just risen.

4) From my understanding labor is the amount of time that is needed to complete a product while labor power is what you need such as food, shelter and clothes so you have the capacity to complete the work needed.

5) From my understanding surplus value, the difference between the amount of money that was given from selling a product and the amount of money that that is actually paid for the labor to make the product.

1. How I understand means of production is that it is the tools/resources needed to make a product or item for the people, and labor is the people that are working to make that product or item. An example I came up with is a producer and artist making a song. They need a studio, microphone, instruments, and computers to make a song. The producer makes the beat for the artist using the instruments and computer inside the studio for the artist, and then the artist uses the microphone and their voice and thoughts to record a song, after it’s done they submit it to the label for them to distribute it.
2. In the video, labor is defined as “how much labor it takes to produce under normal circumstances”. This in a simpler way is basically the time it takes to produce a product/item. What makes something valuable is the time that is put into a product.
3. Labor and value are connected in that the more labor its needed to put into a product the more valuable it becomes and vice versa.
4. From my understanding the difference between labor and labor power is that labor is you putting in the work to make a product/item, and labor power is you needing rest, food, and water for you to put in the labor for said product/item as without it you wouldn’t be able to do it.
5. Surplus value is the profits the laborers make that are more than their pay. For example, if I’m working for a Nike Store and I help sell $1,200 products in a day and I work 8 hours a day and get paid $18.50 an hour I’m only making $148 while the store keeps $1,052.

1. In the video, two key concepts discussed were the means of production and labor. The means of production refer to the tools, facilities, and resources necessary for creating goods or services. An example would be a farm with its land, machinery, and buildings essential for producing crops. Labor, on the other hand, is the human effort employed in using these means of production, such as the farmers and workers who plant, tend, and harvest the crops.
   
2. A product’s value is measured by how much labor it takes to produce under normal circumstances. So, a designer garment or a custom tailored suit, which involves more labor, is considered more valuable than clothing produced on a mass scale.
   
3. Labor and value are intrinsically connected because the value of a product is largely determined by the labor required to produce it. This means that the more labor (or the more intensive and skilled the labor) that goes into creating a product, the higher its value.
   
4. To me, labor means the actual work or effort put into producing goods, whereas labor power is the ability or capacity to work that workers sell to their employers. In essence, labor power is what workers bring to the job market, and labor is what they do once they’ve sold that capacity to an employer. This difference is key to understanding how workers are paid and how value comes about in a capitalist system.
   
5. Surplus value represents the excess of value produced by labor over the wages paid to the worker, revealing the exploitation core of capitalism. This concept is pivotal for dissecting social classes, as it shows how capitalists profit by paying workers less than the value their labor creates. For example, I get paid $43.27 per hour as a Senior Corporate Securities Paralegal but bring $300 per hour (billable time to client) value to my firm. And the remaining surplus minus operating expenses will go to my boss who is represented as a capitalist in the video.

1. Two key concepts in this video are the means of production and labor. In your comment, explain how you understand the means of production and labor. Give an example of each.
2. Another important concept in understanding social class is value. Based on the ideas presented in Video 5.1, what is value?  What give “value” to value, what makes something valuable? 
3. How are labor and value related? What’s the relationship/connection between the two?
4. How do you understand the difference between labor and labor power? Hint: this is a key difference, give it your best shot based on what the video says about it, and your own ideas. We’ll clarify and develop it in our discussions, and in my video comments.
5. Surplus Value: what is it? Why is it important to know about, in our study of social classes? Think about an example of surplus value?